British Library reinstates Amazon link

Should the BL catalogue direct browsers to Amazon online?

Many people would say, NO!  And booksellers like British Waterstones agree.  However, after crumbling to criticism, the British Library is now reinstating its link to Amazon on online catalogue records.

The link takes readers of the library's catalogue records directly to the sales page for each title on the Amazon.co.uk website.

Waterstone's James Daunt heavily criticised this in The Bookseller last Friday (14th October). He said: "It's disappointing to say the least that a very British institution is driving readers away from local libraries and high street bookshops." The link was removed from the library's catalogue records shortly afterwards.

But now it is back.

The British Library explanation for the link, its temporary removal, and its reinstatement is an astonishing example of administration-inspired-media-speak. 

Read the whole item at The Bookseller.