Library Stuff

Goodereader.com – “When ebook platform Bilbary launches sometime in March or April, it will have something that can’t be found in one uniform web location: ebook access from all of the Big Six publishers. Currently, the negotiations surrounding Bilbary’s partnership with those and some 2,300 other publishers are for ebook purchasing, although some of those major publishers are already at work on lending the ebooks to users for a rental fee rather than a purchase price. Founder Tim Coates, the former CEO of Waterstone’s, Sherratt & Hughes, and WHSmith and a long-time advocate for public libraries, developed Bilbary with the intention of bridging the current divide between public libraries who wish to lend ebooks to their patrons and the publishers who have to guard the interests of their companies and their authors. “In all the years that I’ve been involved with books, I’ve never seen a year like last year. Four or five major battles, almost wars, were going on in the industry,” said Coates in an interview with GoodEReader.

Overdrive Blog – “Despite recent changes by some publishers regarding their policies for library lending and continued review of pricing models and digital book lending issues, the 2012 outlook for growing your digital book catalog with more options for your readers is encouraging. I share this opinion following dozens of advocacy meetings with executives from trade and educational publishers, publishing associations, author groups, library directors, consortia and leadership from ALA and PLA, as well as state and regional library groups.”

Publishers Weekly – “Penguin, which only offered backlist e-book titles for library lending, is terminating its contract with OverDrive, the library digital vendor, and starting February 10 will cease to offer any of its e-books or audiobooks to libraries. Penguin is negotiating a “continuance” agreement that will allow libraries that have already purchased Penguin e-books to continue to loan them.”

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NPR – “Jonathan Franzen’s in the news again, this time talking about how e-books are chiseling away at the foundations of civilization as we know it. Absurd, isn’t it? That the author of two of the better regarded novels of the past decade (give or take) would be concerned about how you read his books.”