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Originally Posted by DNSB
Another issue is that an epub book is fulfilled by the library's Overdrive connection while a Kindle ebook is fulfilled by Amazon at an extra cost to the library. In Canada, the extra cost and the privacy issues were the main reasons that Canadian libraries do not offer Kindle format loans. You want to find out what books have been checked out and by whom? Get a court order for very specific information to compel the library to give you that information. Amazon? We'll sell you that information.
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Yes, epubs are fulfilled by the library's Overdrive connection. Unless, of course, the borrower chooses to use a Kobo and download the book directly to their Kobo, in which case the ebook is fulfilled by Kobo, not Overdrive. I don't have any idea whether or not this costs the library anymore, but then again, I didn't know that it costs the library more to host Kindle ebooks, either.
I'm also curious as to why it isn't a privacy issue for the loans to be fulfilled by Kobo's servers, but it is a privacy issue for the loans to be fulfilled by Amazon's servers? Is Kobo (and Rakuten, who owns Kobo) *really* such a paragon of virtue that everyone explicitly trusts them with all of their data?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
I'm not sure how much of an effect that reasoning would have. For the most part, being a rather cynical sort, it likely comes down to how much money could they make offering Kindle format loans after paying Amazon their gelt.
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I also wasn't aware that Libraries were out to *make money*. At least in the US, they a public service. They do try not to lose money, and they have to account for the money that they get, but they are not a for profit company...at least not in the US. Maybe that's different in other countries.
Shari