MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - HOW does the library/overdrive/publisher thing work?

Scott Nicholson · 12-23-2011, 07:30 AM

Overdrive is also not the most lean machine in the biz, either--I have a direct upload account there and books take a long time to roll through the system. It's very primitive--publishers have to FTP their files, as well as Excel spreadsheets of metadata, and basically do a very specific presentation. The system is so primitive that you can ONLY access your account if you use Internet Explorer...

So I'd say it's a mix of a clunky system, fear of free books, fear of piracy, and the world is rapidly changing yet libraries are stuck in old affiliations that are 10 years behind the times. Say what you want about Amazon, but if THEY were running the library system...

12-23-2011, 07:30 AM	#16
Scott Nicholson Scott Nicholson, author Posts: 363 Karma: 2029337 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Boone NC Device: Kindle	Overdrive is also not the most lean machine in the biz, either--I have a direct upload account there and books take a long time to roll through the system. It's very primitive--publishers have to FTP their files, as well as Excel spreadsheets of metadata, and basically do a very specific presentation. The system is so primitive that you can ONLY access your account if you use Internet Explorer... So I'd say it's a mix of a clunky system, fear of free books, fear of piracy, and the world is rapidly changing yet libraries are stuck in old affiliations that are 10 years behind the times. Say what you want about Amazon, but if THEY were running the library system...