- Los Angeles Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library participating with Penguin Group (USA) to provide econtent via Baker & Taylor's Axis 360 digital media library -
Baker & Taylor, the world's largest distributor of digital and physical books and entertainment products, today announced that it is partnering with Penguin Group on a pilot program that will re-introduce Penguin ebooks into selected libraries.
During the pilot program, Penguin's ebooks will be made available to Los Angeles Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library via Baker & Taylor's Axis 360 digital media library platform. Baker & Taylor serves more than 28,000 public, K-12 school and academic libraries in the United States and abroad.
"With deep roots in the library market and longstanding relationships with Penguin and other leading publishers, Baker & Taylor is a natural fit to work on this exciting project," said George Coe, President of Baker & Taylor's Library & Education division. "We are hopeful that this program will prove successful so that more of our library customers can offer this tremendous Penguin content to their patrons."
Tim McCall, Penguin's Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing, said: "Penguin is excited to be partnering with Baker & Taylor to expand our library ebook lending pilot program. Millions of additional library patrons will soon be able to access ebooks published by Penguin. We have always been committed to libraries and initiating this phase of the pilot supports our shared goal of bringing great writers to new readers."
City Librarian John F. Szabo of the Los Angeles Public Library said: "eBook borrowing at the Los Angeles Public Library has more than doubled every year for the past three years. We are pleased to expand our collection of ebooks to meet the tremendous demand from library users."
This ebook pilot by Baker & Taylor and Penguin Group represents the logical evolution of a longstanding partnership between the two companies in serving the library and education channels. Baker & Taylor expects to continue its pioneering work with publishers, making an ever-expanding range of digital materials available to libraries.
