The Welsh e-books consortium

Paul RileyUniversity of Wales Institute, Cardiff30 October 2008

Outline• WHELF

• E book project

• Next steps

•Raise the profile of services and developments in Welsh HE library and information services in our own institutions, in Wales and beyond •Influence policy makers and funders on matters of shared interest •Implement collaborative services and developments for the mutual benefit of members institutions and their users •Work with other organisations, sectors and domains in support of the development of a cooperative library network in Wales and the UK •Provide mutual support and opportunities for the sharing of good practice through meetings, mailing lists etc •Provide staff development and training opportunities for member institutions •Collect, disseminate and evaluate statistics from member institutions

WHELF’s Mission

Welsh Collaboration in Action

Background• Collaboration review

• Action Plan

• Conference

Project Objectives

• Establish a WHELF NetLibrary shared collection

• Establish a WHELF Group capable of discussing consolidated e book purchases with other suppliers

Project Outline

• Establish Steering Group (April 2007)• Identify required titles on institution by institution

basis (May 2007)• Assess consolidated list for duplication and

uniqueness (June 2007)• Refine list and agree titles to take (July 2007)• Begin agreement (August 2007)

Outcomes

• Purchased 538 titles plus a further 50 since August

• Each institution has an agreement with OCLC• Supply of MARC records

Usage

September 2007 1077

October 2007 2875

April 2008 3080September 2008 1206

Evaluation• Usage of initial collection

• Difficulty in agreeing further title selection

• Forum for sharing good practice

• University of Wales

Next steps• All Wales collection

• Other suppliers

• Cross sectoral

Next steps• Partnership approach

• Better selection mechanism

• Continue working with NetLibrary

• Other collaborative purchasing

Thank You

priley@uwic.ac.uk