Libraries may feel like an item of a past era, and books themselves are already starting to feel a little antiquated. It's an Internet-driven world, and e-books are slowly but surely taking the place of many hardcovers. The education world has caught on in the past few years, and many students already have the option of getting their new books in digital format. Macmillan, a huge name in the publishing sector, has recently launched a pilot program that'll sell e-books to public libraries, perhaps breathing fresh life into buildings that have no doubt seen fewer feet walking through the doors.


The new initiative will include around 1,200 titles from the Minotaur imprint, and all titles will have the same digital list price. Andrew Martin, Publisher of Minotaur, said in a statement, “The libraries have always been great supporters of the Minotaur publishing program and a critical mainstay of the category. I am delighted that our books will be the entry of Macmillan into library e-lending.”

Reportedly, Macmillan will distribute the books using the agency model, working with distributors like OverDrive, 3M Cloud, and Axis 360 in order to push these at around $25 a pop. After a library purchases one, it can be made available for 2 years or 52 circulations -- whichever of those comes first. Considering that this is just a pilot, there's no clear path for expansion into other libraries, or with other imprints. But, there's no doubt that's interesting, and it could very well energize your local library in due time. Something tells us Barnes & Noble or Amazon will be following suit soon in order to get e-readers into those very same places.