JISC eBooks Working Group Achievements and challenges

Sally RumseyJISC eBooks Working Group

University of Oxford

Challenges with print• Access• Collection management and

administration• Theft and vandalism• Space• Quality of stock• Out of print material

What is an ebook?Images of a print version

Colin Clouts come home againe. By Edmund Spencer & Sir Walter Raleigh. EEBO

Deborah Brunton, ‘Rumsey, Henry Wyldbore (1809–1876)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40992, accessed 13 Feb 2008]

Reference work

The JISC E-books WGhttp://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/ebooks

The core aims of the e-books working group as defined in the JISC Collections strategy:

1. Provide leadership in establishing a strategy for the development of e-books for the benefit of the academic community

2. Secure access to a critical mass of electronic general reference books across the spectrum of FE and HE disciplines

3. Negotiate and facilitate the provision of other e-books in a range of subject areas

4. Explore issues for supporting UK academics in authoring electronic books

5. Develop national activities that complement current book procurement

6. Build positive and inclusive relationships with all major stakeholders involved in the development and adoption of e-books – publishers, suppliers, librarians and the academic community

WG Reports

• In 2003 the E-books WG commissioned 4 e-book studies to inform their activities

• “The e-book mapping exercise”• “Promoting the uptake of e-books..”• “A strategy & vision for the future of

e-”textbooks….• “An investigation into free e-books…”

JISC eBooks WG: The Vision

The UK education community will have access to quality e-book content that is of high relevance to teaching, learning and research across the broadest range of

subject areas. Flexible business and licensing models will support a diversity of needs, allowing users to do what they want

when they want and how they want for education purposes.

All e-books will be easily discoverable and consistent standards will allow all content to be fully integrated into

library, learning and research environments.

E-Books Working Group 2007

Testbed for Interoperability of

eBook Metadata (TIME)

Final report

24 April 2006

The Higher EducationConsultancy Group

A Feasibility Study on theAcquisition of e-Booksby HE Libraries and the

Role of JISC

Final ReportOctober 2006

Finding e-titles

What’s available?• Academic• Web based

Reference

Text books

Practical Problems 1

E-books: What do librarians want?• Current titles• Wider choice of titles relevant to the UK academic

community• Flexibility in choosing between subscribing or outright

purchase• Sensible charging bands or prices regime• Multiple and concurrent access for users• Authenticated access• A systematic way of discovering what e-books are available• A ‘one stop shop’ for MARC records • ‘Reading list’ materials, principally textbooks

The need for a new vision• TEXTBOOKS• TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS

• TEXTBOOKS• TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS•TEXTBOOKS

Catch 22

“There is a demand for core reading list e-books in my institution but these are not being made available, and when I ask publishers why, they say that there is no evidence of the demand, and thus they are reluctant to make these e-books available. But if they don’t make the core titles available online, then users are not as interested and therefore the level of demand seems low.”

Taken from Observatory project

FinELib User Research

A majority of the respondents would be happy to give up printed dictionaries and reference books. The majority of respondents at universities and research institutes would also be happy to give up printed journals. The desire to give up printed materials has increased not only in universities and polytechnics, but also in research institutes over the last few years.

On the other hand, there is little use of electronic books. At universities, polytechnics and research institutes, about 20-30% do not use e-books at all, and at public libraries, the figure is over 60%. The printed book is considered almost irreplaceable as a proper user interface and no sector would be willing to give it up.

Why UK higher education has not bought more e-books

• E-book pricing models are not satisfactory (64%)• There is too little choice of e-book titles (62%)• E-book access models are not satisfactory (53%)• We are waiting for the market to settle down (33%)• We are waiting for JISC Collections to offer better e-

book deals (30%)• E-books are too expensive (28%)• I do not know what is available (18%)• There is no demand for e-books here (13%)• Affiliated/ external users are not allowed access (11%)• The technology is too complicated (8%)

Taken from the Feasibility Study on the Acquisition of E-books in HE and the role of the

JISC

• What are users doing with e-books? • Understanding how students and staff use e-books• Know your users• Business models and licensing models that will work for e-textbooks• 20,000 responses to the first user survey. • Results are being analysed by CIBER• Where are the print sales?• Full results of the first user survey will be available at www.jiscebooksproject.org

Requirements for the project:

• a core collection of e-books

• good terms and conditions of use

• the e-books on the platforms that are already being used

Challenges

1. Licensing

2. MARC records

3. Selecting the titles within the budget available

PlatformA number to choose from

Content

Pick & Mix v. Bundles

Same as print version?

Check hotlistsCost

How many?

Practical Problems 2

Confusing

• ‘80% of the respondents [to the Ebrary Survey] found e-book acquisitions models confusing,

• ‘Publishers and aggregators will increase their viability in the e-content marketplace if they can distinctly articulate the services and options that they can provide to libraries.’

• Connaway. L., Wicht. H., 2007. What Happened to the E-book Revolution? : The Gradual Integration of E-books into the Academic Libraries. Journal of Electronic Publishing. [online] 10 (3) Available from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0010.302

Models

• Subscription / Purchase

• Lease

• Consortia

• User driven

• One person viewing time

• Multiple concurrent users

• Check in and check out

• Lease / Subscribe to own

• Pay per view

• Chapter level subscription / purchase

• Subject collections / Bundles / Big deal

• Publisher / Aggregator

• Print plus E

• FTE / Banding / Consortia

Concerns as identified in the Ebrary survey

• Preservation

• Control of access

• Budgets

• Pricing

• Relevance

• Single user

• Currency

• Overlap

• Remote Access

• Integration

• Technology

• Institutional Repositories

• Interlibrary loans

• Mobile technologies

Licensing: Role for JISC

MARC records

Discovery: Three things you should know

Practical Problems 3

Practical Problems 4

Use one supplier or more?

Librarians

Costs

Coverage

Workflow

Users

Different interfaces

Varying functionalities

Personalisation

Selection criteria

What’s importantto you?

What are theshowstoppers?

Who hasresponsibility fordifferent checks?

Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT) http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/home.pl

Roles for JISC Collections as a consortia in e-books acquisition

• Seeking to get the best buys for the sector – national VFM role

• Investigating innovative formats or purchasing models that are being offered

• Buying resources that are essential in niche areas for research and teaching where the users would not be able to afford it without help

Crystal ball time: Predictions

Improved finding aids

More core titles

Better metadata