Amazon announced Wednesday that Kindle users will soon be able to borrow e-books from their local libraries via the e-book reader and its related apps.
The Kindle Lending Library will launch later this year, and will allow Kindle customers to borrow books from more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S. The offer will apply to all generations of Kindle e-books and Kindle reading apps.
Unlike physical library books, users will be able to make notes in the margins of their borrowed e-books. When they "return" it, those notes will not be visible to the next borrower, but if the customer checks the book out again or decides to buy it, their notes will remain intact.
"We're doing a little something extra here," Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."
A Kindle spokeswoman said the borrowed books will be in Kindle format.
Amazon is working with OverDrive for library feature, a company that specializes in library e-book rentals. To see if books from your local library are available, you can search on OverDrive's Web site.
In 2009, Sony also partnered with OverDrive for the Library Finder app on its Reader devices. Users of Sony's eBook Store can locate their local libraries online and download free e-book content using their library cards. When the lending period is up, the content simply expires.
In October, Amazon said it would allow users to lend their purchased e-books with other Kindle users, a service that quietly went live in December.
Barnes & Noble's Nook also has a LendMe function that lets users lend purchased e-books for up to 14 days.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced a new Kindle that puts ads and offers on the screensaver and costs $25 less than the standard version of the e-book reader.