DOD offers audiobooks

I received the following Press Release concerning the DOD and audiobooks.  I’m glad to see government agencies making the leap to electronic books.

Department of Defense offers downloadable audiobooks through MyiLibrary

La VERGNE, TN – Ingram Content Group Inc. announced today an agreement with the US Department of Defense (DOD) to offer downloadable digital audiobooks to military service members, their dependents, and National Guard members through MyiLibrary®, Ingram’s market leading online e-content aggregation platform.   

The MyiLibrary Audiobook inventory for the DOD will make almost 3,000 titles available to their user community. This comprehensive inventory of frontlist and backlist downloadable audiobooks includes content from publishers including Blackstone Audio, Books on Tape, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., HighBridge Company, Listen & Live Audio, Inc., Naxos Audiobooks, and Penguin Group (USA), Inc. among others.  The MyiLibrary Audiobook titles are being added to compliment over 500 e-Book titles the DOD has acquired over the last two years from Ingram Digital.

This DOD offering will be launched through a number of DOD MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation) branch library web sites including; Army Knowledge Online, Navy Knowledge Online, My Air Force, Army One Source and Military One Source.

“We are thrilled that our MyiLibrary audiobook platform will serve our military and their dependents, and will provide access to audiobooks for our troops deployed overseas,” said Rich Rosy, Vice President and General Manager, Ingram Library Services and Institutional Solutions.

Mr. Rosy continued, “As the world becomes more and more virtual, there will be a greater emphasis on making more and better digital content available anywhere, regardless of format and device. The collaboration between Ingram and the DOD, and the innovative services of Ingram have helped the DOD reinvent and enhance the services they provide to their very important customers.”

Ingram will authenticate DOD users via a new robust methodology that integrates seamlessly with the DOD’s knowledge portals.  This new methodology, Personal Account Self Service (PASS) allows users to create personal accounts to checkout and download audio titles after authenticating against the library’s IP addresses.  Once a personal account has been set up, the user can access the library’s collection, check out, and download audio titles remotely from anywhere in the world by logging into their personal account.

The addition of PASS as a new patron authentication option rounds out Ingram’s state-of-the-art comprehensive offering in this area. Ingram leads the market in offering multiple authentication methodologies to serve all types of libraries including:
SIP2 for libraries of all types, IP Authentication with User Identifier for academic institutions and PASS for libraries of all types that cannot support either of the previous options.

“Ingram’s commitment to innovation gives our customers the business solutions they need to meet the requirements and expectations of their customers,” Mr. Rosy added.  “We will continue to invest in innovation to revolutionize the way content reaches every possible destination.”

ABOUT INGRAM
Ingram Content Group Inc. provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram’s operating units are Ingram Book Company, Lightning Source Inc., Ingram Digital, Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Tennessee Book Company LLC, Coutts Information Services, and Ingram Marketing Group Inc. For more information www.ingramcontent.com

Contact:  Keel Hunt
(615) 321-3110