OverDrive Acquires Germany's Onleihe, Bringing European Library Lending Onto Libby
OverDrive, the US-based company behind the Libby reading app used by libraries worldwide, has acquired divibib GmbH — the German firm that operates Onleihe, a digital lending service for public libraries across German-speaking Europe. The deal was announced on 11 August 2026 and struck with divibib's parent company, ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH. No financial terms were disclosed (Publishing Perspectives; Publishers Weekly).
Onleihe has served public libraries in the DACH region — Germany, Austria and Switzerland — and other German-speaking communities since 2007. For nearly two decades it has been a familiar name to German library borrowers who read or listen to digital titles through their local library's subscription.
OverDrive's plan is to migrate Onleihe users onto Libby over time. Libby is OverDrive's library reading app, the one a borrower opens on a phone or tablet to borrow an e-book or audiobook from their public library. It was already used by more than 600 library partners across the DACH region before this acquisition, according to OverDrive's announcement (OverDrive). Libby sits alongside Sora, OverDrive's app for schools, and Kanopy, its video streaming service for libraries, in the company's product family.
During the transition, Onleihe users will continue to have access to digital lending without interruption. Divibib will keep operating from its longstanding base in Reutlingen, Germany. OverDrive and ekz-Group officials said they will communicate with library partners over the coming weeks to share details about how the migration will work (OverDrive).
Claudia Weissman, Managing Director of OverDrive Europe, called the combination "an extraordinary opportunity" for public libraries in the DACH region. Pierre Bourdon, Managing Director of ekz.bibliotheksservice, framed the deal as a pairing of ekz's local expertise and German-language catalogue with OverDrive's technology, catalogue and team (Publishing Perspectives).
The acquisition extends a busy summer for OverDrive. On 30 July 2026, Libby and Perlego — a subscription-based digital library — announced a partnership connecting Perlego's academic content to Libby as a "Libby Extra," extending access for students at academic institutions. A day earlier, on 29 July, Kanopy and American Documentary (POV) unveiled co-curated collections celebrating nearly four decades of independent documentary storytelling (OverDrive News).
For a library borrower in Stuttgart or Zurich, the practical change is eventually a new app. The promise from both companies is that the book on the other end of it stays the same: borrowed, free, and waiting on a digital shelf.
