I am setting up an ebook reader lending program at our university library. Currently we have 2 Sony Readers and 6 Amazon Kindles. I am interested in talking to and comparing notes with others setting up similar programs at other libraries.

Welcome to MobileRead, orionpozo! :hatsoff:

Have y'all lent e-books before this? Or is it something new that's developed since this new hardware got so visible?

I dunno if we have any other librarians, but I'm sure folks around here will have some suggestions, at any rate, and might be able to help you work through whatever snags you hit. :nice:

Libraries with ebooks is not new. Vendors like EBook Library (http://www.eblib.com/), Ebrary (http://www.ebrary.com/) and Netlibrary (http://www.netlibrary.com/), as well as more specialized vendor services like CRCnetBase (http://www.crcnetbase.com/), Knovel (http://www.knovel.com/), and Safari Books Online (http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/) allow libraries to make books available online to readers. These are all read online from the user's Internet-enabled computer.

Large digital collections like Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/), UVa's ElectronicText Center (http://etext.virginia.edu/ebooks/), and Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) have also been indexed by many libraries to make their content available to their users.

However, it has been almost 10 years since libraries made ebook reading devices like the Rocket Ebook and Softbook available. Now, as we prepare to loan out Sony Readers and Amazon Kindles, I would like to talk to other librarians and library users about their experiences.

Another university is also lending electronic readers:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9573

Hi orionpozo and welcome to the Forum

There's several University libraries in Australia trialling iLiads, for the use of academic staff, researchers and/or students. The feedback so far has been very positive.

If anyone can offer advice on managing security deposits, loans, returns, clean-ups (re-flash/format), legal requirements/DRM, or any other issues from a librarian's point of view, I'd be interested.

Where's HarryT? I've come to depend upon his wisdom concerning all things copyrightish.

Does Amazon know you are planning this, and has your Office of Grants and Contracts approved your plan? I can't imagine Amazon approving of your lending Kindles, and I doubt even more that they are happy to allow you to share downloaded content. They seem to prefer a one-device / one-license per title approach to raking in the cash with Kindle.

It is the content that is (sometimes) under copyright (and sometimes under a creative commons licence, or public domain).
I can't see any legal problem with lending devices to read things on. Many universities lend laptops already.

Copyright certainly wouldn't apply to the hardware in any case. :unafraid:

Once the hardware is paid for, you have a legal right to do whatever you like with it short of reverse-engineering and copying it, but even that would be a patent issue. :nice:

1. I have contacted the librarian an Winthrop University with the Sony Readers. Thank you Patricia for sharing that.
2. I would love more information about Australian libraries and iLiads cbell. Do you have any contact information or library names?
3. We are working with the Amazon technical support folks and they have been very helpful. I get the feeling that, within the restrictions of their DRM, they are happy to have libraries buying Kindles and content.

3. We are working with the Amazon technical support folks and they have been very helpful. I get the feeling that, within the restrictions of their DRM, they are happy to have libraries buying Kindles and content.

Just so you know, you won't be able to buy Kindle ebooks with a purchase order. You'll need to use a credit card. I know of at least one library who made this mistake.

3. We are working with the Amazon technical support folks and they have been very helpful. I get the feeling that, within the restrictions of their DRM, they are happy to have libraries buying Kindles and content.

So, I am interested in how this works. Will you have one account that you will register/deregister devices to and be able to send all the books in one Amazon account to any/all of your Kindles. This could concevibly allow you to have an unlimited number of kindles contain copies of books that were purchased once.

Or, will you be required to have one Amazon account per every 6 Kindle devices and purchase the same books multiple times?

Also, when you lend out a Kindle, I assume it is not registered thereby not enabling the user to buy more books on your library account. Does an unregistered kindle still allow Wikipedia and internet access.

BOb

Hi Nate -

We are using a credit card account. As a result we are de-registering the Kindles at checkout and re-registering them when they are checked back in.


The user can ask the library staff to download a title to the Kindle at checkout so they can pick the title they want to read. When checked back in, additional titles that have been purchased are added to the device. We currently have 6 Kindles so all devices can share titles purchased.

It is a user-driven collection model with the latest user getting to read the book of their choice as well as browse the books selected by previous borrowers. We have all walked into a library to get a book, only to find out the library doesn't have it. Now the librarian can say "Would you like us to download that book to a Kindle so you can have it today?"

Hi Nate -

We are using a credit card account. As a result we are de-registering the Kindles at checkout and re-registering them when they are checked back in.


The user can ask the library staff to download a title to the Kindle at checkout so they can pick the title they want to read. When checked back in, additional titles that have been purchased are added to the device. We currently have 6 Kindles so all devices can share titles purchased.

It is a user-driven collection model with the latest user getting to read the book of their choice as well as browse the books selected by previous borrowers. We have all walked into a library to get a book, only to find out the library doesn't have it. Now the librarian can say "Would you like us to download that book to a Kindle so you can have it today?"

The register/de-register method sounds like it's too much work. Wouldn't it be easier to control the ebook purchases by enabling and disabling the credit card? Plus, if you keep all the Kindles registered to the account, any new ebook could be sent to all the Kindles over Whispernet simultaneously.

The register/de-register method sounds like it's too much work. Wouldn't it be easier to control the ebook purchases by enabling and disabling the credit card? Plus, if you keep all the Kindles registered to the account, any new ebook could be sent to all the Kindles over Whispernet simultaneously.

Actually de-registering is very simple, just click on the de-register option. Re-registering requires the username and password for the account.

One advantage to this is that a user with an Amazon account can register the Kindle while they have it checked out and purchase and download titles to the Kindle or a flash drive. Thus they can build a library that is stored at Amazon and on a flash drive that they can use with any Kindle they have access to. The titles are tied to the account, not the device.

... Does an unregistered kindle still allow Wikipedia and internet access.

BOb

Hi Bob, The unregistered Kindles do not have Internet access. However, the user can register the device to their own account while it is checked out, maintain access to all our books, and use their account to get the full Kindle experience.

The register/de-register method sounds like it's too much work. Wouldn't it be easier to control the ebook purchases by enabling and disabling the credit card? Plus, if you keep all the Kindles registered to the account, any new ebook could be sent to all the Kindles over Whispernet simultaneously.

Hi Nate,
David is the Public Service side of this project and he wanted me to post this reply for him:

Enabling and disabling the credit card would be a nightmare. Our corporate credit card is so tightly controlled you'd think it was plutonium. Enabling and disabling purchases on the Amazon account would work, if Amazon gave us an easy way to do this.

The second point about all the Kindles getting the content simultaneously doesn't hold up. All the titles on the account show up under Content Manager, whether they're on the device or not. We do, however, have the ability to download given titles only to the unit(s) we wish.

cheers,
DD

Hi Bob, The unregistered Kindles do not have Internet access. However, the user can register the device to their own account while it is checked out, maintain access to all our books, and use their account to get the full Kindle experience.

It was my understanding, from another thread here, that if the Kindle was registered to another account, and books from the previous account would be removed since the eBooks are not transferable. Have you found this not to be the case?

BOb

Hi Nate,
David is the Public Service side of this project and he wanted me to post this reply for him:

Enabling and disabling the credit card would be a nightmare. Our corporate credit card is so tightly controlled you'd think it was plutonium. Enabling and disabling purchases on the Amazon account would work, if Amazon gave us an easy way to do this.

The second point about all the Kindles getting the content simultaneously doesn't hold up. All the titles on the account show up under Content Manager, whether they're on the device or not. We do, however, have the ability to download given titles only to the unit(s) we wish.

cheers,
DD

You misunderstood what I meant by simultaneous. Your current method is to transfer content to a Kindle when it is returned (or upon request). I was suggesting that the content be transferred to all the Kindles at the time it is purchased.

I do not see what problem you would have with the credit card. I have a couple card numbers in my Amazon account. When i want to buy a Kindle ebook, I enable one of them under "one-click", and when I'm done I disable it. The number is still in the account, only not active under "one-click".

It doesn't matter, though. Your method is better.

This thread seems to be focussed on Kindles which are mostly applicable to Americans.

If anyone has suggestions for managing iLiad loans, I'd be very interested.

orionpozo, I've sent you a PM with contact details.

You misunderstood what I meant by simultaneous. Your current method is to transfer content to a Kindle when it is returned (or upon request). I was suggesting that the content be transferred to all the Kindles at the time it is purchased.

I do not see what problem you would have with the credit card. I have a couple card numbers in my Amazon account. When i want to buy a Kindle ebook, I enable one of them under "one-click", and when I'm done I disable it. The number is still in the account, only not active under "one-click".

It doesn't matter, though. Your method is better.

Hi Nate,
When a title is purchased using one Kindle, Amazon places it in our account's Content Manager and Whispernet downloads it to that device. We have not found a way to download to all devices at one time. Download is something that is done on each device from the menu. The new title appears in the menu of all the Kindles registered to the account because they are using the same Content Manager file at Amazon. However, we have not found a way to automatically download to all devices as content is acquired.
Magazines, newspapers and blogs, which download automatically can only be purchased for a single Kindle, not shared like our book collection.

However, we have not found a way to automatically download to all devices as content is acquired.


I think if you buy online you can specify what Kindle to send the content too. Also, from the online media library you can send content to any Kindle you would like.

BOb