News broke this week that Amazon has signed a distribution agreement with the DPLA (digital Public Library of America) to distribute the 10k ebooks in its catalog via the DPLA Exchange.

From the announcement:

Amazon Publishing titles will begin to be available in the DPLA Exchange via four licensing models this summer; we expect that libraries will be able to access all of the Amazon Publishing titles by the end of the year:

• Unlimited, one user at a time access, two-year license
• Bundles of 40 lends, available with a maximum of 10 simultaneously, with no time limit to use the lends
• Bundles of five lends, available simultaneously, with no time limit to use the lends
• 26 lends, one user at a time access, the lesser of two years or 26 lends license

I am still waiting to hear about how the ebook pricing will compare, to retail but I can tell you some of the technical details. It’s not clear how the ebooks will be integrated into a library’s catalog, but I do know that you’ll be able to read the ebooks using the SimplyE app developed by the NY Public Library.

I can’t say that I have ever used the app (I have library cards with several libraries, just not one that uses SimplyE). But as I sit here writing this post, i see that the app also has a catalog of free titles (no registration required, even).

The SimplyE app can be found both in iTunes and Google Play.  It’s worth checking out, I think.

image by Tim Danton via Flickr