Digital lending: a multifaceted service in continuous innovation

Abstract

There is not a common model of digital lending. There are multiple forms of management and offer of the service, both worldwide and in Europe.
In the first part of the article an attempt is made to identify and introduce the main areas and elements that characterize the digital lending service and make it different in various contexts. These are the licensing models, the dynamics of resource provision, the service management, the platforms and the forms of centralization.
The multiformity of the service is put into relation to his continued innovation. The general evolution of the service concerns the multiformity areas and it is determined also by innovations that do not come from the library field but are external. For example, these are the devices, the softwares, the digital books formats, the DRM (Digital Rights Management).
For a better understanding of the digital lending in each country is important to analyze the visions of the subjects involved in the provision of the service: the visions drive strategically the evolution of digital lending and his implementation in the various context.