Independent Publishing: New Library Direct Enables Libraries to Acquire Large Collections of Smashwords Ebooks

News from Smashwords today.
From a Blog Post:

Smashwords today announced Library Direct, a new service that allows libraries and library networks to acquire and establish large opening collections of ebooks, direct from Smashwords.
Library Direct is available to libraries that host and manage their own ebook checkout systems, typically using Adobe Content Server, and that are capable of acquiring a large opening collection.
We have already received purchase commitments from three library systems, each of which will acquire some variation of our top 10,000 best-selling titles. The purchase commitments approach $100,000 in total.
The first delivery is on schedule to occur next week to Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, which will purchase an opening collection drawn from the top 10,000 best-selling titles at Smashwords. Douglas Country, under the leadership of director Jamie LaRue, has been an outspoken proponent of what is becoming known as the “Douglas County Model.” The Douglas Country Model aims to replicate for ebooks the process by which libraries have traditionally acquired print books. The library acquires the book, owns the book, and manages the checkout systems where they limit the checkout to one copy at a time for each title they own. Douglas Country monitors the number of “holds” on each book (the number of people waiting to check it out), and if the hold count exceeds a certain number of patrons, the library purchases additional copies.
The other two library systems expected to acquire similar-sized collections include Califa and The Internet Archive.

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