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February 25, 2021 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI’s Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks. CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.

'Pursuing the Holy Grail of Library eBook Models' by Steve Potash

I have been following the news of the recent Mars landing and the exciting exploration plans that have begun. The flawless landing and early images sent by the rover represent the culmination of years of dreams and aspirations of hundreds of scientists and engineers. I have one request for the NASA team to add to the experiments and discovery on the red planet. Can they scan the Martian landscape to find a digital book lending model that satisfies and balances the interests of libraries, schools, authors, and publishers?

I ask this question because we have yet to uncover the answer to this vexing and urgent issue on Earth. Like the Mars rover appropriately named ‘Perseverance,’ OverDrive has persevered for 20 years on behalf of libraries with authors and publishers to advocate for fair, flexible, and reasonable terms for library lending of popular titles. Last year we saw meaningful progress with dozens of publishers enabling more affordable options for acquiring rights to their collection. But we are still searching for the Holy Grail access model. We have been on this quest since the first public library permitted download of a New York Times bestseller (thank you HarperCollins—circa 2004). While we are still seeking to deliver ever-improved value to our partners, I am proud of the incremental gains in this journey from the past year.

For more information, read the blog post.