Simon & Schuster Audio, Baker Publishing and Lerner Publishing among the first to provide libraries and schools additional options to manage their digital book collections

By: Hadie Bartholomew, OverDrive Communications Manager 

OverDrive has played a pivotal role in digital library lending and its development by delivering trusted services since the early 2000s. And throughout digital’s growth and evolution, libraries have relied upon OverDrive to continually innovate more efficient and effective ways to reach more readers in their community.

One area of innovation is in access models for the availability and use of digital content. Later in 2017, library and school partners will see a new option for purchasing eBooks and audiobooks: Cost-per-Circulation (CPC). This addition enables any school or library to provide a patron-driven acquisition (PDA) model to select titles from the vast OverDrive Marketplace catalog. CPC joins other PDA models in OverDrive’s catalog including Recommend to Library and Demand-Driven Acquisition. Based on a popular model in academic markets, OverDrive has offered Cost-per-Circ for some of its Streaming Video suppliers since 2013. Libraries and schools that select content available under the CPC model will only incur a charge when a reader borrows a title.

The greater benefit of this new access model is that it’s just one more option for libraries and schools. OverDrive is the only company that offers quick and easy shopping tools to search and select lending models on a single platform from the most comprehensive source of digital books, OverDrive Marketplace. Now libraries and schools can mix their collections with a variety of access models – from one copy/one user, metered access to simultaneous use and soon Cost-per-Circ for eBooks and audiobooks – depending on the title, expected demand, and budget. Major publishing houses such as Simon & Schuster Audio with a selection of their audiobook catalog, Baker Publishing, Lerner Publishing and many more will make their catalogs available in Cost-per-Circ in addition to one copy/one user. With PDA models including Recommend to Library, Demand-Driven Acquisition and now Cost-per-Circ, libraries and schools will be able to more efficiently manage their digital book collections and target specific areas of their community by giving them more control of the books they purchase. For example, this model can complement school libraries’ existing models by adding a large collection of non-English or other independent titles for personalized learning.

OverDrive has always advocated for more and broader access for libraries and their readers. Working closely with its library partners and the publishing community, OverDrive was the first to offer metered access to library and schools. OverDrive similarly pioneered simultaneous use on select eBooks and audiobooks or a set of titles for Digital Book Clubs, summer reading and “city read” programs. Additionally, schools can purchase classroom digital class sets from OverDrive with discounts for multiple units. Options include one year, one semester or 90-day periods.

Schools and libraries have also sought more creative ways to share titles across systems, even statewide. OverDrive has again lead the way with Shared Collections for schools (including regional collections with Southwest Educational Development Center in Utah and Lancaster-Lebanon in Pennsylvania, and statewide in Montana and Hawaii) and libraries. North Carolina launched a first of its kind statewide eBook sharing service, NC Kids Digital Library, specifically for children with 85 regional, county and municipal libraries across the state.

A common goal of libraries and schools is to reach more readers. Being able to choose from a variety of access models per title allows budgets to be used more efficiently, and the opportunity to engage more readers with a broader catalog of titles. Working together with publishers, OverDrive is helping broaden options for schools and libraries to share more eBooks and audiobooks with their readers.

For more information about CPC or to take advantage of any of the access models, contact your OverDrive collection development specialist. Publishers seeking to grow their sales and expand their reach using these additional sales models should contact their OverDrive publisher account specialist or visit us at booths 310 and 311 at BookExpo America, May 31-June 2.