Citing unspecified “concerns about the security of our digital editions,” Penguin Group USA is pulling new eBooks from libraries; in addition, it is not lending any eBooks to libraries through Kindle devices, paidContent.org reports. In a statement provided to Library Journal‘s Digital Shift blog, Penguin says that owing to security—read: piracy—concerns, it finds it “necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners.” Penguin, whose self-publishing service Book Country has already drawn quite a bit of criticism this week, is likely to receive more flak for this move. Yet it is unusual among the “big six” publishers in that it allows eBooks to be borrowed through libraries at all. Macmillan and Simon & Schuster do not distribute any eBooks (new or old) to libraries. Hachette Book Group does not allow new titles to be lent as eBooks, and HarperCollins allows new eBooks to be borrowed only 26 times before the library has to buy a new copy. This leaves Random House as the only big six publisher currently allowing unfettered access to its eBooks through libraries…
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