Amazon Publishing Partners with DPLA to Share Content
/The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) released important library digital content news today:
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement with Amazon Publishing to make all of the approximately 10,000 Amazon Publishing ebooks and audiobooks available to libraries and their patrons through the DPLA Exchange, the only not-for-profit, library-centered content marketplace. This marks the first time that ebooks from Amazon Publishing have been made available to libraries. Like our previous publisher arrangements, this agreement furthers our mission to expand equitable access to ebooks and audiobooks while protecting library patron privacy.
Amazon Publishing titles will begin to be available in the DPLA Exchange via four licensing models this summer; we expect that libraries will be able to access all of the Amazon Publishing titles by the end of the year:
Unlimited, one user at a time access, two-year license
Bundles of 40 lends, available with a maximum of 10 simultaneously, with no time limit to use the lends
Bundles of five lends, available simultaneously, with no time limit to use the lends
26 lends, one user at a time access, the lesser of two years or 26 lends license
Library patrons will be able to access Amazon Publishing titles through SimplyE, the library-developed and managed e-reader app founded by New York Public Library. Amazon Publishing is now one of more than 1,000 publishers in the DPLA Exchange and one of more than two dozen with whom we are working to provide libraries greater choice and flexibility in ebook lending models. As with other publishers that we work with, Amazon will not receive any patron data. We will have more news about the growth of our collaborative ebooks work in the coming weeks—sign up for the DPLA Newsletter to hear about it. In the meantime, you can learn more about our ebooks work here, browse the Exchange here, and find answers to frequently asked questions here. If your library would like to become a member of the DPLA Exchange, or if you have questions about our ebooks work, please get in touch.
DPLA’s ebook work is supported by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Lots of great news here though of course RF, like Oliver Twist, has an irritating habit of asking for more:
The multiple flexible models offer options for libraries to best use their funds. The two year license might work wonderfully for guaranteed best sellers, offering perhaps as many as 52 to 55 circulations since no circ limit is in place. The 40 circ model offers a good idea of cost-per-use on perhaps less popular titles. Bundles of 5 could give the option to sample a new or more marginal purchase to see if it is a good candidate for further investment. It is to be hoped that a concurrent use model might be developed to allow for community reads. The only important option missing is a perpetual access model, which would make sure long-lasting titles did not have to be relicensed and prevent gaps from appearing in series. Guess we can’t have everything. DPLA and Amazon are to be complimented for providing options—and this sets a good precedent for other publisher to consider. We’ll have to wait to see prices before proclaiming this the best deal currently offered by a larger publisher, but definitely an A for now!
Titles are available in epub and not a proprietary format (such as Kindle) and patron data is kept private. Excellent, and very much in line with our RF principles. Thank you, Amazon, for agreeing to this option.
That the titles are available at all! Amazon has leapt from seeming recalcitrant to being a good partner with libraries. Critics might point out that only being available through the DPLA Exchange, and thus only through SimplyE, restricts access from many libraries. Well have to see if this is Amazon dipping in a toe or if this exclusive arrangement is long-term. Yes, Amazon benefits either way. This move will silence potential complaints, at least from the library perspective, that they are monopolistic. And it will put them in compliance with pending legislation in Maryland, and soon perhaps other states, that suggests publishers licensing to consumers must also license to libraries. That legislation only suggests the titles must be made available to libraries. It doesn’t say that titles must be made universally available through all vendors. Maryland State Library is a proud SimplyE adopter and has DPLA Exchange content. Amazon is in the clear with us.
Andrew Albanese of PW has pointed out that this deal is a “major coup” for SimplyE and the DPLA exchange. Possibly it will create even more interest in “the one app to rule them all.” RF hopes so. As the app that most closely exemplifies RF principles, we are always happy to see SimplyED be investigated and we hope, adopted. The DPLA Exchange is free to use. SimplyE can be deployed at relatively little cost by Amigos, Califa, or Lyrasis. Is it time for your library to add Amazon Publishing to your other digital offerings, using SimplyE to launch it and also content from your other platforms?