Peter Brantley at PWxyz reports that Califa, a library cooperative servicing much of California, has announced that it will create and host its own ebook library lending platform instead of using an existing one such as Overdrive, which is the platform used by most libraries. The idea is to purchase the titles directly, when that’s possible, instead of using the “cloud based” platform Overdrive currently uses (Correction: Commenter Jeff Allen notes that Overdrive does NOT use a “cloud based” model- see below). They aren’t expecting to be able to acquire frontlist titles from mainstream publishers, and instead will focus on small and independent presses. That’s kind of cool for those kinds of presses! According to Brantley, though, most independent and small publishers depend on a distributor to package ebooks, and it doesn’t benefit distributors to sell ebooks directly to libraries.

I neither publish, distribute, or purchase ebooks for libraries. I do think it would be great for libraries to have independence from Overdrive, and for independent publishers to get a shot at getting their titles into libraries. So I’m interested to know what you think about this? Is it feasible? Are Brantley’s concerns warranted? Or is this an idea whose time has really come?