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…why not suggest the use of public-domain classics from, say, Project Gutenberg? Libraries won’t suffer the same lending restrictions that they would on books from commercial sources. In fact, readers can forever keep material downloaded from Gutenberg-type sites. Libraries, moreover, are free to print out public-domain books from the Net, and as noted here earlier, the materials can cost maybe $2 a copy. Great way to fill in gaps in collections.

TeleRead, of course, would help by allowing thousands of commercial books to be online for free to libraries and users, with payments to content-providers from a national digital library fund. But that day hasn’t come. And meanwhile, if your library system wants commercial e-books, it might investigate a new offering from OverDrive and Fictionwise.

“Under terms of the agreement,” says a statement from the former company, “OverDrive will provide premium content and digital rights management services to Fictionwise for use in their Libwise product (www.libwise.com). Patrons of libraries using Libwise will be able to download eBooks to either a PC or any popular handheld devices such as Palm, PocketPC, WinCE, Psion, and even some Nokia cell phones. The agreement also includes a co-marketing alliance between the two companies to reach the library market.” According to the companies, the main markets of the new product will be “small and independent libraries.”

 
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