Saturday, April 28, 2012

3M Cloud Library Ebook Lending Service Goes Beta at Select Libraries



What the video covers:
  • Product Overview
  • Features and Benefits
  • Library Hardware
  • Support Services
  • How It Works
  • Library Administration

3M Cloud Library Lends Not Only E-Books, But Also E-Reader Hardware. (Wired, 4/27/2012)

Excerpt: The 3M Cloud Library went beta Wednesday at select libraries, allowing patrons to borrow e-books via digital kiosks in the library or online. 

It’s not an entirely new concept. A system called OverDrive already facilitates e-book lending at many public libraries. But what sets 3M’s offering apart is that libraries can purchase 3M-branded e-readers, and lend the hardware to patrons who don’t have e-readers of their own. Patrons would check out the readers like they would a book or any other piece of hardware the library may lend. 

3M says it has 40 publishers backing Cloud Library, and that more than 100,000 titles are ready to go. These e-books are compatible with Nook e-readers as well as iOS, Android, Windows, and OS X devices running the Cloud Library application. (Amazon’s Kindle is noticeably absent from the list.)


Screenshots from the "select libraries" link.  (Red arrow added.)

Other beta sites:  (States in bold letters found "At the library", i.e. 1st screenshot; others from 3M news release)
Alabama:  Mobile Public Library.
Alaska.  ZZ Top Memorial Library test site.
Arizona.  Maricopa County Library District.
Colorado.  Estes Valley Library, Douglas County Library.
Connecticut:  Darien Library.

Kansas.  State Library of Kansas.
Beta Progress - 3M.  (Timeline)

Maryland.  Baltimore County Public Library.

Minnesota.  St. Paul Public Library.
St. Paul Library debuts 3M's Cloud Library for e-book lending.  (Minnesota Post, 4/25/2012)
Excerpt: Mayor Chris Coleman will be at the open house, and said he's excited about the new technology:
Source of quote:  Mayors See No End to Hard Choices for Cities, The New York Times, 1/21/2011)

New Jersey.  Bergen County Cooperative Library System.
North Carolina.  Sheppard Memorial Library.
South Carolina.  Richland County Public Library.

Sorry if this is old news to most of you.
Momentum Building Behind the 3M Cloud Library.  (Bloomberg, 6/20/2011)

It's new(s) to me.

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