In an April 25 press release, Innovative Interfaces Inc. (III) and OverDrive announced that they are planning deep API integration, which will include showing availability of ebooks in the ILS as well as checking out and placing holds through the library’s ILS platform, including Sierra and Encore. The integration will be demonstrated at the upcoming ALA conference in Chicago.
ReadersFirst General Meeting on May 14
The next general meeting of the ReadersFirst coalition of libraries is May 14 at 11am Pacific/12pm Mountain/1pm Central/2pm Eastern. Learn about recent advocacy activities, progress on the buyer’s guide and plans to discuss the ReadersFirst efforts at upcoming conferences. If your library isn’t signed on yet, visit readersfirst.org to learn more.
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– May 8, 2013
Hachette available today in OverDrive
Hachette titles are now available in OverDrive for purchase by libraries with standalone and Advantage subscriptions (not consortiums yet). OverDrive has provided a number of carts to work from. Hachette authors include James Patterson, Kate Atkinson, David Baldacci, Anita Shreve, Ian Rankin, Nicholas Sparks and Tina Fey. Expect new titles to be $85, and prices to drop for titles that have been available for more than one year.
Posted in Libraries, Publishers, Vendors.
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– May 8, 2013
Hachette pricing model
From PaidContent.org, more information on pricing: New ebooks will be available to libraries at the same time as the print edition. For new ebooks, Hachette is charging libraries three times the price of the “primary” print book. One year after publication, the price of an ebook will drop to 1.5 times the price of the print book. Hachette defines “primary” book price as “the highest-price edition then in print. The ebooks can be checked out an unlimited number of times (with each ebook only available to one patron at a time), and the library does not have to buy a new copy after a year. The publisher says it will review its pricing policy annually.
Posted in Publishers, Vendors.
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– May 2, 2013
More Hachette titles coming to OverDrive May 8
More than 5,000 eBook titles from Hachette will be added to OverDrive for both Canadian and US libraries as of May 8, reported on Marketwatch. Authors published by Hachette include: David Baldacci, Sara Zarr, Sandra Brown, James Patterson, David Sedaris and Kate Atkinson. The license model is one-copy one-user at a time, like Random House and most other publishers on OverDrive. Based on previous announcements, libraries should expect pricing to be higher than print prices.
Posted in Publishers, Vendors.
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– May 2, 2013
Latest Canadian device ownership
A new study from Microsoft, Ipsos and Flamingo Research estimates that Canadian eReader ownership is at 33% and tablet ownership at 54%. EReader ownership is estimated to be higher in the UK at 41%, while tablet ownership is highest in Canada.
The statistics were quoted in an eMarketer report and are higher than other recent research reports. An associated 40-page report on Canadian consumers is focused on cross-screen marketing and behaviour based on device used, and is available for free download from Microsoft Advertising. It does not include device ownership statistics.
Posted in Devices.
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– April 23, 2013
ALA President reports on publisher meetings
Maureen Sullivan summarizes meetings with Penguin and other publishers in New York in E-Content on April 16.
Posted in Libraries, Publishers.
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– April 19, 2013
Simon & Schuster tests eBook lending in New York
Simon & Schuster announced yesterday that they will begin lending eBooks to public libraries in New York, Brooklyn and Queens. The program will include full access to both front-list and back-list titles, purchased under a one-year license with unlimited loans, to one user at a time. The titles will include a buy button within the library catalogue, powered by Bibliocommons. The eBooks will be supplied via 3M. More details from Forbes.
Like Penguin, this is another 3M-based pilot program, so titles will not be available as eBooks in Canadian libraries.
Posted in Libraries, Publishers, Vendors.
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– April 16, 2013
Resale denied by courts for ReDigi
The New York Times reports on a decision dated Saturday, “ruling that a small company’s [ReDigi's] secondary market for digital music infringes on the copyrights controlled by record companies.” The case has been watched as a test for the first sale doctrine for digital technology, including eBooks and music. ReDigi has since released another version of its technology, ReDigi 2.0, which the judge did not rule on.
Posted in Retail.
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– April 2, 2013
Penguin will sell new releases to US libraries next week
Penguin U.S. is dropping the six month delay on the availability of new titles in eBook format to libraries in the US, according to DigitalBookWorld. The new titles will be available to US libraries early next week.
Penguin isn’t currently selling eBooks through OverDrive, so this doesn’t affect Canadian libraries, who still won’t be able to purchase Penguin titles.
Posted in Libraries, Publishers.
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– March 27, 2013
