With the demand for digital content material surging in libraries and colleges, OverDrive this week introduced the formation of a newly configured Content material Group.
In a launch, firm reps mentioned that OverDrive Content material Group will combine the corporate’s movie and video streaming service Kanopy alongside different digital collections, together with e-books, audiobooks, digital comedian books, magazines, and different instructional assets. The brand new unit will even discover expanded “geographic and channel particular choices,” new “subscription plans and entry fashions,” and enhanced “metadata and assortment improvement companies” for institutional patrons.
Jason Tyrrell, who for the previous three years has served as basic supervisor of Kanopy, which OverDrive acquired in 2021, has been tapped to steer the group as government VP of content material. Alexis Petric-Black, who has been with OverDrive for greater than twenty years, has been promoted to VP of content material. And Erica Lazzaro, who has led OverDrive’s writer companies and authorized groups, has been promoted to government VP and basic counsel.
“We envision a future the place there’ll at all times be an abundance of compelling media out there by your native library,” Tyrrell mentioned in a press release. “By creating content material discovery channels and evolving entry fashions to assist the sustainability of the availability chain, OverDrive will proceed to offer the absolute best content material expertise for establishments throughout the globe.”
OverDrive CEO Steve Potash mentioned that the transfer comes as Kanopy viewership is surging, alongside use of the corporate’s school-focused Sora app. As of final month, he added, library checkouts by way of the corporate’s in style Libby app have been up 35% over the identical interval final 12 months.
“The OverDrive Content material Group will help our content material suppliers in successfully reaching bigger audiences for his or her books, tales, and media,” Potash mentioned, “whereas enhancing the choice, insights, and choices for finest managing digital college and library catalogs.”
