The publisher of Khaled Hosseini, Harlan Coben andother popular authors has decided that it's comfortable with letting librariesoffer e-book editions of brand new releases.
Starting Tuesday, libraries can offer e-books from PenguinGroup (USA) at the same time that the hardcover comes out, a switch from theprevious policy of delaying downloads for six months, the publisher told TheAssociated Press. While vastly more e-books are available to libraries comparedwith a few years ago, Penguin and other publishers have limited digital accessfor fear of losing sales. The American Library Association has been calling forless restrictive terms.
"I am pleased to learn that Penguin's pilot isconfirming what research suggests and librarians believe: There is more to be gainedthan lost when publishers work with libraries," association presidentMaureen Sullivan said in a statement. "We are encouraged by Penguin'swillingness to experiment, make adjustments and move forward with libraries andour millions of readers."
Penguin has for months been tracking e-book usage atlibraries through pilot programs around the country. The effect of librarydownloads on commercial revenues has been acceptable and the publisher wascomfortable with making new releases available, the director of online salesand marketing, Tim McCall, said Wednesday. That means libraries can providee-editions of Hosseini's "And the Mountains Echoed" starting with itsofficial date of publication, May 21.
"We feel that we're ready to take the next step andoffer what consumers and libraries have been asking for," said McCall, whoadded that Penguin was not raising the price charged to libraries for e-books.
Like HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and otherpublishers, Penguin is still not offering unlimited access to e-books.Libraries are allowed to lend out one e-edition at a time, for a durationdetermined by the library. Because e-books don't wear out, libraries canpurchase them for one year, then must pay again to continue making themavailable.