I worked as a school librarian for 30 years so book borrowing and lending just comes natural to me. I recently received a Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device as a gift and I am totally hooked. I am slowly selling and giving away my print books and plan to go 100% digital in the future. I truly believe that ebook readers are here to stay.In December, Amazon announced their new ebook lending program. This allows Kindle users to lend their ebooks one time with a two week time limit. This is a wonderful feature that allows book borrowing and lending.
Catherine MacDonald, a 40-year-old mother of three, had the idea for the Kindle Lending Club after hearing about the Kindle’s new lending feature, and quickly started a Facebook page to facilitate the lending and borrowing process. In doing that, she has created something akin to a modern-day electronic library service.On Sunday, January 16th, a beta Kindle Lending Library site went live on the web. I jumped right in and listed about 20 Kindle books that I was willing to lend. Almost immediately, I was notified that there were requests for 11 of these books. I copied the email address of the person making the request and then filled out the "Loan" form on Amazon.com. This morning I received my first book request from a member of the Kindle Lending Library. This is a book that I really wanted and would have probably purchased if I had not borrowed it. I have two weeks to read the book before it is automatically returned to the owner. I can then purchase the book if I decide I want to add it to my permanent ebook library.
This is a fantastic FREE service and I look forward to to lending and borrowing ebooks in the future. This kind of service just might be the library of the future. I love it!
