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Picking up where Jane Friedman, book publisher of Open Road Integrated Media, left off yesterday at Digital Book World, when she urged book publishers to broaden the participation of libraries in the distribution of ebooks, LJ’s Josh Hadro moderated a panel today that helped publishers understand why, and how, that must be accomplished.

“Consumers and library patrons are two sides of the same coin,” Hadro said to a roomful of publishers, who included execs and others from the big children’s book publishers, smaller houses, university presses, and distributors. The current one book, one loan ebook model “mirrors the print” buying and lending; “DRM [digital rights management] software [protects publishers] caus[ing] the lend to expire at the end of the loan period,” explained Hadro.

Yet many publishers still don’t sell their latest ebooks to libraries. “Current content is king,” New York Public Library’s Chris Platt said, pointing out his frustration that, “We can’t get Freedom (FSG) as a download for our library. And even though Keith Richards made a public appearance at NYPL, “We couldn’t put his epub [Life (Little, Brown)] in our collection,” said Platt. Then Platt held up The Oracle of Stamboul (HarperCollins), due out in February, another book his patrons won’t be able to borrow as an ebook.

Librarians are left trying to explain to their users both that the publisher has not made the book available through the library and that many ebooks won’t work on their users’ ereaders.

Platt further made the case that “We teach people literacy…we point [them] to your new books….Libraries are connected to many of the people you want to reach, on Twitter, Facebook.” As the price of smartphones drop, he said, libraries will be able “to serve all parts of the community.”

Ruth Liebmann, Random House VP, reinforced Platt’s remarks. “A sale is a sale,” she said, noting that libraries are a revenue stream that publishers like Random want to “protect, even grow.”

Baker & Taylor’s VP for libraries and education, George Coe, told attendees that the “acquisition model will change drastically” with the ebook. “Library budgets can’t change,” he said, but users can become buyers with “buy buttons” on library online catalogs. He cautioned, however, that by using different formats, christian book publishers are “confusing our patrons.”

OverDrive’s CEO Steve Potash also said that the idea of a library purchase “cannibalizing sales couldn’t be farther from the truth…we’re converting library borrowers into point of sale users” in the digital world. As for the one book, one user model, Potash said that OverDrive recently made Liquid Comics ebook graphic novels available via a multiple user subscription model.

The parents of Madeleine McCann are writing a book about their daughter’s disappearance and their so-far unsuccessful efforts to trace her.

A deal has been signed with book publishers Transworld which is an imprint of Random House UK. Few details have been revealed but Kate and Gerry McCann are receiving a “substantial” advance and “enhanced royalties” which gives the couple a bigger than normal share of the profits from sales.

The book is already part-written. Kate McCann said it had been a difficult decision but the money it raised would go directly to the McCanns’ official fund to look for Madeleine.

“My reason for writing is simple – to give an account of the truth,” she said. “With the depletion of Madeleine’s Fund, it is a decision that has virtually been taken out of our hands.”

Hopeful

Gerry McCann said he was hopeful the publication would help the ongoing efforts to find out what had happened to their daughter, who went missing from their holiday apartment in the Portugese resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

“Our hope is that it may prompt those who have relevant information – knowingly or not – to come forward and share it with our team. Somebody holds that key piece of the jigsaw.”

The book publisher, Bill Scott-Kerr of Transworld, is more than happy with the deal and sees the book – expected to retail at £20 – as a big seller.

“It is an enormous privilege to be publishing this book” he said. “We are so pleased to be joining Kate and Gerry McCann in the Find Madeleine campaign.”

There are also expected to be newspaper serialisations around the publication date, believed to be 28 April 2011 which would coincide with the fourth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

The official Portuguese inquiry was formally shelved in July 2008, although private detectives employed by the McCanns have continued the search.

NEW YORK — Some of the country’s most prominent newspaper companies are investing in a Silicon Valley online news venture called Ongo Inc., but are offering few details about the company.

Ongo said Wednesday that the corporate parents of The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today have invested $4 million each and contributed members to the company’s board.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company says it is building a service for reading, self publishing a book and sharing news from different sources that will launch next year at http://www.Ongo.com. Its founder and CEO, former e-Bay executive Alex Kazim, said Ongo will “reflect the many ways consumers prefer to read, organize and share digital news.”

Neither the company nor the publishers would give more specifics about what exactly Ongo will do.

Nor is it clear why traditional publishers have taken an interest. They have had an uneven relationship with many of the blogs and websites that post and link to their material online. Just last week, former Washington Post Editor Leonard Downie Jr. referred to news aggregation sites like The Huffington Post as “parasites living off journalism produced by others.”

Publishers are looking at a variety of strategies for making more money online as revenue from traditional print advertising declines. They are putting more of their offerings on mobile gadgets such as Apple Inc.’s iPad. Some, including The New York Times, plan on charging readers to view some material on their websites.

New York Times Co. spokeswoman Abbe Serphos said the publishers investing in Ongo have been talking with the company for more than a year, though it was officially incorporated only in April.

“We see Ongo as a smart way to work with other news and information providers,” she said, declining to give further details.

Washington Post Co. spokeswoman Rima Calderon said, “We’re interested in experimenting with different ways to experience digital news and information.”

And Robin Pence, a spokeswoman for USA Today publisher Gannett Co., said “It’s an opportunity to work with two very high-quality media partners and an excellent and experienced technology group.”

Hulu.com offers a possible model of old-media cooperation in the digital world. Rival TV networks NBC, ABC and Fox pool their shows for viewing on the site rather than focusing on their own websites.

Whatever shape Ongo takes, the publishers are gaining some measure of influence through seats on the book publisher company’s board. The Times Co.’s Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations, will serve as a director along with Washington Post Co. Chief Digital Officer Vijay Ravindran and Gannett’s head of digital operations, Jack Williams.

The other three members of Ongo’s board all come from eBay. Kazim, the founder, spent nine years at the company and helped run its Skype division.