ALA Annual 2011: New Ebook Service Launched, Takes Its Inspiration from Freegal
By Michael KelleyJune 24, 2011
Library Ideas, LLC, has launched a new ebook service for libraries that's similar to the company's Freegal Music product.
Freading will offer 20,000 copyrighted titles from 16 publishers with a mix of frontlist and backlist titles, the company said today at the American Library Association's annual conference in New Orleans. The publishers that have signed on include Sterling Publishing, Sourcebooks, Andrews McMeel, and Regnery Publishing. Library Ideas cofounder Brian Downing says he's hopeful a major publisher will join as well.
"The reason why we came into the ebook space is not only because it's the next big thing, but we saw some real challenges with the existing models up and down the supply chain," Downing said, adding that the company was positioning the new service as a supplement, not a replacement, for existing services.
The Freading service will offer library patrons unlimited, simultaneous access to the available titles. There's no access fee for libraries (although there's a $150 setup fee for first-time customers of Library Ideas), and libraries budget a given amount for access to the collection.
Patrons can then download books for a two-week loan, with a two-week renewal if desired. The library is charged for each download as follows up to the limit of the budget:
o 0-6 months after print publication $2 per loan, $.50 per renewal.
o 7-24 months after print publication $1 per loan, no renewal charge.
o More than 25 months after print publication $.50 per loan, no renewal charge.
The fees are invisible to the patron. Libraries can also just pay as they go, receiving a regular monthly statement, to avoid patrons being denied access once a set budget limit has been reached.
Ten libraries have agreed to a launch this summer, including Orange County Public Library System (FL), the Free Library of Philadelphia, Maricopa County Library District, AZ, Los Gatos Public Library (CA), and the Westport Public Library (CT).
Maxine Bleiweis, Westport's director, said she's budgeted $20,000 to start.
"The main attraction is the model," she said. "The previous model was that if the book was in use you had to wait, which is the same model as a physical book, but this is not the case here, which I think users will appreciate."
Bleiweis said the collection will also include Harvard University Press and Yale University Press.
"From a collection perspective, we will have over 20,000 titles to offer and you don't pay for any of them until they are used. So, in the case of university presses, they are normally catalogs we might buy a few titles from, so to have all of them available is very impressive," she added.
How it works
The titles will use Adobe Digital Editions for digital rights management, and the books will work on every major device except the Kindle, Downing said. Library Ideas provides the platform, which can be branded for individual libraries.
Patrons browse the catalog and then can click a link to access the ebook.
"It will ask you what ereader you plan to use to read the book and then there are no more choices after that," Downing said.
Since publishers receive a portion of each download fee, they are motivated to make their titles available, Downing explained.
"Instead of a one-time sale for $20, and their share of that is all they ever get, they now get a substantial revenue stream every time someone reads their books," he said.
For libraries, he said it's a chance to create a large collection of ebooks with no up-front costs, and patrons will have more access since the titles are not limited by the "one book, one user" model.
"We are always looking for ways to increase our patron's access to library materials," said Mary Anne Hodel, CEO of the Orange County Public Library System in Orlando, FL. "Freading increases our access to ebooks at a reasonable cost."
Some librarians have criticized this model as working against the economies of scale that underpin library economics, meaning the more an item circulates the less it costs per use. But Downing said the model was scalable.
"I don't think that any other model is sustainable in the digital world," he said.
Libraries can pilot the service starting August 1, and the official launch is September 1.
See our ALA Conferences site for complete event coverage from the editors of Library Journal and School Library Journal.
