Macmillan eBooks

Macmillan Publishers have expanded their eBooks which they offer for library lending via Overdrive.  

Back in March, Macmillan launched a pilot program, offering their back-list romance and mystery titles for libraries, such as East Central Regional Library to license for our Digital Library.

Now, Macmillan is offering all of their back-list eBooks for library lending.  Essentially anything published 12 months ago or longer will be made available for libraries to license via Overdrive.  Macmillan will continue to add back-list books as they become eligible on a monthly basis.

Macmillan eBooks will follow the one-copy/one-user lending model, and libraries will be able to circulate each copy for 24 months or 52 checkouts, whichever comes first.  This does come with a cost increase.  All titles cost $40.00 for each copy East Central Regional licenses. (Previously, Macmillan titles cost $25.00 per license.)  After the 24 months or 52 checkouts, ECRL will have to purchase an additional license in order to retain the title in our eBook collection.

Sarah Hawkins, Branch Librarian, Chisago Lakes Area Library

Penguin Group eBooks

If you remember, back in November of 2011, Penguin Publishing stopped licensing their eBooks to libraries via OverDrive. Well...

GOOD NEWS!  Penguin Publishing has rejoined the list of leading publishers allowing library lending of eBooks via OverDrive, our Digital Library vendor.  More than 17,000 Penguin eBooks are available for libraries such as East Central Regional Library to license for our Digital Library.

 

Penguin Group Publishing titles will follow the one copy/one user lending model, and libraries will be able to circulate each copy they license for 12 months (1 year).  Popular new releases will be priced at $18.99 per copy.  Backlist favorites will range from $5.99 -$9.99 per copy.   After 12 months, ECRL will have to purchase an additional license in order to retain the title in our eBook collection. 

eBooks published by Penguin Group include many favorite authors such as:

• Nora Roberts
• Tom Clancy
• Patricia Cornwell
• Charlaine Harris
• Lee Child
• Iris Johansen
• Christine Feehan
• Kathy Reichs
• Clive Cussler
• W. E. B. Griffin
• Harlan Coben
• AND MANY MORE!

Also, remember that you can always suggest titles you wish to see added to ECRL's Digital Library via the Recommend to Library feature.

Library lending of eBooks is an ever-changing world, and the tide is turning in our favor.  When ECRL launched eBooks in November 2011, 5 of the 7 biggest publishers did NOT allow library lending of eBooks.  Today, 5 of the 7 biggest publishers DO allow library lending of eBooks in some manner.  Keep track of which major publishers allow library lending of eBooks at the blog post “Why can’t I get this eBook from ECRL?” 

Sarah Hawkins, Branch Librarian, Chisago Lakes Area Library

Penguin titles and Kindle

Currently owned eBooks published by Penguin are once again available for download to Kindle through ECRL's eBook service. However, we understand that we will not be able to buy new Penguin titles, at least not now, anyway.

Yesterday I posted notice that the Penguin titles were not available for Kindle. That was changed sometime this morning. As I said in yesterday's post, the eBook landscape is constantly shifting in its implementation. We'll try to stay on top of it and keep you informed.

Further information about these developments are in these posts:
OverDrive blog
Publishers Weekly

Barbara Misselt, Director

eBooks - not everything is available

Warning . . . whatever I'm writing in this post may very well be outdated before I push the "publish" button . . .

eBooks have overtaken the information industry like a tsunami. Almost everyone knows someone who has an eReader, if they don't have one personally. While many die-hard print booklovers have decried eBooks as a passing fad, it appears that not only are they not going away, their presence in the information world is getting more prevalent. And it seems like the whole atmosphere surrounding eBooks is market-driven and planted not-so-firmly in the sand. Like anything else in this techy-obsessed world, desirability appears to be based on newer, shinier, and faster. Thus, the relationships and the rules are being written and changed as we go along.

Almost every library system in Minnesota provides eBooks as one of its choices for book formats and the company OverDrive is the primary provider for the subscription service. ECRL buys eBooks from OverDrive title by title, just as we would from a print book vendor. OverDrive provides the website on which readers search for and check out the eBooks.

When OverDrive first launched eBook service for libraries, owners of one eReader device could not take advantage of their library's service -- the Kindle. Kindle is a product of Amazon. By September of this year, OverDrive had brokered a deal and accomplished the logistics for library subscribers to check out and download eBooks to their Kindle device. So, by the time ECRL launched eBook service, eBooks were available for almost all eReader devices.

Meanwhile, there has been considerable jockeying within the industry about how individual publishers allow their publications to be used and made available. Macmillan and Simon and Schuster do not license ebooks to public libraries. Hachette Book Group withdrew its frontlist ebook titles from library circulation in July 2010, although reportedly they may be reconsidering their position. Harper Collins caps the number of checkouts for their licensed books to 26 per purchase. Then there are some books that simply are not available for libraries to check out as eBooks - like the Harry Potter series.

The news in recent days is from Penguin Group (USA) to not allow their books to be checked out and downloaded to the Kindle. Indeed, a check on ECRL's OverDrive site (http://ecrl.lib.overdrive.com) shows that Penguin books that ECRL currently owns are available for checkout only as Adobe EPUB or Adobe PDF (which will work fine for your Nook, or Sony Reader, or many other eReaders) but not Kindle. Furthermore, Penguin is not licensing any of their new books for any format - so it appears that we will not be able to purchase any new Penguin published books.

ECRL regrets that some of our current books are not available to Kindle owners. It's not a decision made by ECRL, and we'll continue to advocate on behalf of all eBook readers and keep you, our public, informed through this blog.

More information is available in this article from Digital Shift.
Notice from OverDrive concerning non-availability of Penguin books for Kindle

Barbara Misselt, Director