In what came as a surprise to many librarians and industry observers, a report in The Hill this week revealed that the nonprofit Digital Public Library of America has been in discussions with Amazon Publishing on a potential a deal to make Amazon's e-book content available in public libraries. And in a call with PW, DPLA officials confirmed that a deal could be done soon...
...Some observers will no doubt question whether working with DPLA may be a clever way for Amazon to counter criticism over its refusal to work with libraries thus far without getting in too deep—after all, a small fraction of libraries are currently on the DPLA exchange, and SimplyE is still in its relatively early days in terms of its uptake. But Kimpton told PW the current talks with Amazon are in fact a good faith effort.
...Some observers will no doubt question whether working with DPLA may be a clever way for Amazon to counter criticism over its refusal to work with libraries thus far without getting in too deep—after all, a small fraction of libraries are currently on the DPLA exchange, and SimplyE is still in its relatively early days in terms of its uptake. But Kimpton told PW the current talks with Amazon are in fact a good faith effort.