by OverDrive Inc., a major distributor for both school
and library markets, an agreement between
J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore website and OverDrive
has been made, which will allow downloads of the
HP books to be available for
students and library patrons.
The mega-selling series will be available
to more than 18,000 schools and libraries,
in more than 20 languages.
This statement was issued in the original announcement made by OverDrive:
"Through local public library and school catalogs, OverDrive's digital book lending service
will promote to new and returning readers a popular way to access the official
Harry Potter eBooks and digital audiobooks.
The Harry Potter series has sold over 400 million copies worldwide and is widely credited with immersing an entire generation of young readers into books and reading.
With this agreement, the seven books in the series will be available in digital formats
for the first time for lending from public and school libraries."
OverDrive CEO and President Steve Potash said, in response to the news:
"J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter is a once-a-lifetime phenomenon and has been an extremely significant catalyst for reading and literacy for current and future generations. We are honoured to bring this beloved storytelling experience digitally to public and school libraries worldwide."
Supported devices include Sony® Reader, Kindle® (US only), NOOK™, iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phones and tablets, BlackBerry®, and Windows® Phone. In addition to the eBook collection, the complete digital audiobooks will be made available for digital borrowing in the MP3 file format on listening devices such as computers, smartphones and iPod®.