The Ebook, The Whole Ebook, and Nothing But The Ebook: A Holistic View of Ebooks for Undergraduate Academic Libraries

Sofia SlutskayaCatalog Librarian

Tessa MinchewSystems & Electronic Content Librarian

GaCOMO – October 5, 2012 http://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/6457180637

Finding Balance

Ebook Surveys

• Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

• Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

• ebrary’s 2011 Global Student E-book Survey– http://www.ebrary.com/corp/newspdf/ebrary_student_survey_report.pdf

• HighWire Press 2009 Librarian eBook Survey– http://highwire.stanford.edu/PR/HighWireEBookSurvey2010.pdf

• Primary Research Group. Library Use of eBooks. 2012 ed.

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

E-Resource Acquisitions @ GPC

• 5 campuses, so major e-resource purchases are committee-based & annual only

• Trial selection in January/February

• Trials in March

• Decisions in mid-April

• Adds/drops take place on July 1

Ebook Acquisitions @ GPC

• Ebooks part of annual process until recently– Mixed bag of purchase & access models

• Early CY11: Tentative pilot of campus-level ebook purchases didn’t gain a lot of ground

• Early CY12: Subcommittee formed to research purchase models and make recommendations

• FY13: Piloting a PDA project with EBSCO

Ebook Acquisition Models

• Purchase with perpetual access• Subscription • Pay per use‐ ‐• Lease to own• Patron driven acquisition‐• Bundled with other content (e.g., print copy)• Bulk purchasing (i.e. a collection of ebooks)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

HighWire Press 2009 Librarian eBook Survey

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Ebooks in GPC Libraries: An Opinion Survey (Unpublished)

Preference For Ebooks Over Print

2011 2008

48 % very often or often 51 % very often or often

32 % sometimes 32 % sometimes

20 % rarely or never 17 % rarely or never

Reasons for Never Using Ebooks 2011 2008

I do not know where to find ebooks 47 % 58 %

I prefer printed books 44 % 46 %

ebrary’s 2011 Global Student E-book Survey

How important are the following ebook features?

Characteristics 2011 2008

Anytime access 91 % 86 %

Search 88 % 87 %

Off-campus access 88 % 82 %

Ability to download to workstation

86 % 80 %

Multiple user access 83 % 81 %

Zoom and scale 75 % 65 %

Copy and paste 73 % 75 %

Highlighting 70 % 62 %

Printing 69 % 75 %

Automatic citations 63 % 56 %

ebrary’s 2011 Global Student E-book Survey

E-Resources Statistics @ GPC

• Statistics compiled monthly & manually using vendor reports & Excel.

• LibGuides used to relay statistical data, trial information, etc. to the selection committee.

• ERMes used to manage: – Database information– Vendor data– Admin/stats URLs and logins– Payment history & renewal dates

ICOLC

• International Coalition of Library Consortia• 150 international library consortia• Created vendor guidelines for statistical

measures (numbers of sessions, searches, menu selections, full-content units accessed, and turnaways)

• Guidelines are not mandatory & somewhat open to vendor interpretation

COUNTER

• Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources

• Standards to facilitate recording and reporting of online usage statistics in consistent, credible and compatible way

• http://www.projectcounter.org

SUSHI

• Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative

• Joint project between COUNTER and NISO• Protocol to facilitate the automated

harvesting and consolidation of usage statistics from different vendors

• http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi

COUNTER v. ILS Stats

• Both stats help assess usage of certain areas and areas that need more coverage

• 1 charge /= 1 request or search• COUNTER gives a more detailed view of usage

such as chapters & entries viewed• COUNTER allows more in-depth collection

analysis and picture of cost-per-use

Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

To Classify or Not to Classify

• Our Perspective: – Pro: Collection development & assessment– Con: Added time & effort for an item that doesn’t

require a shelving device• Our Patron’s Perspective: – Pro: Some of them still use call # browse– Con: Confusing to patrons who might look for the

resource on the shelf (we should always use a shelving prefix or suffix)

Ebooks - The Georgia Academic Librarians' Perspective (Unpublished Survey)

Misc. Techie Issues

• MARC records in catalog?– Provider neutral? Take what you can get?

• Separate locations? – By vendor? By collection?

• Item records?– Don’t circulate through ILS– Is it worth it just for display?

• Local subject/genre headings?– Enhanced access for low effort (if using MarcEdit)

What’s Next?

• Address technical issues– No in-house programming expertise, so we are trying

to minimize number of platforms• Learn more about patron perspective– Survey GPC faculty, staff, & student population

• Create standardized collection development policy for ebooks– Address needs of all groups, internal & external

• Step up marketing & training for existing resources– For both internal & external groups

Questions?

Slides:http://www.slideshare.net/tminchew/

Sofia Slutskayasofia.slutskaya@gpc.edu678.891.3674

Tessa Minchewtessa.minchew@gpc.edu678.891.3671

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/6457180637