OverDrive Expands Audiobook Offerings to Public, School Libraries
By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 9/1/2008
The library just got a little cooler for teens. Public libraries can now lend download audiobooks and eBooks by best-selling authors such as Stephen King, Nick Hornby, and other Penguin authors.
OverDrive, a digital book distributor to public and school libraries, has just added hundreds of Penguin Group titles to its network of library partners, supplementing the company’s existing collection of more than 150,000 eBook, audiobook, music and video titles.
“Penguin is one of the largest English-language trade book publishers in the world, and now public libraries can add digital books from this global publisher to their download collection,” says Erica Lazzaro, OverDrive’s licensing counsel. The company provides its services to more than 7,500 libraries nationwide.
“Teaming with OverDrive gives us a unique opportunity to offer our expansive collection to the digital library market and deliver our quality titles to even more readers,” says John Fagan, Penguin eBooks marketing director. “Library users will now have the chance to download audiobook and eBook titles from some of the biggest authors in the world.”
Meanwhile, school libraries can also offer the same download service to its students by purchasing individual titles from authors ranging from Stephenie Meyer and Meg Cabot to William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.
School libraries also have the option of purchasing a service called School Download Library, which includes a core collection of popular and classic eBooks and audiobooks. Individual titles may be added separately later. This service includes Web site design and hosting, maintenance and secondary support, real-time reports on usage, as well as integration with a school library or school system.
The service is then free to library patrons or the school’s students, at the library’s or school’s discretion.
Sample School Download Library Web sites include Greenville County Schools in South Carolina, LNOCA (a consortium of 50 school districts in Ohio), and the WSWHE BOCES in New York..
