Audio/Text Transcript: Peter Brantley Interviewed on Public Radio About Libraries and eBooks

Chicago Public Radio has aired and posted a seven minute interview with Peter Brantley from the Internet Archive and their awesome Open Library project.
The interview begins with a brief discussion about some of the current issues involving ebook lending and libraries before discussing the Open Library “In-Library eBook Lending Program” that began in February of this year. It’s something we’ve posted about several times.
From the Interview:

And here’s where Brantley says the Open Library project comes in: They want to help libraries get digital mileage out of their existing paper books. Here’s how Brantley explained it to me:
BRANTLEY: Libraries might provide access to their books, we digitize them, and then the library takes them off their shelf. So then we try to make that book available through a borrowing system–directly to the library patron, so the library patron would be able to check that book out digitally, instead of checking it out in print.
And the book becomes available for check-out to the patrons of any library system that joins the Open Library project. But if only one library has sent in a particular book to be digitized, then there’s only one digital copy to loan out, nationwide. But then, maybe a second library sends in the same book…

Direct to Complete Transcript and Audio of 7:21 Interview
By the way, if your library is not yet participating in the “In-Library eBook Lending Program” don’t forget that the Open Library currently offers 1 million+ ebooks accessible to ALL users. Plus they also provide DAISY formatted titles,  one of the very best web-based ebook readers we’ve used, and much more.
See Also:

• All 50 State Librarians Vote to Form Alliance With Internet Archive’s Open Library (November 4, 2011)
• In-Library eBook Lending Program Expands to 1,000 Libraries (June 26, 2011)
• Internet Archive’s Open Library Launches In-Library eBook Lending Program, More than 80,000 Titles Available (February 22, 2011)

See Also:

• Peter Brantley Also Blogs About Libraries, E-Books, and Other Issues For Publishers Weekly

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