Courtesy of Publishers Weekly…
As the American Library Association Midwinter conference kicks off its run in Seattle, Macmillan has announced that it will begin its first e-book library lending program by the end of the first quarter. Using the agency model and working with a number of distributors, Macmillan will offer libraries over 1,200 backlist e-books from its Minotaur Books imprint. At launch, Baker & Taylor, OverDrive and 3M will be selling the Macmillan titles to library systems. Once purchased by a library, the titles will be available to them to lend for two years or 52 lends, whichever comes first. All of the books in the program will have the same digital list price.
Macmillan refered pricing questions to its distributors and OverDrive said each title will be $25.
The announcement, leaves Simon & Schuster as the only “big six” publisher without any library e-book offerings. Among the major publishers, Random House offers its full list to libraries for perpetual access, although at increased price points. Harpercollins offers its titles to libraries for 26 lends before the licenses must be renewed. Hachette offers a portion of its backlist at increased prices, and Penguin recently expanded its pilot project offering windowed access to a portion of its catalog for one-year licenses.
Read the complete article here: Macmillan to Begin E-book Library Lending Pilot
