After entering the library e-book market last April with a limited pilot, Simon & Schuster is expanding its program to more libraries, and adding OverDrive to its list of vendors. The publisher and OverDrive today announced a new pilot involving some 15 public libraries, including some of the nation's biggest, highest circulating library systems.
The program operates under essentially the same terms as S&S’s initial pilot, which involved public libraries in New York City, and used vendors 3M, BiblioCommons, and Baker & Taylor. Under the program, S&S’s full catalog of e-book titles will be available for pilot libraries to purchase for one year of unlimited lending, one user per copy.
Readers can also purchase the titles through their library’s Web site with a new Library BIN (Buy It Now) option, with a portion of the proceeds going to their library.
Thus far, the following library systems are up and running with OverDrive, with more to come online shortly: the Boston Public Library, MA; the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA; the Cuyahoga County Public Library, OH; the District of Columbia Public Library, DC; the Douglas County Libraries, CO; the Greater Phoenix Digital Library, AZ; the Kent District Library, MI; the King County Library System, WA; the Lee County Library System, FL; the Nashville Public Library, TN; the North Carolina Digital Library, NC; the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH; the San Antonio Public Library, TX; the Free Library of Philadelphia, PA; and the Maryland Digital Library, MD.
“We look forward to providing access to our titles to many more thousands of avid readers," said Doug Stambaugh, v-p, global e-book market development and strategy for Simon & Schuster, "and furthering our understanding of lending patterns and patron behavior with e-books through this wider test of a new library model."
