Archive for the ‘overdrive’ tag
OverDrive reports strong growth in ebook checkouts no comments
The growing popularity of ereaders and ebooks has not only led to surging sales at ebookstores — ebook checkouts from public libraries are growing dramatically as well. OverDrive has just released its Q3 2011 results and reports strong growth.
In the first nine months of 2011 the 15,000 libraries powered by OverDrive have seen almost triple the number of ebook checkouts as in the entire previous year. The number of new users that have signed up with the libraries in OverDrive’s network is on pace to nearly double in 2011 vs last year. Readers are not, of course, confined to using dedicated ereaders to borrow OverDrive’s ebooks — mobile checkouts from smartphones and tablets now account for 21 percent of all checkouts.
Kindles only gained library compatibility on Sept 21, so it will be interesting to see how the growth curve changes after that.
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Can public library ebook loans lead to book purchases? no comments
Macmillan doesn’t do public libraries. HarperCollins only lets libraries loan out its ebooks 26 times before they expire. Now that the Kindle, the largest ereading platform, has access to public library ebook collections will other publishers add restrictions or withdraw their ebooks from libraries altogether for fear of loosing sales?
Hopefully this won’t happen, and if it does I think it will be the publisher’s loss as much as their reader’s. There is a very long-standing debate as to what effect public libraries have on book sales, but at the very least we can say that libraries not only spend a lot on books themselves, but they also encourage a passion for reading in the young, who grow up to become customers of the publishers.
Besides, if done right the library ebook lending feature can result in at least some ebook sales. Unlike Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and other ereader makers whose ereaders support library ebooks, Amazon has realized this and has made an effort to try to convert library checkouts into sales where possible. 
When you borrow a library ebook in the Kindle format you are redirected to the Kindle Store. This enables Amazon to keep track of your checkouts. When Amazon first announced that the Kindle platform would be able to borrow ebooks from OverDrive-powered libraries I checked out an ebook from my library on my Kindle to try the system out.
A few days before the expiration of my ebook loan Amazon sent an email reminding me of the expiration date and telling me that any annotations and bookmarks I’ve made in the ebook will be preserved in case I later purchase it from the Kindle Store or borrow it again. The email also contained a Buy This Book button. You don’t get emails like this for other ereaders, whose makers probably have no notion of your library activity.
I’m sure Amazon will generate sales in this manner from readers who could not finish the ebook before the expiration date or who decide they want to have the book in their collection. B&N and the other ereader makers only offer library compatibility as a feature to help sell ereaders. Only Amazon has leveraged the feature to also generate more ebook sales.
OverDrive is also looking for ways to generate ebook sales to library patrons. At the Frankfurt Book Fair the company is showing off its new WIN Catalog (Want It Now). OverDrive’s WIN Catalog has the potential to serve as an excellent book and audiobook discovery tool for patrons of participating libraries.
The WIN Catalog will provide complete listings of bestselling, mid-list and backlist titles in a publisher’s catalog. Most of these titles, especially those out in the long tail, are not available at libraries. The WIN Catalog will provide samples and buy links for these titles and public libraries that provide access to the WIN Catalog will receive affiliate fees for sales referred through their websites.
“Public libraries offer for lending a small fraction of publishers’ eBook or audiobook catalogs,” said Erica Lazzaro, OverDrive Director of Publisher Relations. “The WIN Catalog will take hundreds of thousands of early, midlist, and backlist eBook titles that are virtually invisible to library customers and present them for discovery. WIN will also enable for patrons who do not want to wait for popular titles to become available the option to immediately shop for it from a list of booksellers that support their local library.”
“At this time, libraries do not have the funds to purchase all of the bestselling titles, let alone mid- and back-list titles,” said Christopher Platt, director of collections and circulation operations at the New York Public Library. “With the WIN Catalog from OverDrive, in addition to the tens of thousands of eBooks we offer for lending, we will have the ability to reference, browse, sample and provide a connecting point to entire catalogs of eBook titles, allowing us to serve our patrons and community in the best way possible.”
While ebooks and ereaders may be anathema to brick and mortar bookstores and the paper industry, I think they are leading to a reading renaissance that cannot but help to lead to more book unit sales, albeit the increased sales will be in digital format, not paper. It looks like the library ebook lending feature has the potential to generate more book sales as well, not to mention giving patrons new ways to help support their local libraries.
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OverDrive adds ‘always available’ titles to help libraries meet demand for ebooks no comments
OverDrive today announced another of its platform enhancements designed to help libraries cope with the surging demand for ebooks. OverDrive will be adding collections of ebooks that are always available to patrons without having to join a waiting list.
Today OverDrive announced new simultaneous access collections coming from Thomas Nelson, Encyclopedia Britannica, Crabtree Publishing and Lonely Planet. Prior to this Liquid Comics was the only provider of a simultaneous ebook collection. These collections are available to libraries on a yearly subscription basis.
"Simultaneous access eBooks collections help public, K-12 school, and higher ed libraries provide access to more available content on their existing digital collection websites," said Karen Estrovich, manager of content sales for OverDrive. "Titles in these collections are borrowed just like other material, can be transferred to compatible devices, and will expire at the end of the lending period."
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OverDrive to distribute DRM-free O’Reilly ebooks no comments
OverDrive announced today that it has entered into a distribution agreement with O’Reilly Media. Soon the publisher’s entire ebook catalog of around 1,500 ebooks will be available DRM-free to OverDrive’s library, school and bookseller partners in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other countries.
O’Reilly specializes in technology topics and features titles from popular writers such as David Pogue, J.D. Biersdorfer and Robin Nixon.
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OverDrive to announce improvements to help libraries meet growing demand for ebooks no comments
If you have tried borrowing an ebook from your local library you know that there is likely to be a long wait before it is your turn to start flipping its pages, especially if it is a popular book. This aspect of borrowing library ebooks, which is otherwise pretty much all good, is bound to get even worse as the Kindle ereaders gain access to library books later this year.
OverDrive says it will be enhancing its platform to try to help libraries cope with the explosive growth in demand for ebooks. From the press release:
As a result of unprecedented demand for eBooks, library directors, advocacy groups, and readers challenged leading eBook supplier OverDrive to find equitable and sustainable solutions to balance the interests of libraries and publishers. Key priorities for librarians include streamlined steps for customers to discover and borrow eBooks on a variety of platforms and devices, strong publisher support for library eBook lending programs, and additional options for digital book collections to meet the swell in demand.
Following a series of meetings with the Ohio Metro Library Directors, OverDrive will address these challenges by announcing a series of platform enhancements at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference (booth #3326) in New Orleans, June 24-27, 2011.
Titled ‘OverDrive WIN,’ this update to the leading eBook and audiobook service for libraries will:
- Eliminate the need for librarians and readers to deal with various eBook file formats
- Reduce library staff time for collection development and help-desk support
- Offer support for Kindle Library Lending coming later this year, in addition to every major operating system, reading device, and mobile platform
- Add hundreds of thousands of in-copyright eBook and digital audiobook records with free "eBook Samples" for immediate access on reading devices and platforms
- Enable patron driven acquisition, an opt-in program that will allow readers to immediately borrow a title, recommend to a library, or ‘Want It Now’ from online booksellers
- Provide new ‘always available’ eBook collections for simultaneous access of romance, self-help, young adult, children, and other fiction materials
- Launch ‘Open eBook’ titles, free of DRM
OverDrive will be releasing more details about its initiatives at the ALA Conference and as they are launched. Stay tuned.
Of course the one thing that libraries most need to assist shifting more of their acquisitions to digital formats to meet the rising demand is for the economy to get better so that they can get some of their funding back.
One thing you can do to sometimes reduce your wait for a very popular new ebook is to get on the waiting list before the book comes out. At my library the waiting list seems to start when the library places orders for a new book, which sometimes means you can get in line a few weeks or more before it is actually available.
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OverDrive releases new Windows Phone app no comments
OverDrive has released a new Windows Phone version of its OverDrive Media Console. The new app enables readers with popular phones such as the LG Quantum, Samsung Focus, HTC Trophy and others to download public library ebooks and audiobooks directly to their phone. Users can also search for their local library and browse its downloadable ebook and audiobook collections from within the app.
"With the launch of our new Windows Phone app, OverDrive now supports eBook and audiobook lending on every major mobile and desktop operating system," said David Burleigh, director of marketing for OverDrive.
The OverDrive app for Windows Phone is available at the Windows Phone Marketplace. To find a local library that sources their digital holdings from OverDrive use the OverDrive Search tool.
The video below from OverDrive demonstrates all of the features of the new Windows Phone app and serves as a quick tutorial.
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Kindle ereaders will soon be able to borrow library ebooks no comments
Well, this is something I didn’t expect to be writing about any time soon. Amazon has announced that it is indeed working with OverDrive to bring library ebook checkouts to the Kindle ereaders.
The new feature will launch later this year and will work on all models of Kindle ereaders as well as the free Kindle apps. Note taking and highlighting will be supported, and if you borrow the ebook again or buy the Kindle book all of your annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.
Being able to borrow ebooks from public libraries on the Kindle (provided the library is one of the 11,000 plus in the US that are powered by OverDrive) will remove one common complaint about the Kindle and a reason some consumers might have for buying an ereader other than Amazon’s. The Kindle Store seems to get the most free promotional ebooks, and now Kindlers will also have access to public library ebook holdings. At the moment this feature may not seem really important, especially if your local public library does not have many ebooks yet. But in the future the ability to borrow library ebooks will become increasingly valuable as libraries grow their digital collections.
Reading library ebooks may not be a perfect fit for you if your are into the instant gratification of your need to read. There is usually a waiting list, and sometimes it can be quite a long one for popular titles. You have limited time to read the borrowed book and usually can not renew it — if you don’t finish a book in the allotted time you will have to get back in line to check it out again. The maximum checkout period at my library is 21 days. While this is normally plenty of time, it may mean putting down your current read unfinished to accept your requested title when it does become available.
There also appears to be some sort of “When it Rains it Pours” clause written into the fine print on the back of my library card that seems to dictate that all titles on my waiting list shall become available at the same time regardless of whether requested six days or six months prior.
One nice thing about digital books as opposed to the paper books you might borrow from the library — ebooks don’t get stinky, dirty and full of questionable stains. That’s right, you can toss the reading gloves.
Update: OverDrive notes that once the Kindle Library Lending program goes into effect a public library’s existing collection of ebooks will all be Kindle compatible. Libraries will not need to purchase new Kindle versions of their existing ebooks.
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OverDrive updates Media Console for Android and iOS no comments
OverDrive has announced updates to its Media Console apps for both Android and iOS. Some of the new features:
Android (v2.2)
- Sepia display option for eBooks
- Screen-dimming override for eBooks
- Faster EPUB performance
- Sleep timer for audiobooks
iPhone/iPad (v2.2.1)
- Orientation lock for eBooks
- Night mode and sepia display option for eBooks
- Screen lock override for eBooks
- Improved range of font size settings
- In-app library “Website Finder”
The addition of the “Website Finder” to the iDevice app makes it easy to save a particular library’s digital collection website within the app so you don’t have to search for it again. OverDrive is working toward making the entire process of borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from public libraries doable from within the app itself, and this is another step on the way. The Android version of Media Console already includes the “Website Finder” feature.
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OverDrive releases new BlackBerry app no comments
OverDrive has released a new version of its free Media Console app for BlackBerry devices. The new version brings support for direct downloads of ePub ebooks from public libraries whose digital collections are supplied by OverDrive to BlackBerry phones and the forthcoming PlayBook tablet.
Like OverDrive’s apps for other devices, this new version also includes the “Get Books” feature, which lets you browse and check out titles from within the app itself, rather than having to do this from your desktop and then sideload the files.
OverDrive Console will work on BlackBerry touchscreen devices with BlackBerry OS 4.7 or higher. You can currently download the app from OverDrive or from MobiHand. Media Console will also be available in BlackBerry App World soon.
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Random House of Canada ebooks coming to Canadian OverDrive-powered libraries no comments
OverDrive has announced a new distribution agreement with Random House of Canada that will bring the publisher’s ebooks to Canadian libraries whose digital holdings are sourced from OverDrive.
From the press release:
Canadian libraries, schools, and colleges will soon have access to thousands of eBooks from Random House of Canada through OverDrive (www.overdrive.com). With this new distribution agreement, eBooks from McClelland & Stewart and Random House of Canada will be added to OverDrive’s catalog for Canadian libraries. Libraries will be able to offer their customers digital books from McClelland & Stewart and Random House of Canada’s list of award-winning authors including Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Judy Fong Bates, and Vincent Lam, as well as international best-selling authors such as P.D. James and Salman Rushdie.
To learn more about OverDrive’s digital distribution services for libraries, visit OverDrive booth #113 at the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference in Toronto, Feb. 2-5, 2011. To see if your public library is a member of the OverDrive network, visit http://search.overdrive.com.
"The Random House of Canada collection gives libraries access to more beloved Canadian authors and titles from historic Canadian publishing houses, such as McClelland & Stewart and Tundra Books," said Claudia Weissman, international business director for OverDrive. "The addition of these titles significantly expands what was already one of the largest collections of eBooks for Canadian libraries."
"Random House of Canada is committed to bringing the work of our authors to readers in whatever format the readers choose," said Lisa Charters, SVP, Digital, Random House of Canada. "We are pleased to partner with OverDrive to bring our authors’ work to even more readers in libraries."
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