ALIA stralia Library and Information Association) has released the Elending Landscape Report 2014, which identifies worldwide public library initiatives to secure ebooks for borrowers. The report—prepared by Brussels-based Civic Agenda—is intended to help identify practical elending solutions for Australian public libraries.

This is the latest step in a project, delivered in collaboration with the National and State Libraries of Australasia (NSLA) and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), that has involved think tanks held around Australia; formal discussions with library leaders, including the ALIA ebooks and elending reference group, and the publication of a series of papers on the ALIA website.

These activities have helped move the conversation with other book industry stakeholders forward, but Australian public libraries continue to experience great difficulty in obtaining ebooks for elending and finding a platform that will meet the desired criteria.

• A secure, trusted repository that contains ebooks from the big publishers, as well as from authors direct, and from local publishers
• Content procured at a fair price
• Providing access to local history content
• Library branded
• Providing content that can be accessed from all sorts of devices
•  With a clever discovery layer
• The options of loan or buy.

For more information about the ALIA ebooks and elending project, visit our website or email advocacy@alia.org.au.