Amazon.com Will Partner With OverDrive and Launch Library Lending Service for Kindle

UPDATE: Answers From OverDrive to a Few Questions Being Asked Today

Full Text of News Release
Note: This will be a U.S. only service.

Unfortunately, It contains almost zero info about the actual service (how it will work, the type of materials available, additional costs for libraries, end users, etc.) beyond when it will work and that any notes you make will be available whenever you borrow or purchase the book.

Sure, this is a general news release but nevertheless it could contain a few more details. If you read the full text it sounds more like a advertisement for the Kindle.

When something this BIG comes along details (facts from the organizations involved) help create a conversation about what WILL take place vs. guessing what might happen, dealing with rumors, and hoping that info leaks out.

O.K. Here’s what we do learn from the news release:

+ Service coming later this year.

+ 11,000 libraries involved. This is very close to the number of OverDrive customers currently being used on the OD site.

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer’s annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

From an Amazon Exec:

“We’re doing a little something extra here,” [Jay] Marine, [Director, Amazon Kindle] Marine continued. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced.”

[Clip]

“We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps,” said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. “We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle.”

That’s about it folks. Stay tuned and check back here. We will link to more info (if it becomes available) and commentary.

• Tim Spalding, CEO of LibraryThing, has several interesting tweets about the news including several thoughts about another important topic, privacy and Amazon access to checkout data. Direct to LibraryThingTim
  
• Here’s one list of several important questions that need answering from Steven Abram (Bottom of Post)
  
• Commentary and Analysis from Jason Griffey
  
• After Kindle Lending, the Deluge” by Josh Hadro (Library Journal)
• Questions we should be asking about Kindle Library Lending (Librarian in Black)

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Data Files, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Publishing