I've written before that publishers' attitudes to library book lending are pretty much based on how much of an impact it has on future sales. This is as true in the physical world as it is in digital.

HarperCollins US' recent decision to impose physical limits on the number of times an e-book could be loaned, for example, was an attempt to place old world thinking on the new world, precisely because book lending has natural limits in the physical world that don't exist in the e-world. But it is the physical limits that made libraries work for publishers (and booksellers).

The deal that will allow users of the OverDrive digital e-book library platform the ability to borrow books on their Kindles is a move that will surely once again make publishers look seriously at digital lending. How much easier was it to turn a blind commercial eye to e-book lending when it was confined to "lesser" devices such as the Sony Reader? How difficult will it be now when the biggest commercial driver of e-book sales is allow those customers to borrow from another source for free? Is it lost sales, or marketing?

The news was announced a few minutes ago. Everyone who I've communicated with since then agrees that it will have "huge" implications for US, and ultimately UK, publishers, and we are all now just figuring out what those implications are.

It's also wonderful news for libraries (US at present), and great news for library users.

For Amazon it is also surely an indication that it cannot have it all its own way. It has teamed up with OverDrive because it cannot get to those relationships easily otherwise. But at least it is admitting that it needs to be in this marketplace.

Here is what Amazon has to say:

Amazon today announced Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps.

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer's annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. "We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps," said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. "We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle."