When it comes to doing digital business in SE Asia, Singapore is often the first port of call, operating as a digital super-highway junction, a conduit and springboard for access to SE Asia and to south Asia countries like India. Amazon, for example, handles its India digital operations through its Singapore base.
For some while now OverDrive, the US-based digital library distributor owned by Japan’s Rakuten (also the owner of the Canada-based ebook and audiobook retailer Kobo) has been providing digital library services to the National Library Board of Singapore.
OverDrive, it explains in a blog post today, provides specialised “eReading room” pages for libraries including Kids and Teens eReading Rooms, and Screening Rooms for streaming video content.
Now OverDrive, in partnership with Singapore’s National Library Board, is the first to offer a Digital Business Library, offering “24/7 instant access to over 19,000 world-class eBooks and audiobooks meant to empower business professionals.”
“We are proud to offer the world’s first Digital Business Library to serve the needs of our broad and varied business community in Singapore,” said Siow Shong Seng, Director of Technology and Service Innovation for the National Library Board of Singapore. “Our goal is to provide instant access to world-class resources to empower businesses and individuals. We want to encourage and inspire people to read, learn and upgrade their skills on-the-go with this unique new service.”
The OverDrive blog reports other examples of OverDrive curated reading rooms include The Ohio Digital Library’s Mystery Corner, LAPL’s Always Available collection, Toronto Public Library’s Best Books List and Brooklyn Public Library’s Russian collection.
OverDrive is the world’s largest digital library distributor, on target this year to substantially exceed the 200 million digital downloads of 2016.
