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9

A C T I O N

Subject: Addition of a Purchase Button from the OPL Catalogue

Prepared by: Jennifer Stirling, Division Manager System-Wide Services

& Innovation

Prepared for: OPL Board

Meeting of: February 11, 2013

Date of preparation: February 4, 2013

RECOMMENDATIONS That the Board endorse the requirement by the Canadian Urban Library Council

(CULC) in its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) supporting shared

purchasing with CULC Libraries from publishers represented by the Association

of Canadian Publishers (ACP) establishing a purchase button from the OPL

public catalogue as soon as practical; and

That the Board delegate the selection of the potential book fulfillment vendor to

the CEO, subject to adherence to City of Ottawa/Ottawa Public Library purchasing

policies.

References

1. April 2012. CULC eBook Taskforce Update.

Background

1. The Ottawa Public Library has been working diligently with other libraries to

negotiate new solutions to improve the access to eBook content to meet

customer needs. This is aligned with the Board’s priority A5 which directs the

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Ottawa Public Library to expand availability of e-books, e-materials and e-

services.

2. The Ottawa Public Library joined the CULC eBook taskforce in 2011 to work

jointly with publishers and other large library systems to develop a joint

purchasing and storage system to provide access to eBooks from Canadian

publishers including those represented by the ACP (Association of Canadian

Publishers) and CPC (Canadian Publishers Council).

3. Negotiations have been ongoing with both bodies and an agreement was

reached with the ACP in December 2012. The terms of the agreement will allow

Canadian libraries to purchase materials directly from ACP publishers if the

libraries agree to specific terms.

4. In order to help quantify the benefits to Canadian publishers of this new

relationship, libraries participating in the pilot have been asked to provide a

purchase option (‘buy button’) on their web sites in a timeframe deemed practical

by the participating libraries. The buy button would allow members of the public

to purchase eBooks or print material directly through the library with a bookseller

acting as a fulfillment agent for all purchases.

5. This would be a departure from current practice for OPL but could result in a

revenue-sharing opportunity with a default vendor. Preliminary investigation of

this opportunity several years ago suggested that the revenue would be modest.

However, this is a revenue-sharing opportunity which OPL could pursue and not

contravene the Public Libraries Act. The OPL could participate in an agreement

for a shared vendor with other libraries or seek to identify their own vendor of

record through a competitive process through the City of Ottawa’s Supply

Management branch.

6. The addition of a purchase button would be a new direction for OPL. OPL’s

mission of providing free access to physical and eBook services to Ottawa

residents remains unchanged. Library customers would have the option of using

this service to be able to purchase materials from the library catalogue that they

have already enjoyed through loan or, as an alternative means of fulfillment for

those materials with long waiting lists. The library’s catalogue and staff

recommendations would be used to expose library customers to materials that

they would like to borrow or purchase.

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7. Pending Board approval and vendor selection, OPL will work through

BiblioCommons to establish the integration between item records and order

records with the fulfillment vendor and allow customers to purchase materials

from the vendor’s website in a seamless and secure manner. The vendor would

be required to meet the provisions of all applicable privacy and accessibility

legislation and PCI regulations.

8. In order to meet the requirements of the agreement, the Board is being asked to

approve the addition of the buy button on the catalogue and to delegate the

selection of the vendor to the CEO in order to proceed with the pilot phase of the

CULC project. If this condition cannot be supported by the Board then OPL will

not be able to participate in this initiative to enhance e-book content for

customers.