Amazon to Allow Library Lending of Kindle Books (Updated)
New program will integrate with all existing ebook catalogs offered through OverDrive By Michael KelleyApr 20, 2011
Library patrons across the United States will soon be able to borrow ebooks from over 11,000 libraries using Amazon's Kindle reading device.
Long a missing link in the library lending chain, Amazon's announcement today that it will offer, sometime later this year, Kindle library lending is likely to create a flood of demand, since many patrons have long been puzzled and librarians irritated by the inability to use the market-leading device to access library books.
The lending will be available for all generations of the Kindle as well as Kindle reading apps, and it will integrate with all the existing ebook catalogs in the United States powered by OverDrive. In other words, the libraries—including schools, colleges and public libraries—will not have to add a new format, and the ebooks now available on the OverDrive sites will be immediately integrated with the Kindle, Dan Stasiewski, a marketing associate with OverDrive, told LJ.
"There will be no additional cost to acquire new files to make them compatible," David Burleigh, OverDrive's director of marketing, told LJ. He referred questions on whether this deal was exclusive to OverDrive to Amazon.
(UPDATE) "It is going to be a seamless experience, that's all I can say at this point," Burleigh said in a subsequent interview. "As we develp the process we will give demos but that won't be for a while, but every ebook in the library's collection will be deliverable in the Kindle format [AZW] so libraries won't need to add a new format. ..These are Kindle ebooks and they are in the Kindle format that will be delivered directly to the Kindle reading device or the app," he said.
"We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps," Steve Potash, OverDrive's CEO, said in a press release. "We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle."
(UPDATE) In a blog post, OverDrive provided the following additional information:
- The Kindle program will support publishers' existing lending models (MacMillan and Simon & Schuster do not have a library ebook lending model).
- As libraries add ebook titles to their collection, they, too, will be available via the Kindle. The patron only need have a library card and select Kindle as the delivery destination.
- The Kindle titles will carry the same OverDrive rules and policies as other ebooks.
- OverDrive said it will protect users' confidential information.
In an interview before this announcement, Stasiewski said the company does not retain any personal information about a patron, except in the case where a patron may enter an email to receive notification for a hold. The company does store library card numbers.
Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, but has waited years to introduce library lending. Barnes & Noble introduced library lending when it launched Nook in 2009.
In an unusual feature for library lending, patrons will be able to make margin notes and highlight passages in books that they have borrowed on the Kindle, using the device's Whispersync technology.
"We're doing a little something extra here," Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle, said in a press release. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."
This feature could raise privacy concerns within the library community as apparently Amazon would be maintaining a detailed record of reading habits. See Josh Hadro's blog post.
(This story will update as more information becomes available, including details about download procedures.)
