SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

March 7, 2011 by Gary Price

The Economist on E-Books: "Either a Borrower or a Lender to Be"

March 7, 2011 by Gary Price

From The Economist:

On the surface, Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s e-book loan policy seems like the ideal solution to this age-old problem. Both firms allow lending of books, so long as the publisher agrees to it. Owners may lend their digital copy, though they can only do so once and for no more than a fortnight. As with traditional books, the title is unavailable to the owner during the loan period; and the work is deleted from the borrower’s account after the 14 days. This is better than nothing, but much more could be done to ease the path to greater ebook adoption and consumption—for example, allowing owners to rent or resell their digital copies at will.
Two websites are pursuing an interesting intermediate step, inserting themselves as a cost-free broker between owners of books bought for Amazon’s Kindle reader and prospective borrowers. Book Lending set up shop in January (it initially had Kindle in its name but Amazon insisted this be removed). Lendle launched just a few weeks ago. (Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader is not supported by either for now.)
[Clip]
Jeff Croft, a designer and programmer who built Lendle, says the system is designed around a community of trust and tokens of exchange. “One of the things that we’ve really focused on on Lendle is to make it fair. If you don’t lend, you can’t borrow,” he explains. Neither Lendle nor Book Lender collect fees from their customers, but the two sites have links to purchase books via Amazon’s affiliate program, and get a small cut of every sale.
The links are meant merely to keep Amazon happy. In Mr Croft’s view, Lendle may help spur sales. Not everyone will have the time and dedication to read every borrowed virtual book from cover to cover in 14 days. Those who do not may wish to purchase an electronic copy. It is a similar story when readers learn that a book they are after is not available for lending now or ever.

Read the Complete Article

Filed under: Publishing

SHARE:

E-Books

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Recent Articles on LJ

Certified Sustainable | Sustainability

Proud Boys Disrupt Drag Queen Story Time at San Lorenzo Library

Dartmouth Repatriates Samson Occom Papers to Mohegan Tribe

Capitol Gains: ALA 2022 Preview

After the MLIS

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Report: "The Important Role Libraries Play in Building a Creative and Innovative Society"

From ArchDaily: As gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. Foundational in creating opportunities for learning, as well as supporting literacy and education, the resources ...

Not Real News: An Associated Press Roundup of Untrue Stories Shared Widely on Social Media This Week

From the Associated Press: A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were ...

Statement: American Library Association (ALA) Condemns Threats of Violence in Libraries

Full Text of ALA Statement (6/24): In response to the alarming increase in acts of aggression toward library workers and patrons as reported by press across the country, the American ...

Roundup (June 24, 2022)

FCC and IMLS Sign Agreement to Promote Broadband Access More Than Fifty Libraries and Library Systems Live on EBSCO FOLIO Library Services Platform NIST Releases New Guidance and Resources on ...

Report: "Vatican Releases Thousands of Holocaust-Era Letters and Requests Online"

From the Associated Press (via Times of Israel): Pope Francis orders the online publication of 170 volumes of its Jewish files from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, the ...

The New York Public Library Opens a ‘Virtual Branch’ on Instagram and Launches a Reading Recommendation Project Using...

From NYPL: The virtual branch— a custom designed interactive AR (Augmented Reality) Effect accessible via Instagram Reels is the centerpiece of #NYPLSummerBookshelf, a new initiative to spark a love of ...

Roundup (June 23, 2022)

CLIR Invites Proposals for Pocket Burgundy Series (via Council on Library and Information Resources) Oregon’s State Library added to National Register of Historic Places (via Oregon Capital Chronicle)

State of New York Releases First-Of-Its Kind Statewide Address-Level Broadband Map

From GCN: An address-level, interactive broadband map will help officials in New York explore statewide high-speed internet availability, assess connectivity needs and better allocate state and federal funding. The map ...

Journal Article: "Rarely Analyzed: The Relationship Between Digital and Physical Rare Books Collections"

The article linked below was recently published by Information Technology and Libraries. Title Rarely Analyzed: The Relationship Between Digital and Physical Rare Books Collections Authors Allison McCormack University of Utah ...

Mellon Foundation Awards $600,000 to Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network

From The Pratt Institute: The Mellon Foundation has awarded the Pratt Institute School of Information $600,000 to support the Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network (DPOE-N) in collaboration with the ...

DPLA Receives $150,000 Grant From the Knight Foundation to Expand the Palace Marketplace and Palace Bookshelf

From a DPLA Announcement: DPLA’s ebook work is a key part of our mission to advance digital access to knowledge for all. Earlier this month, The Palace Project app and platform ...

Charles Watkinson Takes Office as AUPresses President

From an AUPresses Announcement: Charles Watkinson, director of the University of Michigan Press, has stepped into the presidency of the Association of University Presses. Watkinson, who also serves as associate ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW INFODOCKET ON TWITTER

Tweets by @infodocket

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.