Amazon has announced a new program scheduled to launch “later this year” that will let Kindle owners borrow ebooks through their local library. While Sony and Barnes & Noble already have similar lending programs, this marks the first time Amazon has made an effort to work with libraries.

The Kindle program will operate through OverDrive, the primary digital content provider for over 11,000 libraries in the United States – but that’s about all we know for now. Amazon’s news release was excruciatingly vague and really sounded more like an advertisement for the Kindle than the announcement of a new service.

Take a look at this useless quote for example:

“We’re excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries,” said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. “Customers tell us they love Kindle for its Pearl e-ink display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight, up to a month of battery life, and Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps.”

So to recap, Amazon wants you to know that the Kindle is awesome and nothing else matters.

Well that’s nice, and so is getting ebooks for free through your library – but Amazon needs to release some actual details about the program before its awesomeness can be judged. How will the borrowing work? How long will you get to keep a library ebook for? Will each library get to decide the loan length or will it be up to Amazon? Can I download library books to my Kindle from home, or will I have to physically be inside the library building? And, as the son of a kick-ass public librarian, I need to know how the lending program will work on the library side of things as well.

I guess I’ll have to wait until “later this year” to get some answers. Until then, you might as well go visit your local library and reminisce about what a real book feels like. (I hear they get great battery life.)

(UPDATE: For those interested, OverDrive released a blog post that provides some sense of how the Kindle program will work for libraries.)