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After an “upbeat and productive” meeting with leaders of the American Library Association on Tuesday, Random House reaffirmed its commitment to library lending of the company’s entire portfolio of ebook titles. At the same time, the company has announced that effective March 1 it is raising ebook prices that it charges library wholesalers such as OverDrive, 3M, and Ingram, which set the ultimate price libraries will pay to lease ebooks.
The panel on ebooks strategy in public libraries took a turn to the practical, with the focus on platforms (OverDrive, B&T’s Axis 360 and Blio, and 3M’s Cloud Library ebook), collaboration through consortia, selection, purchasing, and marketing of ebooks.
Two things were crystal clear, however: ebooks use has exploded in public libraries. And OverDrive isn’t the only kid on the block. In answer to questions from attendees on how to select a vendor, those who have added other ebook platforms along with OverDrive all said they were looking at providers’ maintenance fees and at their own financial resources.
The year-long battle of the Kansas state librarian to maintain control of her library’s OverDrive collection even as she plans to move it to a different vendor’s platform is coming to a head.
The challenge of a digital world is how to connect a patron’s needs and interests with the right digital information. Libraries will play a vital role in showing people books the wide variety of books and authors that are available. Without variety we could becomes a nation of books only read from a top 10 list.
