eBook Readers Might Not Spell the Death of Libraries After All

Mike Halsey MVP
Dec 31, 2010
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Amazon, Companies, Internet
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5

Amazon have now launched their latest salvo in the eBook wars, allowing people to borrow eBooks much like we've been doing with libraries for hundreds of years.

The books can only be loaned once however and for a maximum period of 14 days.  You can read loaned books on a Kindle or in any Kindle App.  These are available for a variety of devices including Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone.

Not all books will be available for lending, this will depend on the publishers providing permission for Amazon to do so.  There's also precious little information on whether this will be a free service or what charges may be payable, again we can probably assume this will vary depending on the book and publisher.

This is an interesting move from Amazon and, while it was broadly expected at some point, it will be an interesting move to watch to see how it affects eBook sales.  It is widely considered that Libraries have been good for overall book sales in recent years, so will this move do the same for eBook sales?

You can read more at the Amazon website.

The product details on Amazon's website indicate whether lending is enabled for a book or not. Loans can be initiated from "Manage your Kindle" or the ebook's product page on Amazon where you find a loan this title option. You need to enter the borrower's name and email address and may add an optional message as well.

The recipient will be notified via email and there is a seven day acceptance period. Borrower's can only accept the title if it is legally available in the country they are residing in. Recipients need to be Kindle users or create a Kindle account on the Amazon website if they are not before they can accept the loan.

Instructions for loaning Kindle ebooks:

From the Amazon product page

  1. Visit the Kindle Store.
  2.  On the product detail page, click Loan this book. You will be sent to the Loan this book page.
  3.  Enter the recipient's e-mail address. If desired, enter a personal message. Note: Be sure to send the Kindle book loan notification to your friend's personal e-mail address and not their Kindle e-mail address.
  4.  Click Send now.

From Manage your Kindle

  1. Visit Manage Your Kindle.
  2. In the Actions menu, select Loan this title. If Loan this title is not an option, lending is unavailable for the title.
  3.  Enter the recipient's e-mail address. If desired, enter a personal message.
    Note: Be sure to send the Kindle book loan notification to your friend's personal e-mail address and not their Kindle e-mail address.
  4. Click Send now.
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Comments

  1. Kobo Fan said on March 13, 2011 at 2:08 pm
    Reply

    Many public libraries in the US allow you to borrow eBooks onto your eReader but the Amazon Kindle doesn’t support this ePub format – shame on them! I wish they would as it would make libraries more used.

  2. Roman ShaRP said on January 1, 2011 at 2:45 am
    Reply

    I’m not impressed by that:

    There are plenty of e-book readers without DRM (about 20 models from more than 12 vendors), Russian e-book shops selling hot titles in Russian in 14 formats without DRM, and Russian e-libraries with more than 150.000 titles free to copy (I don’t care if it is legal). So, we here don’t need any permission from Amazon.

    I think it’s a shame for people to bow to rightholders tyranny, having far less options than people who treat e-books like mp3s and use and copy them any way they want.

  3. Jojo said on December 31, 2010 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    This is an idea that I thought about years ago when e-book readers first started coming out!

    Once everything in the world is digitized, there would no longer be any need for physical libraries.

    Now if only the world worked like this comic: :)

    http://xkcd.com/827/

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