"Amazon under pressure to lift ban on e-book library sales"

[Hopscotch]

As I’m always the last to know - does this article from The Hill Dec 02/12/20 mean anything to indies?

Amazon’s refusal to sell e-books published in-house to libraries is sparking backlash as demand for digital content spikes during the coronavirus pandemic.

Librarians and advocacy groups are pushing for the tech giant to license its published e-books to libraries for distribution, arguing the company’s self-imposed ban significantly decreases public access to information….

An Amazon spokesperson said the company is in “active discussions” with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) to make its e-books available for library distribution.

The company expects “to be testing a number of different models” early next year, the spokesperson added….

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/528280-amazon-under-pressure-to-lift-ban-on-e-book-library-sales

[David VanDyke]

I hope they do sell our ebooks to libraries. The idea that library sales decrease profits are highly suspect. In fact, I think there's plenty of evidence that many authors get discovered in libraries and sell later to those readers who wish to own copies, whether digital or hard.

[German Translator]

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/85068-dpla-in-talks-to-offer-amazon-publishing-e-books-to-libraries.html

Amazon Publishing in Talks to Offer E-books to Public Libraries


The potential deal would be a breakthrough moment in the library e-book market as Amazon currently does not make its digital content available to libraries. It would also be a major coup for the Digital Public Library of America's upstart e-book platform and its SimplyE library reading app
By Andrew Albanese |
Dec 04, 2020

[Arches]

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/85068-dpla-in-talks-to-offer-amazon-publishing-e-books-to-libraries.html

Amazon Publishing in Talks to Offer E-books to Public Libraries


The potential deal would be a breakthrough moment in the library e-book market as Amazon currently does not make its digital content available to libraries. It would also be a major coup for the Digital Public Library of America's upstart e-book platform and its SimplyE library reading app
By Andrew Albanese |
Dec 04, 2020

It's worth noting that the Publisher's Weekly article specifies that the libraries' deal with Amazon would only be for Amazon Publishing titles, not for KDP books at large. That's a major limitation to the potential agreement, but maybe it  would be a first step that would eventually lead to a closer relationship between the libraries and most self-published authors.

[CaptnAndy]

I don't understand. I have been checking out Kindle ebooks from the Sacramento Public Library for over 4 years. They have some EPUB ebooks, but the majority are Kindle ebooks. Some titles are only available through an Amazon Loan Program.
 

[Lynn]

It's my understanding that this is about the books published by Amazon through Amazon's specific imprints, like Montlake, etc. It's not related to the Kindle format.

Those books are currently available only through Amazon. You can't get them at other booksellers and you can't get them through the library.

[She-la-te-da]

Amazon's imprints. For us regular folk, if you're not in Select, get your book on Overdrive, through Smashwords or D2D.

[LilyBLily]

I don't even know why anyone thinks this is a big deal. It's only Amazon's books, and thank goodness not mine. I don't want Amazon deciding it will sell my books to libraries for a nickel--and then refund the nickel.