Macmillan Publishers Broadens Public Library E-lending Pilot Program

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Macmillan Publishers will be adding its full collection of frontlist eBooks to their public library e-lending pilot, it was announced today. It is the first time the company has made its catalog of eBooks published in the last twelve months available for lending in libraries.

The pilot program has been in place since March 2013 and currently includes all Macmillan eBooks published twelve or more months ago. With the addition of frontlist, Macmillan will have approximately 15,000 books available in their public library lending program and will continue to add new books weekly. Their frontlist eBook titles will be made available on the same day they go on sale in the retail market.

Macmillan’s frontlist titles will be offered to libraries under the 2 year/52 lend model currently in place for backlist. Macmillan titles are available through multiple distributors. The frontlist titles will be available to order in early August.

Alison Lazarus, President, Sales comments: “Librarians have been asking for our frontlist titles for their collections. With more than a year of our current pilot behind us and a better sense of the market, we feel comfortable expanding our offering to our full catalog.”

4 thoughts on “Macmillan Publishers Broadens Public Library E-lending Pilot Program

  1. Good Morning,

    Very exciting news for those libraries, however big and with however many branches that are considered “stand-alone”. Not so great for those of us who are considered consortia. We have fewer member libraries than NYPL has branches, we serve a smaller population and often purchase more copies of a popular title than NYPL. Yet they can provide Macmillan titles to their patrons while we cannot.

    Sadly, Kris

    1. Dear Kris,
      Thank you for your comment. At this time we are not selling to consortia but we continue to review our e-lending policies including our consortia restrictions and will share your feedback with our colleagues.

      Thanks again,
      Talia & Anne

  2. Hi Anne and Talia,

    Every step in this direction is one we celebrate, but as Kris said, it’s frustrating for library consortia. It’s not as if the e-books libraries purchase (or, let’s be realistic, license) are simultaneous use: it’s one copy/one user, which is the same as print books. Library patrons are still waiting for these titles – sometimes for weeks or months.

    Research shows that library users are also book buyers – in fact, readers often discover new authors for the first time through their libraries. Plenty of readers will buy books, in print or e, rather than wait for a library copy, but libraries are a discovery engine, and with fewer brick-and-mortar retailers, publishers should treat libraries as allies, not adversaries.

    Libraries are all about sharing the love of books, and sharing with each other. Consortia are one of the primary ways we are able to offer more books to more patrons, given our bare-bones budgets. (Speaking of which, libraries still pay more for e-books than individual consumers do.)

    We appreciate every effort the publishers make to work with libraries to make e-books available to our patrons. We realize that publishers do good work and must look out for their interests so they can continue to do that work. But we’re doing good work too: we’re on the front lines, putting books in readers’ hands (and on their e-reading devices), and it’s frustrating to face all these restrictions.

    Sincerely,
    Jenny

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