coffin's blog

This year celebrates the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. To honor the occasion, OverDrive has announced that the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ebook will be available for unlimited access in Wisconsin's Digital Library August 27th through September 10th. At no additional cost, all library patrons will be able to borrow the title simultaneously at the standard loan periods.

Tor, a division of Macmillan, has sent notice to library vendors, including OverDrive that they are going to embargo ebook sales of new titles to libraries for four months. You can read their statement here: http://www.readersfirst.org/news/2018/7/6/a-giant-leap-backwards.

In June, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) launched Open Bookshelf, a collection of ebooks free to download and handpicked by librarians across the US. The collection currently has more than 1,000 books, with new titles added daily. Open Bookshelf is designed both for libraries and for readers: it is currently available to libraries through the DPLA Exchange and to readers via the SimplyE mobile app.