Last week Penguin sent notice to OverDrive that this is reviewing terms for library lending in their eBooks. In the meanwhile, OverDrive was instructed to suspend availability of latest Penguin eBook titles from our library catalog and disable “Get for Kindle” functionality for all Penguin eBooks. We apologize for this abrupt change in terms from this supplier. We’re actively working with Penguin in this issue and are hopeful Penguin will conform to restore access to their new titles and Kindle availability once possible.
This kerfuffle hasn’t gone over too well with some libraries. In an e-mail sent to the Digital Shift, Cynthia Laino of the C/W Mars Library Consortium lamented the turn of events — and the truth that her organization was left at nighttime. “Neither Penguin nor OverDrive made any type of announcement to library staff regarding this issue,” wrote Laino, whose consortium represents greater than 150 libraries around the US. “Now we have bought many additional copies of our top-rated titles just to meet the increased demand for them once Kindle users were added to our borrowers. We’d not have spent the extra funds (thousands of greenbacks) had we known this issue would arise.” Laino went directly to express her hope for a fast resolution, suggesting that the involved parties should a minimum of provide some compensation for the sudden withdrawal. We’ll be following this story because it develops, and may you should definitely bring you the very latest.
The Engadget Interview: BlackBerry PlayBook product manager Michael Clewley
Mozilla rumored to debut LG-made Boot to Gecko device at MWC
