Rakuten to bring eBooks, digital content to libraries in Hamamatsu

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Rakuten Inc has signed a comprehensive agreement with Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, to cooperate in enhancing the reading environment and promoting globalization through multilingual education utilizing information technology.

Based on the agreement, residents of Hamamatsu City will be able to use Rakuten OverDrive, the Rakuten Group’s service providing eBooks and digital content to libraries and educational institutions, at the public libraries in the city (23 libraries and one branch library). With OverDrive, residents will be able to borrow eBooks and other content from the libraries*1 on their own tablets, smartphones or PCs, at any time and place.

By offering OverDrive’s vast library of more than 1.6 million multi-language works, Rakuten and Hamamatsu City said they hope to support and strengthen the foreign language education of the city’s residents. In addition, Rakuten Communications Corp. will provide a wi-fi environment and tablets*2 to an number of libraries in the city to give residents the opportunity to try out the OverDrive service.

Hamamatsu is an industrial city with a population of 800,000, and its more than 20,000 foreign residents give the city a very international feel. With a vision to become a city where people of different cultures can co-exist, Hamamatsu is implementing measures to promote multicultural understanding and study ways to provide support to foreign residents.

*1 A Hamamatsu City Library User Card or e-library ID is required to use the service.

*2 12 tablets made by Lenovo Japan Ltd. are planned to be provided to a number of libraries in the city.