Digital publishing company Smashwords and Califa, a consortium of 220 California libraries, have formed a partnership to distribute Smashwords eBooks in libraries and to give member libraries the ability to let patrons publish eBooks through Smashwords.

Under the terms of the deal, Califa will be able to buy 10,000 of Smashwords’ bestselling titles for about $3 each. Library Journal has more: “Califa will house the files on an Adobe Content Server that it purchased for $10,000 (with an annual maintenance fee of $1,500) and which the Quipu Group is configuring.”

The agreement will also allow library patrons to publish their own work through Smashwords. These works will be available for checkout from the writer’s local library, as well as for sale through the Smashwords distribution network, which includes Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Baker & Taylor’s Blio and Diesel.