Lending digital items to identified recipients

A method comprising:

• identifying, by one or more computing devices, a recipient for a copy of a digital item;
• permitting, by at least one computing device of the one or more computing devices, lending of the copy of the digital item from a lender to the recipient;
• storing, by at least one computing device of the one or more computing devices, annotations of the copy of the digital item generated by the recipient while the recipient is accessing the copy of the digital item, the annotations of the copy of the digital item being associated with the recipient, and the copy of the digital item being associated with the lender;
• providing, to the lender and by at least one computing device of the one or more computing devices, an option to receive the copy of the digital item with the annotations or without the annotations;
• and
• based at least partly on receiving an indication that the lender has responded to the option, permitting, by at least one computing device of the one or more computing devices, return of the copy of the digital item to the lender.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more modules stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to:
• identify a recipient for a copy of a digital item;
• permit lending of the copy of the digital item from a lender to the recipient;
• store annotations of the copy of the digital item generated by the recipient while the recipient is accessing the copy of the digital item, the annotations of the copy of the digital item being associated with the recipient, and the copy of the digital item being associated with the lender;
• provide, to the lender, an option to receive digital items with annotations or without the annotations;
• and
• based at least partly on receiving an indication that the lender has responded to the option, permit return of the copy of the digital item to the lender.