Kansas EZ Library

For those of you who download audiobooks and ebooks through the State Library's Audiobook, Music and More program, a change is about to take place. The name of the program is changing to Kansas EZ Library, and there will be a new provider too. The company Overdrive, who currently provides the service platform for these services, will no longer be doing so after December 5, 2011. The State Library was unable to negotiate favorable terms with Overdrive which resulted in the need to find new vendors who could provide access to audiobooks and ebooks.

Some of the reasons why the State Library chose not to renew its contract with Overdrive were: substantial subscription charges to individual libraries in the consortium; a 700% increase from 2010 to 2013 for the platform fee; and a removal of the language that acknowledged consortium ownership of the material. Removal of this language also eliminated the opportunity to transfer the materials (materials purchased by Kansas libraries) to a different vendor. These changes, especially the substantial increase in the platform fee, were ones Kansas libraries could not afford to accept.

The State Library has found two new vendors who will provide downloadable services to Kansas libraries. But before the change can be made, the State Library is required to obtain permission from each of the 163 publishers of purchased audio and e-book content so that the content can be moved to the new providers. As of today, the State Library has received 88 publisher permission forms and has permission to move the content of 3804 audio and 875
ebooks to the new providers.

The econtent vendors are not new companies, but providing downloadable products is a new venture for them. One Click Digital (Recorded Books) will provide audiobooks, and 3M Cloud Library will be used for ebooks. At this time the target dates for the changes are sometime in November for the audiobooks and sometime in January 2012 for the ebooks. Unfortunately, this schedule will result in a gap between the time the contract with Overdrive ends on December 5, and the date that all econtent will be available to Kansas residents. In order minimize this disruption in service, the State Library will be providing a list of free downloadable audiobook and ebook services at www.kslib.info/digitalbooks. This link will also be available from our website at www.lmlibrary.org. Here are a few examples of sites that provide access to free ebooks and audiobooks:
For ebooks:

• Project Gutenberg--Download books in the public domain (out of copyright). Browse by popularity, genre, and subject. Can transfer to or directly use on a portable device.
• ManyBooks--Searches free ebooks from around the web. Converts the free books to more formats than they would previously have been available.
• Inkmesh--Book search that includes a browse by subject alongside promotional free ebooks from companies including Baen (science fiction).
• AddAll Books--Free ebook browsing includes eHarlequins.
• Google eBooks--Download free or pay for books here.

For Audiobooks:

• Spoken Alexandria--Great narration of books and other works in the public domain.
• LibriVox--Volunteer narration

If you are not currently using Kansas' econtent service Kansas EZ Library and would like to, just stop by the library and sign up for a Kansas Library Card. If you have any questions, please contact the library at 626-0180.