Libraries Team Up To Bring E-Books to Readers
A group of libraries mainly along the West Coast of the United States and Canada (and some in Florida, suburban Washington, D.C, Boston, and scattered elsewhere) led by the Internet Archive have announced a new, cooperative 80,000+ e-book lending collection on OpenLibrary.org. This latest collection of mainly 20th-century books adds to OpenLibrary.org's more than 1 million e-books that can be read without restriction.
During a library visit, patrons with a OpenLibrary.org account may borrow any of these lendable e-books using laptops, reading devices, or library computers.
"As readers go digital, so are our libraries," said Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive, in a press release. "It's fabulous to work with such a great group of 150 forward-thinking libraries."
Linda Crowe, executive director of the Peninsula Library System, said in the release, "In Silicon Valley, iPads and other reading devices are hugely popular. Our partnership with the Internet Archive and OpenLibrary.org is crucial to achieving our mission—to meet the reading needs of our library visitors and our community."
A recent survey of libraries across North America, conducted by Unisphere Research and Information Today, Inc. (ITI). It found that of the 1,201 libraries canvassed, 73 percent are seeing increased demand for digital resources with 67 percent reporting demand for wireless access and 62 percent seeing a surge in demand for Web access. American libraries spend $3 to 4 billion each year on publishers' products. Kahle suggests that by buying e-books, libraries are spending their money in a wiser way.
Any OpenLibrary.org account holder can borrow up to five e-books at a time for up to two weeks. Books can only be borrowed by one person at a time.
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