By Edward Nawotka, Editor-in-Chief

Now operating globally in Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, the United States and Australia, with plans to expand to the UK and throughout Europe in the next year, Odilo is positioning itself as an alternative to services such as Overdrive.

“We create technology for connecting libraries, patrons, and content creators,” says, Rodrigo Rodriguez, CEO of  theMadrid-based library ebook platform and digital distribution platform. “We work with books, video, audio, as well as provide reporting, analytics and social media services, for libraries, corporations, universities and other institutions.

At present, Odilo is offering 300,000 titles from the the major Spanish and English publishers, as well as titles in Italian, Chinese and Russian.

Last year, Spain’s Telefonica made a significant investment in Odilo — which also offers a white label mobile content solution. Current large scale projects include servicing the entire public library system of Chile and, starting in September, delivering content for the national library system of Spain.

Rodriguez notes that Odilo is rapidly expanding its North American operations. “We are especially effective for libraries that are interested in adding foreign language content, but are not sure if their patrons will check out the books,” he says. “With Odilo you can bring the entire content from the biggest Spanish-language publisher and you only pay for what is checked out. If you see the patrons check out the material, then you can purchase the material. This is is a better strategy for content acquisition for libraries. We call this ‘smart content acquisition’ — you can look at the data and then you make a better decision for what your patrons want.”