Simon & Schuster launches e-book lending pilot with New York City public libraries

Simon & Schuster has never made its e-books available to libraries, but that is finally changing with the company’s announcement of a one-year trial with the New York City public libraries.

Beginning April 30, Simon & Schuster will make its entire e-book catalog available to the New York and Brooklyn Public libraries; the pilot with the Queens Library is expected to begin in mid-May. Simon & Schuster had been the only remaining Big Six publisher that did not make its e-books available to libraries at all. During the pilot, the libraries will also sell Simon & Schuster titles through their online portals, so that a patron who doesn’t want to wait on the hold list for a particular title can purchase it instead. The library gets a cut each time an e-book is sold through its platform.