presented by michael ireland to the 10 th interlending and document supply conference,

“eBook Loans – an e-twist on a classic interlending service”

Bronwen Woods & Michael Ireland, NRC-CISTI

Presented by Michael Ireland to

The 10th Interlending and Document Supply Conference,

Singapore, October 30, 2007

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

eBook Loan Service project from the CISTI perspective:

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

About CISTI

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Books at the beginning

Wild times in lending history …

King Ptolemy III of Egypt ‘borrows’ books for the Library of Alexandria

Electronic books

Why eBook Loans?

Current scholarly book access models are limited:

Purchase books or eBook License eBook collections Interlibrary loan

eBook loans are more accessible and economic:

Cheaper than purchase or licensing eBooks More efficient than print interlibrary loans

Current state of

print book loans

End user-initiated orders

End user delivery

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Project Goals

Catalogue & Metadata

Myilibrary/Coutts E-commerce

server (content)

Renew another 4 wks?

Email Notification

Does client wish to buy

book?

Coutts and CISTI Help Desks

respond to client queries

Payment Server/Authorization

Mil Order Form (Name, IP, payer email & delivery

email, contact info, CC info)

CC Invoice to Client (currency?)

Coutts Server (cobranded) & Shopping Cart

Is client NRC?

Notification to CISTI staff

Coutts Metadata populates CISTI OpenURL order

form

CISTI library staff pay with CC for

NRC

Order Status (Coutts E-

commerce server website)Appropriate copy?

(Parking lot issue for CISTI)

Publisher Metadata

Coutts MARC

Records

E-book delivered to client (loan of 4 wks incl. Up to 10

pp of prints)Client

Transaction/Order finished - CISTI notified and paid

E-Book Purchase

from Coutts E-Commerce

Server

E-Book Loan Process Flow (Coutts Milibrary and CISTI Catalogue) - Jan. 23, 2006

Publisher E-Book

Content

E-Book content on

Coutts Server

Challenges of the eBook Loan Project

Solve the problem of how to loan e-books to external clients

Barriers faced = restrictive e-book licences and publisher locks prevent affordable access for temporary needs

Partnership to achieve a common goal

CISTI out-of-the-box solution to the achieve project goals by forming a collaborative partnership with an e-book aggregator, MyiLibrary.

MIL had the rights to disseminate e-books through publisher agreement and could obtain ILL rights and wanted to increase its reach.

Collaborative project management across the

world

The project management process was unprecedented for CISTI because it was partnering with a commercial

entity located on another continent.

Project Risks

Main risks and complexities associated with the project from the CISTI perspective were:

The co-development of a new library service model with an external, commercial partner

The geographical and organizational distances between the two parties

The loading of the publisher metadata onto the CISTI Catalogue platform

Client acceptance of the new business model

Internal service procurement issues

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Critical tasks

In August 2006, a joint project team was assembled at CISTI and MyiLibrary to produce a new service model for lending e-books.

To embark on this joint venture, two tasks critical to project success were completed:

A client survey (summer 2006 )• 59% of respondents said “yes” they were interested in this service,

sight unseen

An agreement was signed between CISTI and MyiLibrary to implement the new service and share in the investment

Division of responsibility

MyiLibrary was responsible for: Negotiating with the publishers to

offer this loan service Making necessary changes to their

system Providing the publisher e-book

metadata Marketing and client support

(shared with CISTI)

CISTI was responsible for: Technology architecture planning

and business analysis Metadata loading and management Website interface design input and

translation Marketing and client support

(shared with MyiLibrary)

Workflow

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Lessons learned: Communications

Problem: At times, the distances and preoccupations with other tasks resulted in slow communications and delays.

Mitigation strategy: The project steering committee, which included executives from both organizations provided support on decisions to allow the project to move forward.

Learned: Timely communications led to the resolution of key project road-blocks.

Lessons learned:Loading problems

Problem: Some diacritics and table of contents publisher metadata provided by MyiLibrary was of poor quality – delaying Catalogue record loading.

Mitigation strategy: MyiLibrary pinpointed the problem as occurring in the source metadata records. Some data was corrected on the spot with more corrections promised in future loads.

Learned: Given the relatively small number (6%) of records involved affecting findability and with the promise of future metadata updates, the project team decided to accept the status quo and move ahead with project launch.

Lessons learned: Getting Publisher

sign-onProblem: Delays in signing publishers created complications because the publisher e-book records could not be displayed and offered to clients until the publisher had signed.

Mitigation strategy: CISTI loaded all of the records but had to keep unsigned publisher records “suppressed” from public view if they were not signed.

Learned: Because of the hard work of the negotiators, MyiLibrary signed on some of the world’s largest e-book publishers Springer, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis before the official launch.

Lessons learned: Authorizing users

Problem: CISTI and MyiLibrary had a disagreement over authorizing end-users accessing the eBooks. MyiLibrary wanted to create an additional end user password login. CISTI preferred not, wishing to put the emphasis on client usability and the minimization of barriers. MyiLibrary had a legitimate business concern about unauthorized use and also wanted to offer additional features to end-users - only possible if they had their own password.

Mitigation strategy: At the end, an agreement was reached on having no additional login with an understanding to re-visit the issue if there was proven abuse. Currently all eBook loans expire after four weeks and terms & conditions state they are for personal use only.

Lessons: Partnership is about collaboration and compromise.

Best practices

Creating use cases at the outset of the project

Maintaining a shared project task list

Keeping an issues log

Incorporating client feedback for future updates

Findings

The project was a success because:

Produced a new eBook loan service where all the stakeholders (CISTI, MyiLibrary, publishers, clients, users) reached a common goal to improve e-book accessibility.

CISTI, as a public sector organization, and MyiLibrary, as a commercial enterprise, shared a vision and carried it through to a successful conclusion.

A project conducted “virtually” over two continents succeeded in its goals and was completed on time.

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Value Proposition for users

eBook Loan Service allows the user to:

Find and obtain relevant scientific, technical, medical, business and social science eBooks from major e-book publishers

No mailing wait, download immediately from email link to web browser interface

Search and read eBook on line for 30 days

Copy, paste and print a certain number of pages

Value Propositions for libraries

eBook loans allow libraries to …

Have immediate access Avoid mailing wait / no unfilledBorrow unlimited books Reduce loan processing costsRenew loansForward eBooks to end users wherever they areAvoid recalls / late returns / lost booksNo annual eBook license or subscription required

Advantage eBook Loans

NRC employees

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Conclusions

The eBook Loan Service project and the implementation of the service break the barriers of time, distance and cost.

CISTI took a practical approach to increasing access to e-books through a collaboration with an aggregator and publishers.

Fair use / dealing issues for e-books are not resolved by this service. The primary goal is to improve client access to e-books beyond the existing licensing and purchase models available.

Next Steps

Promote the service world-wide

Facilitate other forms of payment beyond credit cards, working with other organizations such as OCLC

Expand the service to include more publishers and other providers world-wide to ensure that users have the fullest range of choice

Look for other opportunities to partner to achieve our goals

The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview

From opportunity to launch

Why eBook Loans Project goals, challenges, risks Project tasks and workflow Project lessons learned, best practices and findings Benefits to users and libraries Conclusions & Next steps How it works

Open Shopping Cart & Payment Server

Select an eBook and put in shopping cart

View Shopping Cart

Enter Payment Details

Send Email to enduser

Email to Payer

Email to enduser

Et Voila! eBook Loan display & features

Take away thought

“What technology often does is help us re-invent situations which have already existed but are now ready for modernisation

or moderation”

Graham Cornish, 2002

Questions?

Thank you

Bronwen Woods

Phone 613-990-9140

Fax: 613-952-8239

bronwen.woods@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Michael Ireland

Phone 613-991-9988

Fax:613-993-0747

michael.ireland@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

NRC-Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI)