“The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has released the E-lending Landscape Report 2014. ALIA commissioned Brussels-based Civic Agenda to produce a worldwide elending landscape report, identifying public library-led initatives to secure ebooks for borrowers.

Australian public libraries have experienced great difficulty in obtaining ebooks for elending and finding a platform which will meet the desired criteria:

• A secure, trusted repository that contains ebooks from the big publishers, as well as from authors direct, and from local publishers
• Content procured at a fair price
• Providing access to local history content
• Library branded
• Providing content that can be accessed from all sorts of devices
• With a clever discovery layer
• The options of loan or buy.

The report on elending platform developments internationally is intended to help identify practical solutions for Australian public libraries. It includes a list of conclusions and options available for Australian Public Libraries to consider when purchasing electronic material.”

Stephen