E-books in academic libraries: lessons learned and new

challenges

UKSG ConferenceRiviera International Conference Centre, Torquay,

30th March-1st April 2009

We all know why we are buying e-books! (Don’t we?)

Top 5 reasons for buying e-books

1. Convenience for the user (24/7 and off-campus access)

2. Strategic move towards electronic access

3. To satisfy student demand for more copies

4. Searchability

5. Lack of space on shelves for

more print copies

The acquisitions process

• How do you find out what e-books are available?• Publishers, book suppliers, serials agents and

other intermediaries • Value of outright purchase vs. subscription

models e.g. new editions• Purchasing model may depend on how

purchase is funded• Staffing implications – boundaries between

books and journals blurring!

The acquisitions process (cont.)

• Too few key textbooks are available as e-books.

• Publisher preference for selling direct to students.

• Possibility of “breaking up” textbooks and selling as e-chapters?

• JISC e-Textbook Project (UK based)

Preferred purchasing models

1. Individual titles purchased via aggregator

2. Individual titles purchased direct from publisher

3. Aggregator packages

4. Publisher packages

5. Reader-driven acquisition (purchase triggered by use)

Cataloguing and metadata issues

• Separate eISBN and ISBN numbers – important for linking.

• Merge with print record?

• Catalogue each individual title?

• Catalogue packages? – MARC record quality can vary widely.

• Do you catalogue freely-available e-books?

Which platform?

• Which platform do you choose?

• How many platforms do you choose?

Technological considerations

• Is e-book reader technology robust enough?

• Emergent market, so key product is not yet known!

• Format

• Licensing

Licence management

• More platforms, more licensing issues!

• DRM implications

• How do you explain varying Terms & Conditions to customers?

• Try not to purchase the same title from multiple platforms.

Explaining the Terms and Conditions of usage to customers.

• We just do not! I guess we have more ejournal platforms and we just hope the users will find the platforms intuitive

• We try to explain them if they ask. • With some difficulty - it's not straightforward; neither is

describing and supporting users in getting to grips with the functional and operational differences between the platforms

• Special homepage called "How to use e-books" with examples of platforms. It is not possible to explain all and everything

Use of ERMs

• Importance of keeping a record of individual e-book titles we buy in perpetuity

• How accurate and up-to-date is the knowledge base?

• List of titles from the provider.

E-Journal? E-book? Who cares?

• Students are interested in content, not format! e.g. journal articles, textbook chapters, etc.

• Use of DOIs to identify content not format• Federated searching - need to be able to

cross-search all resources, e.g. AquaBrowser, Primo

• Interoperability standards

Usage statistics

• Slow take up of COUNTER-compliance by e-book publishers.

• COUNTER Code of Practice: books and reference works (Release 1, March 2006).

• Time-consuming to analyse large numbers of usage statistics.

Marketing your e-books

• It is not enough to just purchase e-books and hope customers will use them!

• Need critical mass – purchase packages?

• Promote alongside print?

• Targeted marketing?

• JISC National E-Book Observatory Project – has it raised the profile of e-books at your institution?

Why the slowness of take-up?

“If sex were invented tomorrow, the species would be extinct before the skeptics gave it a try. Seemingly by nature, humanity is slow to embrace innovation. We are disposed to resist disruption of the familiar, clinging against all odds to the comforts of sameness.”

Mark Sandler, Kim Armstrong and Bob Nardini. “Market formation for e-books: diffusion,

confusion or delusion?” Journal of electronic publishing, v.10, no.3, Fall 2007

Any questions or observations?

• Sarah Thompson

University of York

st20@york.ac.uk

• Steve Sharp

University of Leeds

s.l.sharp@leeds.ac.uk