More eBooks Coming to Canadian Public Libraries

Do you have an eReader? Increasingly I see people using eReaders on a bus or aircraft where they would previously have been reading a paperback.

 

However, at present the selection of eBooks available through Canadian public libraries has been quite limited, and the download procedure through the Overdrive system a klutzy multi-stage process.

 

Canadian public libraries, and their patrons are frustrated by the lack of flexibility in the present system. Why can't downloading an eBook from the library be as easy as finding it in the catalog and clicking a button, as easy as purchasing an eBook for the Kindle?

Canadian publishers have a large backlist of books already in eFormat but not made available through the existing system. Whether backlist or new, Canadian titles are not a priority for the US-based Overdrive. So Canadian libraries, and patrons, suffer from lack of access.

Now Canadian public libraries and publishers are working together to change that in an initiative to reach the pilot project stage later this year, likely starting this fall, in Hamilton, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

There's a good 42 minute video of a conference presentation The State of E-Lending in Canada for those who want to dig in more deeply.