‘Buy it now’ buttons planned for libraries
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) and Public Library Services South Australia (PLS SA) have announced plans to trial ‘buy it now’ buttons for library catalogues.
‘If a library user finds that the book they want to borrow is on a wait list, or they come across a book they want to own on the library catalogue, they can click on “buy it now” and they will be given options to buy the print or ebook from a choice of physical and online Australian retailers with price and availability information,’ said ALIA in a statement.
The organisation said that while OverDrive is testing a similar service for ebooks ‘in some parts of Australia’, ‘this is believed to be a first for Australia in that it covers both print and ebooks’.
ALIA said it plans to hold a ‘proof of concept trial’ in the coming months, which will be carried out by PLS SA with ‘a small group of library services’.
ALIA and the ABA have already met with ‘a range of interested parties, including representatives of Boomerang Books, Dillons Norwood Bookshop, ALS Library Services and the three partners’, and ‘will be talking to the Australian Publishers Association, elending software providers, library management systems vendors, POS providers and their members’.
‘We hope that the “buy it now” button will deliver real benefits to users and revenue to authors, publishers, booksellers, and libraries,’ said ALIA chief executive Sue McKerracher.
If the trial is successful a national rollout is planned for 2015-16.
Category: Local news
