Big Library Read: Michael Malone’s The Four Corners of the Sky

Image source: OverDrive

More than 7,500 participating libraries have partnered with OverDrive to allow patrons to simultaneously read Michael Malone’s The Four Corners of the Sky (Sourcebooks, 2010).

The eBook can be accessed in OverDrive Read, Kindle and EPUB formats through participating partner libraries.

During the Big Library Read pilot program, May 15 through June 1, the eBook will be available for simultaneous use. After June 1, the eBook will be available through the one copy/one user lending model.

I encourage those readers who prefer the tactile book experience to check their library catalogs. I found four copies of Malone’s book available through Jackson County Library Services (held and checked out as of this writing).

According to OverDrive, the Big Library Read is “a pilot program in which libraries worldwide offer a single eBook to their patrons. In addition to creating a global ‘library book club,’ Big Library Read is designed to demonstrate the positive exposure and sales influence library eBook catalogs provide to authors and publishers. It will spotlight one title for a set time period for library patrons around the world to read simultaneously.”

This library supporter appreciates the shared experience of reading a book in common; my most recent “common read” was Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers, the 2013 selection of Cuesta College where I take distance-ed classes.

During the Big Library Read campaign, OverDrive will post discussion questions on Facebook and Twitter. “In addition, there will be a worldwide conversation using the hashtag #BigLibraryRead.”

Announcing the rollout of the Big Library Read on its Digital Library Blog, OverDrive encouraged libraries that have not yet signed up to contact their account specialist.