Skoobe shakes up the library lending model

In mid June, Penguin and 3Mannounced a deal with the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries to make Penguin’s e-book catalogue available for lending. Amazon recently signed an exclusive licence with Potter, more to make all seven Harry Potter e-books available for free through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Bibary.com launched its US bookstore and library in March and its UK platform this month, with more languages and territories on the way. E-book lending is certainly a hot topic in the US and beyond, although according to a pollby the Pew Internet and American Life project, 58% of library patrons don’t know they can borrow e-books from their library and only 2% of people aged 16 or older in the US have ever borrowed an e-book. The same study showed that e-book borrowers also tend to be avid e-book buyers.
Launched in February 2012, the German mobile e-book library Skoobe is betting on e-book lending as a viable commercial model. Skoobe is the brainchild of Verlagsgruppe Random House, Holzbrinck and arvato. It offers readers a new form of access to the world of electronic books – one that raises interesting questions about the meaning of ownership in the age of digital reading. Read more here