Amazon on Wednesday announced that the books are available, fulfilling a promise the company made in April. If your library is among those offering Kindle books, you can now visit the library's website to have them delivered to your Kindle device or app. The length of the loan period is determined by your local library. Three days before the period is up, Amazon will send a reminder email.
The ebook rentals also gives readers the chance to do something libraries normally frown upon: marking up books.
“Libraries are a critical part of our communities and we’re excited to be making Kindle books available at more than 11,000 local libraries around the country," said Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle. "We’re even doing a little extra here – normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re fixing this by extending our Whispersync technology to library books, so your notes, highlights and bookmarks are always backed up and available the next time you check out the book or if you decide to buy the book.”
Amazon's ereader technology was initially incompatible with library ebooks. It tapped OverDrive, which provides ebooks to public libraries and schools, to help it come up with a solution.
Ebook lending is on the rise at libraries. The New York Public Library, for instance, said in March that ebook use was 36% higher than the year before.