Amazon has announced the launch of the Lending Library. Kindle owners with an Amazon Prime membership can borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.
The list of books in the Lending Library amounts to thousands including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers.
“Owning a Kindle just got even better. Today, we’re introducing a new Prime benefit built for Kindle: The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Prime Members now have exclusive access to a huge library of books to read on any Kindle device at no additional cost and with no due dates.”
For the vast majority of titles, Amazon has reached agreement with publishers to include titles for a fixed fee. In some cases, Amazon is purchasing a title each time it is borrowed by a reader under standard wholesale terms as a no-risk trial to demonstrate to publishers the incremental growth and revenue opportunity that this new service presents.
According to the library journal “The digital shift” librarians don’t consider this service as a competitor.
Keith Michael Fiels, the executive director of the American Library Association, has told to “The digital shift” that Amazon program was not really a threat to public libraries.
“The fact is there is a lot of innovation going on in libraries, and libraries account for at least 10 percent of books sales in the United States,” Fiels said. “We’re an important part of the market and libraries really do fill a key role, so I think there will continue to be a very vibrant place for libraries,” he said. He also noted that any program that increases reading is a plus for libraries.
Loading ...
An answer from an expert! Thanks for corntibtunig.