Will Amazon Offer Purchasing and/or Donation Options for Library-Owed E-Books?

It may already have happened, but if not, I am wondering how long it will take Amazon to offer a purchasing and/or donation option for library “owed” e-book titles. For a while, OverDrive’s LibraryBIN (“Buy It Now”) program has allowed patrons “to buy popular and best-selling e-books and audiobooks with most of the LibraryBIN profits going back to libraries.” This is pretty cool, but will Amazon do it? I’d think that publishers would be happy because they could gain some revenue from it. A win-win, right?

Undoubtedly, library e-book collections will gain more visibility and with more visibility comes more demand, which many libraries may not be able to handle. Although I am fairly confident that libraries can handle it, it is probably too early to tell.  Anyway, I would welcome the idea of Amazon adding a purchasing option for high-demand library e-book titles as long as a portion (even a very small portion) of Amazon’s profits go to library funds AND if library users could then donate their used e-books to their library’s digital collections to give others the opportunity to read them.

On another note, Gary Price from InfoDocket, wrote a thought-provoking post on “eBooks, Privacy, and the Library” and he asks some very important questions that everyone, not just librarians, should be trying to answer.

What do you think?

Overdrive Media Console iPhone Application Feedback

I just installed the Overdrive Media Console iPhone Application on my iPod Touch and it installed beautifully. When I launched the application I thought I could browse for titles within the console, but you must first find a library that has Overdrive and then browse/search for titles on their customized Overdrive website. Luckily, I knew the URL to where my library's Overdrive website is hosted because the console doesn't provide an easy-to-find "Find my Library" link in their help pages. Once you find your library's Overdrive website and then some titles, you are asked to login to access your cart.

I browsed for iPod-compatible titles and found a few; however, I received an "Unexpected Error" regarding formats when trying to add the titles to my cart. I went back to browsing only MP3 titles and found one that seemed interesting. This time it worked like a charm! I was able to download sections of the book and it played flawlessly.

I would give this app four out of five stars. It isn't a huge deal, but it would be nice if you could search for and download titles within the application similar to Stanza and other apps. Also, I know the app is for eAudiobooks only, but Overdrive also includes EPUB, PDF, and other formats and it would be nice if those formats were supported too. All in all, this is a wonderful app!