Hastings is writing on the occasion of Amazon "partnering with the popular ehook distributor and library lending platform provider OverDrive to give Kindle and its app users the ability to have ebook loans sent directly to their devices in Amazon's proprietary AZW ebook format" (p. 12).
His assessment: "Finally, school librarians will have a single platform from which we can loan ebooks that are readable on virtually any device our students choose to carry—whether it's a Kindle, Kobo, Sony Reader, Nook, laptop, BlackBerry, Android device, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch" (p. 12).
Hastings says that 100 school libraries are already using the Overdrive program, and he describes how it works. Minimum annual cost is $4,000 for 2,000 students. $2,000 is for set-up and $2,000 is for titles. "In most cases, the ebooks you choose to loan function just like their print counterparts; pricing is also similar and individual titles cannot be loaned concurrently" (p. 12). The title disappears from the e-reader at the end of the loan period but remains permanently in the library collection (unless it is from HarperCollins, which sets them to expire after 26 loans).
"For $1.50 a title, OverDrive will supply you with MARC records so that your ebooks will show up in your catalog, complete with live links so that your students can borrow ebooks directly from your OPAC" (p. 13).My thoughts
Given that last quote, does that mean students can renew their books independently of the librarian? Perhaps there's a way a librarian can put a limit on renewals of a book that someone else has requested.
It looks like a library would want to loan some e-readers for students who don't have one but also would be able to circulate books on students' own e-readers if they have them. This suggests that the earlier discussion of being able to buy a title from Amazon and download it onto six Kindles is not longer operative.
For my presentation to other district librarians next month, I should check out the Overdrive Web site: www.overdrive.com/SDL. "For pricing specifics, contact sales@overdrive.com."
The picture would look different if the whole district started an account, which is probably the most likely scenario. If not, I wonder if, say, Balboa and Burton could go together for an account? We'd be under 2,000 students, and that would cut each school's start-up costs in half as well as stretch or acquisition budgets.
On the other hand, if the SFPL is providing lots of YA ebooks, maybe we just loan the e-readers and teach students to get their books from the SFPL.
No comments:
Post a Comment