By JULIE BOSMAN - New York Times, June 20, 2012
In the past year, Penguin Group USA has slowly pulled away from the library e-book market. Now it is tiptoeing back in.
The publisher is working with New York City libraries and 3M on a pilot program that will make Penguin e-books available in city libraries beginning in August, Penguin said on Wednesday.
If it is a success, the program could be expanded in public libraries across the country.
The announcement is the latest development in a tug-of-war between publishers and libraries, who have argued over the degree of access to e-books that library patrons should be allowed. As more book buyers have bought e-readers like the Nook and the Kindle, they have also discovered the ease of borrowing e-books from their local libraries – a transaction that doesn’t even require a visit to a library, since e-books can be downloaded remotely.
But major publishers, including Penguin, concerned that free downloads at the library were costing them e-book sales, have scaled back their books’ availability in recent months. That has left library patrons without many newly released books to borrow, frustrating librarians across the country. (Macmillan and Simon & Schuster have never allowed libraries to lend their e-books at all.)
In November, Penguin said it would stop making new titles available to libraries in e-book format. In February, it took that a step further, saying it would no longer offer new copies of e-books through OverDrive, a large provider of e-books to libraries.
The pilot program that will begin in August includes libraries in several boroughs and sidesteps OverDrive in favor of 3M.
Under the program, library patrons can borrow e-books on e-readers and other compatible devices. New titles will not be available immediately, a restriction known as windowing that could be a point of contention for library users.
David Shanks, the chief executive of Penguin Group, said in a statement: “We have always been committed to libraries and we are hopeful that this experiment will be successful. Our partnership with 3M and the New York Public Library is a first step toward understanding the best means of supporting the growing digital missions of our great library institutions and their sincere desire to bring writers to new readers.”
The Brooklyn Public Library currently carries more than 28,000 digital titles and tripled its e-book acquisition budget in the last year
The publisher is working with New York City libraries and 3M on a pilot program that will make Penguin e-books available in city libraries beginning in August, Penguin said on Wednesday.
If it is a success, the program could be expanded in public libraries across the country.
The announcement is the latest development in a tug-of-war between publishers and libraries, who have argued over the degree of access to e-books that library patrons should be allowed. As more book buyers have bought e-readers like the Nook and the Kindle, they have also discovered the ease of borrowing e-books from their local libraries – a transaction that doesn’t even require a visit to a library, since e-books can be downloaded remotely.
But major publishers, including Penguin, concerned that free downloads at the library were costing them e-book sales, have scaled back their books’ availability in recent months. That has left library patrons without many newly released books to borrow, frustrating librarians across the country. (Macmillan and Simon & Schuster have never allowed libraries to lend their e-books at all.)
In November, Penguin said it would stop making new titles available to libraries in e-book format. In February, it took that a step further, saying it would no longer offer new copies of e-books through OverDrive, a large provider of e-books to libraries.
The pilot program that will begin in August includes libraries in several boroughs and sidesteps OverDrive in favor of 3M.
Under the program, library patrons can borrow e-books on e-readers and other compatible devices. New titles will not be available immediately, a restriction known as windowing that could be a point of contention for library users.
David Shanks, the chief executive of Penguin Group, said in a statement: “We have always been committed to libraries and we are hopeful that this experiment will be successful. Our partnership with 3M and the New York Public Library is a first step toward understanding the best means of supporting the growing digital missions of our great library institutions and their sincere desire to bring writers to new readers.”
The Brooklyn Public Library currently carries more than 28,000 digital titles and tripled its e-book acquisition budget in the last year
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