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Penguin US 'terminates contract' with OverDrive

10.02.12 | The Bookseller News Team

Penguin US is "terminating its contract" with library e-book supplier OverDrive, reports journal The Digital Shift, meaning the publisher will no longer offer any e-books or audiobooks to libraries.

From today, Penguin US will not provide any additional digital books through OverDrive to libraries, following its move in November which saw it stop supplying frontlist digital titles for library lending both in the US and UK.

In a statement, posted on paidcontent.org, Penguin US said: "Looking ahead, we are continuing to talk about our future plans for e-book and digital audiobook availability for library lending with a number of partners providing these services. Because of these discussions, as of 10th February 2012, Penguin will no longer offer additional copies of e-books and audiobooks for purchase via Overdrive. Physical editions of Penguin's new and backlist titles will continue to be available in libraries everywhere." In November, Penguin expressed particular concern over OverDrive's relationship with Amazon, leading to OverDrive disabling the "Get for Kindle" function on all Penguin e-books.

The publisher is negotiating a "continuance agreement" with OverDrive which would mean libraries that already have Penguin e-books in their catalogue would continue to have access to those titles, according to The Digital Shift.

Penguin UK said the move only applied to the US.

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