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The ebooks I have seen are downloadable from the Internet, in common formats such as pdf and djvu. I can store them in my computer as long as I wish, and read them any time I want.

I am curious about how ebooks are lent to library members, as I have no experience with this before.

What formats are they in?

Can the members keep the ebooks as long as they like, and store them on their personal computers?

How are due dates enforced on ebooks?

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5 Answers

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Based on my experience with Overdrive:

eBook formats depend on what eBook reader you're using. There are certain editions specifically for Kindles, Adobe EPUB, Adobe PDF, Open EPUB, and Open PDF. It would just depend on what device you have. This site can tell you what device uses what format: http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/

There are 3 options for check out lengths: 7 days, 14 days, and 21 days. You can pick which one you want at check out. There are no overdue fines because at the end of the check out period, the book disappears from your device (at the most basic level). If you have a device where you have to sync it with your computer, then you could keep the item on your device until it is synced.

Once an ebook's check out period ends you have to recheck it out to get it again. Depending on how many copies of the eBook the library purchased generally you'll have to wait if all the copies are checked out.

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(1) How can it disappear itself? By what technology (this raises my concern of my computer security, as it is out of my control)? Has there been some hacking ways to keep the book from disappearing? (2) Why the time length so short, compared to print books, which has several months length. (3) Is it always allowed to renew it indefinitely many times, so that I can keep the book as long as I want? – Tim Jun 5 '12 at 22:34
What library allows you to check out books for months at a time? At a public library, the most I've seen is a month at the max. And no, once an ebook's check out period ends you have to recheck it out to get it again. – KatieR Jun 5 '12 at 22:55
With ebooks, is it still the case that one has to wait for others to return ebooks in order to borrow? This is what I dont like about print books. – Tim Jun 5 '12 at 23:10
That depends on how many copies of the eBook the library purchased but generally, yes, you'll have to wait if all the copies are checked out. – KatieR Jun 5 '12 at 23:11
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Then what is the advantange of ebooks over print books? I thought that would be the biggest one, but now there seems no difference. – Tim Jun 5 '12 at 23:24
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up vote 4 down vote

I have to throw in a correction to the answer above. There is no device I am aware of that allows the eReader app to simply remove the book when the loan has expired. The eBook will show some kind of indication that the loan period is expired and if the user tries to open it they will get some form of error message that tells them they no longer have access to the book.

All the eBook apps that I'm aware of do not remove the eBook from your device because of security concerns. If an app has the power to erase something from a device, then it presents an exploit that could be used to damage data on the device. So to be on the safe side, the app makers do not have that kind of access built into their software. The apps can download and store, but they cannot remove. (At least not automatically, the user has to initiate the deletion.)

There's another service that kind of competes with OverDrive called Freading. We use it here at my library system and it's another method of providing eBooks for our patrons. Freading is different from OverDrive in several ways but the big two are the fact that Freading doesn't really have much from the big six publishers and how Freading does downloads.

See, with Freading, you get an allotment of tokens per week. The tokens are virtual of course but they allow you to download a limit of books per week. Here, we have four tokens per patron. Each eBook is a set number of tokens. Some are one, some are four, but you get the idea. You can download one four-token book (checks out for two weeks just like OverDrive) or you could download four one-token books. The library is paying Freading by the download so, unlike OverDrive, the eBooks are always available. No holds, no waiting, no out of stock like you see with OverDrive which has a model that's much more like a "traditional" library collection.

Freading uses Adobe Digital Editions for authentication and they have apps for iOS and Android. However any eReader app using ADE will work with Freading too and even Freading recommends the BlueFire reader for iOS or Android. Like OverDrive, it's a two week check out and the item simply will not open after the loan period has expired. The user can remove the eBook from their device, but the app will not do it for them.

Another difference between OverDrive and Freading is the renewal process. While neither of these services has a renewal mechanism built in, the patron can simply re-download the book from Freading at a whim if they didn't finish. With OverDrive, if the book is popular, and there's a waiting list, then that person will have to wait to finish it.

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My iPad Overdrive app removes the book... – KatieR Jun 5 '12 at 23:09
Does it remove it automatically, or do you you have to remove it? What I'm asking is that, after the loan expires, the book actually goes away without you doing anything? If so, I've not seen that on my iPad. I've got a title that's about to expire soon, so I'll be keeping an eye on it. – Bibrarian Jun 5 '12 at 23:39
I forget about my eBooks most of the time so by the time I go back to it, it's months later and they're gone. So I have no idea how long they take to disappear off the app. – KatieR Jun 5 '12 at 23:46
up vote 4 down vote

The basis of content "removal" is that you do not control the operation of the software. It is rather simple. Either by scheduled job, recurring check by a resident process or by checking when the software is run (or device connected), it compares the date of the downloaded content to its expiration. Perhaps it deletes it outright, or perhaps it merely makes it inaccessible or removes it from the index/display. The effect to the user is the same.

Obviously the corollary is that the data itself must be stored (and communicated) in a secure format, only made available to "secure" devices, the software accessing it can't be modified, etc... all the trappings of a DRM delivery chain.

Both publishers and libraries are having trouble adapting to an electronic content model that doesn't need them as much or as clearly as the print model did. The "eBook lending" model from OverDrive artificially maintains the scarcity constraints familiar from physical lending, largely because the two groups cannot agree how to do it any other way. Meanwhile, many of the advantages of a digital medium are sacrificed. For a good example of the friction, try the #HCOD controversy.

There are other models of electronic content, for example:

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Thanks! Has there been hacking on those ebooks to keep them permanently available to readers? Has library and publisher start to worry about that? – Tim Jun 5 '12 at 23:34
@Tim, if you mean have libraries been involved in illegally breaking DRM, then No. To find out more about what libraries are doing about ebook lending, there are plenty of blogs, newspaper articles and petitions out there that refer to this. – Deborah Mould Jun 6 '12 at 0:59
@DeborahMould: I was not asking if libraries have been. Instead I asked if there have been hacking by someone, anyone. – Tim Jun 6 '12 at 1:12
@Tim: there has. It's hardly secret, and your favorite search engine will turn up examples of this sort of thing. Here, however, we talk about libraries and librarianship and breaking DRM isn't what libraries do. Publishers are concerned about this sort of thing (that is, anyone breakng DRM) and they react by limiting availability of their titles for library loan. – Henry Mensch Jun 6 '12 at 7:17
Actually, this odd sense of propriety about not engaging on DRM issues is part of what keeps libraries from having any leverage. IF libraries built themselves a content platform for DRM publishing that was demonstrably as secure or more secure than the current vendors, they would be in a more effective position for procuring content. That would require understanding DRM and relative vulnerabilities. The availability of an item for loan does not significantly change the security profile of its protected content if the same item is available for sale w/ equivalent or lesser protections. – Joe Atzberger Jun 6 '12 at 19:13
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up vote 2 down vote

I thought I would offer different alternatives to the e-book vendors that are mentioned. The bigger vendors offer the same selections from publishers, with some exceptions. Overdrive is the only vendor that works with the Amazon Kindle. Almost all of them provide apps for patrons to use for iPads/Smartphones. Formats range mostly in e-pub and some Adobe PDF. E-Pub is the industry standard for file format.

Most of them work to allow check-outs consistent with your current system. After the check-out expires the file will corrupt. If you are using an app, the app will ask if you would like to remove the title as it has expired. A patron can check-out the item again, but it doesn't seem like they can extend the loan. The file is always locked in a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system so that the file cannot be kept indefinitely or shared. Here is a list of vendors available:

Overdrive http://www.overdrive.com/#1

3M Cloud Library http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MLibrarySystems/Home/SolutionsAndTechnologies/E-BookLendingService/

Freading

NetLibrary http://www.netlibrary.com/Default.aspx

Recorded Books One Click Digital http://www.oneclickaudio.com/

Ingram MyILibrary http://www.ingramdigital.com/libraries/

Gale Virtual Reference Library http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/GvrlMS?msg=ma

Baker and Taylor Axis 360

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Why is E-Pub the industry standard for file format? How good is it compared to pdf and djvu? – Tim Jun 13 '12 at 1:13
EPUB became an official standard of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) in September 2007 (from Wikipedia). It is free, open, and reflowable. – jdscott50 Jun 13 '12 at 5:02
(1) Ain't pdf and djvu also free, open and reflowable? Even much more popular. (2) What does reflowable mean? – Tim Jun 13 '12 at 11:50
Adobe runs PDF, while it is free it is a proprietary format subject to the whims of the company. Reflowable means that no matter what you are reading it on, the text can adjust. Often with PDF the images can look wonky and the text can cut off or act strangely. Text is locked almost like an image. It may not make a difference on simple text, but when it gets more complicated, like images, page numbers, etc. it runs into problems. – jdscott50 Jun 13 '12 at 14:03
up vote 1 down vote

In the academic library realm, every major library ebook provider that does not offer DRM-free ebooks uses Adobe Digital Editions to manage the DRM limitations, so each user must create an ADE login in order to download ebooks to their computer or device. ADE will prevent you from accessing the book once your checkout time limit has been reached. I do not know if it deletes the book, but either way, you would have to check it out again in order to read it.

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