Page 22 - Amazon Publishing News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Ebook lending through public libraries has been something of a headache since the advent of digital reading. Strange 'hoop jumping' requirements from publishers and technology obstacles to overcome for libraries and patrons has made this a winding road, to be sure. But as it turns out, some of the barriers are not artificial... and not in the best interests of these underappreciated institutions. Amazon, the company that makes it all too easy to loathe them with some of their practices, has now been the subject of a report that documented its treatment of libraries and patrons. The company has...

E-commerce giant Amazon is reportedly refusing to sell ebook and audiobook versions of works it publishes through its in-house publishing arms to libraries throughout the country. Amazon is the only major publisher to prevent sales to libraries.

Amazon is withholding ebooks and audiobooks it publishes through its own in-house publishing arms from US libraries, according to a new report from The Washington Post. That’s because it doesn’t like the terms involved with selling to libraries that then loan out versions on platforms like Libby.

It's part of a broader effort to expand broadband access, after the pandemic highlighted the costs of the digital divide.

By Andrew Albanese | Feb 26, 2021 In a blog post this week, OverDrive CEO Steve Potash said he was proud of some of the “incremental gains” made in the library e-book market in 2020, but insisted that the work of establishing “fair, flexible, and reasonable terms” for libraries and schools to acquire and lend digital content is far from over. “What began as a single model for e-books 20 years ago is constantly evolving,” Potash writes, adding that OverDrive’s ongoing advocacy efforts on behalf of libraries “are even more critical now given how the pandemic is...