E-book lending online in Ohio. (book bytes).

This March, the Cleveland Public Library (www.cpl.org), along with thirty other northern Ohio libraries that make up the CleveNet consortium, will launch a new circulating e-book and digital media collection. What makes this so unique is that it will be the first of its kind in the country to allow patrons to download from the library's website new, best-selling titles and access them using digital gear, including tablet PCs, notebooks, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptops--all from the comfort of their home.

"We were subscribers to Netlibrary," says Sari Feldman, deputy director of the Cleveland Public Library. "But we didn't really like the fact that library users needed a special access number and couldn't, at least, use theft regular library-card number. It was cumbersome, actually leaving our website to get to the Netlibrary site for materials," she says. "And the collection did not offer any popular titles."

So the library's solution was to create, as Andrew Venable Jr., director of the Cleveland Public Library says, an "access anytime anywhere" e-book lending model.

Exactly how does it work? According to Feldman, a patron can locate the material in the catalog. For example, Prey by Michael Crichton, which is available as a book, audio book and e-book, could be downloaded to any device. At the end of the circulation period--usually three weeks--it would disappear. "They can also go to our e-book page and select a title and then follow the same process," Feldman adds.

Another perk of e-lending is that regardless of where an Ohio resident may live in the state, they can borrow e-books from CleveNet libraries.

To bring the project to life, the Cleveland Public Library contacted OverDrive, Inc., which provides digital media solutions for book publishing and retail companies, including Barnesandnoble.com, HarperCollins and Random House. OverDrive was interested in creating a new and innovative library e-book model that was easy to use and accessible.

One of the most attractive parts of the venture is the availability of mainstream, popular titles as opposed to academic, research and business titles, which are more readily available in e-book library collections. E-lending ventures like CleveNet will ultimately require the cooperation and licensing from major publishing houses that are in the business of selling e-books and not lending them. But Cleveland Public Library's Feldman thinks there's an incentive for publishing houses to participate.

"Libraries are a very strong market and e-books have not caught the public imagination or developed into much of a market share," she says. "I think once publishers feel the materials will be protected, they will be even more confident to let libraries purchase and provide access."

A little help from an interested partner doesn't hurt, too. OverDrive will lend a hand in getting digital rights from publishers.

But the question remains: Will this kind of book lending become the library of the future? Imagine, you can read the latest Bernice McFadden novel free, without leaving your home or worrying about having to return it to avoid being charged a late fee. Sounds too good to be true given the less than stellar response to e-publishing? Maybe, or perhaps the time is right for virtual libraries. What do you think?

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