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Time for OverDrive to sell to U.S. libraries or a related nonprofit while the sellin’ is good? Well, here’s more evidence of the wisdom of that approach.
Canadians are already discussing OverDrive alternatives that could significantly reduce the company’s revenues up there. Now, what about the U.S. in time?
The current OverDrive’s present dominance in American librarydom could actually be a positive—in that a library-friendly takeover in the U.S. could instantly clarify matters and let librarians control e-libraries. Forget about talk of a number of companies taking over market share from OverDrive. America really needs a genuine national digital library system that will respect local autonomy but provide a reliable infrastructure offering such essentials as stable interbook links.
For more on the Canadian OverDrive situation and related issues, via Gary Price, please see:
—As ebook lending skyrockets, libraries and publishers look for a Canadian-made licensing solution, in Quill & Quire.
—Expanding the eBook Market 2011, from the Canadian Urban Libraries Council.
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- Penguin ditches OverDrive’s public library side: Another reason for libraries to take over the distributor and gain more clout
- Getting free e-books from the library is overrated, says e-book blogger—and tells why he feels that way
- OverDrive, safeguarding classics, the Jane Austen-‘Hunger Games’ connection, and a few other priorities for the DPLA to ponder
- OverDrive as an e-library kickstart—and related information on e-books and family literacy: Links for new visitors to LibraryCity.org
The libraries buy OverDrive idea makes more and more sense to me by the day. But don’t just stop at a US/Canadian purchase, why not make it a worldwide solution. For New Zealand it could be a great boost to get more local titles available. We now have around 2/3 public libraries with OverDrive (40-odd) and a handful on a local platform. Perhaps OCLC could be the buyer?
Thanks for your enthusiasm for the idea, Paul. I’m very open to an OCLC buy except for the organization’s track record with NetLibrary—OCLC let other things matter more. But this is fixable. If OCLC made the right financial commitments and kept current OverDrive people as advisors, so as to avoid its past NL-related mistakes, then this could work.
As for getting more local titles available in NZ and elsewhere, that should be a top priority of the international side of the re-invented OverDrive. My sympathy about the current situation. Far afar I don’t know who’s to blame—maybe some NZ publishers are e-shy. But if that’s the case, then local libraries perhaps should team up with universities and others to find and edit good local content.
David
P.S. I’d also want to make sure that OCLC wasn’t proprietary about certain records. I think the DPLA has the right idea in trying to avoid proprietary metadata.