Another approach- I think the Colorado consortium did this, is to whitelabel the Bluefire App, which works with any Adobe-DRM ebook.
With the Rakuten acquisition of Overdrive, I think it it might be wise to let the dust settle and see what happens with Kobo. And I know of at least 2, maybe 3, maybe 4 companies poised to enter the US library market with apps of their own. Both in the Adobe ecosystem and outside of it. > On Mar 25, 2015, at 9:34 AM, English, Eben <eengl...@bpl.org> wrote: > > Lauren, > > There actually is a group working toward exactly this type of goal. It's a > IMLS grant-funded initiative being organized by NYPL called Library > Simplified: > > http://www.librarysimplified.org/ > > You can find out more at the above link, but the basic goal of the project is > to create an app for iOS and Android that allows libraries to integrate > content from different ebook vendors into a seamless discovery and reading > interface. I know that so far they've been working with 3M, Overdrive, and > Baker & Taylor to allow content from these vendors to work within the app. > > Currently the app is still in development, but I believe the target date for > the initial roll-out is late April or early May. > > Thanks, > > Eben English > Web Services Developer > Boston Public Library > 700 Boylston St. > Boston, MA 02116 > 617.859.2238 > eengl...@bpl.org > > On Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 7:39 PM, Lauren Magnuson < > lauren.lpmagnu...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I'm curious to know if anyone has explored creating a mobile app for their >> library that would facilitate downloading /reading library ebooks from >> multiple library ebook vendors. I'm envisioning an app that would allow >> the user to browse ebooks from multiple platforms (e.g., ebrary, EBSCO) and >> enable downloading and DRM management stuff right in the app. >> >> I can think of a million roadblocks to creating something like this >> (publishers, vendors, Adobe, etc.) But I can also think of a lot of good >> reasons why this would be very useful (the process to download an ebook >> from an academic library is, for the most part, ludicrous). >> >> I know there's Overdrive - and ebrary has it's own app, or whatever, and >> there are apps like Bluefire that can be used with library ebooks - but >> something non-platform specific that could conceivably work for multiple >> library ebook platforms (and be customized by a library to allow the reader >> to browse collections) is what I have in mind. I also really dig this >> Reader's First (http://readersfirst.org/) initiative, which it looks like >> is wrangling with a lot of the policy /vendor side of things. >> >> Feel free to contact me off list with any information / ideas / advice. >> This feels like a kind of enormous problem, and a lot of libraries could >> benefit from a group working toward a technical solution - but perhaps such >> a group / initiative already exists? >> >> Thanks in advance, >> >> Lauren Magnuson >> Systems & Emerging Technologies Librarian, CSU Northridge >> Development Coordinator, PALNI >>
