Digital audiobook distributor OverDrive is partnering with digital publisher ChineseAll to supply Chinese-language e-books and audiobooks to public libraries in North America. The collection will include more than 20,000 titles, with 8,000 e-books and 3,000 audiobooks to be available in the first year. Libraries that are part of OverDrive’s network will be able to add titles to their digital catalogs, which will then be available for download from a library’s ‘Virtual Branch’ download website. OverDrive currently provides download services for more than 8,500 libraries, retailers and schools, and supports for PCs, Macs, iPods, Sony Readers and most MP3 players.
Erica Lazzaro, licensing counsel at OverDrive, said North American library patrons have been eager to access Chinese-language content in digital formats. She said “thousands of e-books and audiobooks [will become] available in the first year and [there are] thousands more to come.”
OverDrive’s deal with ChineseAll—which is a leading digital publishing company in China—is one of many partnerships the company has struck with companies and institutions elsewhere in Asia. Other OverDrive partners include the Singapore National Library and Taipei Public Library, as well as e-tetailers in India and Japan and other publishers from the region.
