Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Simon & Schuster Unveils Library E-Book Pilot Program

 

Simon & Schuster will launch a one-year pilot program through which its catalogue of e-books will be made available to the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public April 30, and the Queens Library by mid-May. S&S becomes the last of the Big Six publishers to sell its e-books to libraries for lending. The library can offer an unlimited number of checkouts during the one-year term for which it has purchased a copy. Each title is usable for a year from the date of purchase and may be checked out by one user at a time.

As part of this pilot, participating libraries are offering patrons the option to purchase a copy of S&S e-books from within their online portals. The publisher said that if the pilot program is successful, it could be implemented with other library systems across the U.S.

Carolyn Reidy, president and CEO of S&S, noted that in "making our full list available we think we will get a better sense of lending patterns and patron behavior, and I am particularly eager to start seeing the actual data so that we can better understand this still-new phenomenon."

"This is a path breaking step that will ensure that as e-book readership grows our citizens can enjoy access to books akin to what the library has always provided," said NYPL president Tony Marx.
Via Shelf Awareness

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