International library news

Simon & Schuster drops ‘Buy It Now’ elending requirement

In the US, Simon & Schuster is expanding its ebook lending program to all public libraries by dropping its ‘Buy It Now’ merchandising requirement to participate in the program, reports Publishers Weekly. S&S president and CEO Carolyn Reidy said in a statement that the publisher is looking forward to ‘serving the broadest possible segment of the library community in order to bring our ebooks to their patrons’, and hopes libraries will still ‘consider “Buy It Now” as a new and viable option to generate revenue for the library and provide a service for their patrons’. The ‘Buy It Now’ option offers library patrons the option to purchase an S&S ebook via the library’s website, with a portion of the sales going to the library. The S&S elending program allows ebooks to be used for one year from the date of purchase, with an unlimited number of checkouts during that period. The program includes both frontlist and backlist titles.

Biblioboard, bestselling indie authors partner on elending program

US technology company BiblioBoard has announced a new library elending program that offers bestselling independently published and self-published ebooks through a multi-user model, reports Publishers Weekly. Dubbed the ‘Indie Rock Stars’ module, the program will launch with titles from around 50 authors, including successful, formerly self-published author Hugh Howey, and will feature at least 18 New York Times bestselling books and more than 30 award-winning novels. BiblioBoard founder Mitchell Davis told Publishers Weekly that the company’s aim is to establish an ‘elegant’ library experience for ebooks. ‘There is nothing less elegant than one-user-at-a-time checkouts, waitlists, or asking patrons to race and finish a book before it disappears from their bookshelf,’ he said. The module will launch at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference in Chicago on 30 January.

Remote e-lending pilot project announces half-year trends

A remote ebook lending pilot program in UK libraries has led to a ‘significant’ increase in borrowing but not in ebook buying, reports the Bookseller. The year-long program, which has just released a six-month update, is being run by the Society of Chief Librarians and the UK Publishers Association to analyse the impact of different models of elending on sales. The program also found that an increase in elending has not decreased physical lending or visits to libraries.

Category: Library news