Earlier today we linked Amazon’s press release stating that its Kindle e-books were available in 11,000 libraries nationwide. In some respects Amazon may have jumped the gun a little, as I found when I went looking for these books via my own local library (which lends out Overdrive e-books). I didn’t find anything for the Kindle, so I used the contact form to email an inquiry about it.
A librarian replied that “our [Overdrive] representative has told us that we can expect Kindle books within the next week,” and linked me to Overdrive’s own press release on the matter. That release states that the company “announced today that it has begun adding Kindle compatibility to all of the U.S. public and school libraries in its network and expects to have all sites updated within days.”
The 11,000 figure surfaces again, this time as the number of libraries nationwide that support Overdrive lending in general. So we can probably take from this that the Kindle capability is being added to every single library that already had Overdrive lending—and also that Amazon might have been a little premature in saying that “Kindle books are available at more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S.” Perhaps that “are” should instead have been “will soon be.”
My library did not have them available when it was announced, but by the end of the day, they were there.