[OPLINLIST] Ebooks from both Overdrive and 3M?

[Steve Owley]

Hi Phil,

We do this.  There are several reasons.

Technically, the 3M client software plays well with Overdrive's and is easy to use and to train people on.

The Encore integration is driving adoption for us.  We have found that adding 3M drives up ebook usage across both platforms.

Hertz/Avis.  Strategically, it is not good for us to create a monopoly, especially in a specialty market, as you have pointed out.  3M is ahead of Overdrive in certain areas of customer service that we want to encourage across the market, like this integration.  We can only do that with dollars.  (BTW, Polaris was the first ILS to offer 3M integration IIRC, so again we see competition making things better for us.)

It also gives us a way to support local demand more responsively without lessening our commitment to OEP.

Hope that helps,

Steve



-----Original Message-----
From: oplinlist-bounces at lists.oplin.org [mailto:oplinlist-bounces at lists.oplin.org] On Behalf Of Phil Shirley
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 8:41 AM
To: oplinlist at lists.oplin.org
Subject: [OPLINLIST] Ebooks from both Overdrive and 3M?

I would be interested to hear from anyone who's offering ebooks from both Overdrive and 3M, or anyone who has any thoughts on doing that. We already have Overdrive (Ohio Digital Library), and I like the simplicity of having just one ebook system for patrons to learn, not to mention the availability of titles in Kindle format (which 3M doesn't have).

I can think of some reasons we might want to add 3M ebooks. Their program for downloading ebooks seems easier than using Adobe Digital Editions with Overdrive; I like 3M's stance on ownership of ebooks; and, I like the idea of not having all our eggs in one basket.

Also, since we have III's Encore, our patrons would be able to search for and check out both 3M and Overdrive titles in Encore (after they add Overdrive to Encore next year). There would still be different processes of downloading the titles and transferring them to a device, and there would still be different mobile apps, of course.

What are your thoughts on this? Are there other things to consider, especially other advantages of adding 3M? If your library offers both, what benefit do you get from doing so? There are some things I like about 3M's ebooks, but I can't see how adding them would benefit our patrons very much.

Phil


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Phil Shirley
Technology Services Coordinator
Cuyahoga Falls Library
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
330-928-2117, ext. 109
pshirley at CuyahogaFallsLibrary dot org

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