Best Practices for Demand-Driven
Acquisition of Monographs:
Recommendations of the NISO DDA
Working Group
David Whitehair
OCLC
Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA)
of Monographs Workshop
http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/rp-20-2014
Goals
• Develop a flexible model for DDA that works for publishers,
vendors, aggregators, and libraries
• Model should allow for DDA programs that
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Meet local budget and collection needs
Allow for consortial participation
Support cross-aggregator implementation
Account for how DDA impacts all functional areas of the library
Committee members
• Lenny Allen
Oxford University Press
• Stephen Bosch
University of Arizona
• Scott Bourns
JSTOR
• Karin Byström
Uppsala University
• Terry Ehling
Project Muse
• Barbara Kawecki
YBP Library Services
• Lorraine Keelan
Palgrave Macmillan
• Michael Levine-Clark
University of Denver
• Rochelle Logan
Douglas County Libraries
• Lisa Mackinder
University of California, Irvine
• Norm Medeiros
Haverford College
• Lisa Nachtigall
Wiley
• Kari Paulson
ProQuest
• Cory Polonetsky
Elsevier
• Jason Price
SCELC
• Dana Sharvit
Ex Libris
• David Whitehair
OCLC
BACKGROUND
What is DDA?
Demand-driven acquisition (DDA) is acquisition of library
materials based on patron use at the point of need
Why DDA?
• DDA allows libraries to provide users with immediate access to
a wide range of titles to be purchased at the point of need
• Libraries have embraced DDA because it has the potential to
rebalance the collection away from possible use toward
immediate need
Terms
• Consideration pool
All of the books available for potential purchase within a library’s DDA
program
• Discovery record
A MARC record supplied to a library by a supplier/vendor to enable
discovery of a title within the consideration pool
• Free discovery
A feature of some DDA models that provides free access to an e-book
before a trigger occurs
• Short-term loan (STL)
A lease of an e-book for a brief period within a DDA program
Terms
• Auto-purchase
Within a DDA program, a purchase by the library of perpetual access to an
e-book based on usage by patron
• Trigger
Any event within a DDA program that causes a financial transaction to occur
• Point-of-purchase record
A MARC record loaded by a library after purchase of a title via a DDA
program; intended to be used permanently
• Delete file
A set of discover records or record IDs generated to match titles no longer
available in a library’s consideration pool, and used to remove records from
a library’s catalog and discovery tools
KEY ASPECTS OF DDA
Sustainability
• Libraries
• Large amount of content to users without risk of overspending budgets
• Pricing levels and triggers defined so that normal discovery and use can
run throughout the year
• Publishers
• Pricing model set at a level to maintain revenue and continue to publish
books
• Long run could damage the scholarly communication ecosystem
Free Discovery
• Early DDA programs resulted in buying large numbers of un-needed
books and overspending budgets
• Free discovery ensures that most uses of a book that trigger
financial transaction are substantial and meaningful
Temporary Lease
• Short-term lease (STL) allows library to pay for a single use for a
fraction of the cost of purchasing the book outright
• Library savings if title is used a handful of times
• May not be sustainable for publishers over time
Purchase
• All programs offer option to purchase
• Preference is to purchase most heavily used materials
• Libraries have varying aims; point at which purchase occurs should
be flexible
Alternative Models
• DDA with free discovery, STLs, and purchase based on triggers
requires sophisticated technical systems
• Evidence-based acquisition (EBA)
• Publisher provides access to titles for set period of time
• Library agrees to pay set sum for perpetual access
• Library selects titles at end of period based on usage data
• Also known as evidence-based selection (EBS) or usage-driven
acquisition (UDA)
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Breadth of the Program
• Why are you creating the program?
• Primary means of building monographic collections
• Supplement to existing practices
• Contributes to size of pool of titles, number of suppliers to use,
size of budget, etc.
Access vs. Ownership
• Ownership goal:
• Purchase titles early in usage cycle
• In general, more expensive, but have permanent access
• Broad access goal:
• Purchase titles late in usage cycle or not at all
• In general, less expensive, access to more titles, but low perpetual access
CHOOSING PARAMETERS
Triggers and Transactions
• Automatic financial transactions
• STLs and auto-purchases
• Evidence-based acquisition
• Reach end of agreed upon time period and spending pre-negotiated
amount of money
• Loan Periods for STLs
• One-day, one-week, one-month loans
Suppliers
• Commercial aggregator
• More titles from wide range of publishers
• Not necessarily all titles from a publisher
• Generally more restrictive digital rights management (DRM)
• University Press aggregator
• Similar to commercial aggregator in breadth of content across a range
of publishers
• Closer to publisher platforms in terms of DRM and less automated DDA
processes
Suppliers
• Publisher
• Often access to more content than via aggregators
• Generally less DRM
• Not yet designed to manage unmediated DDA, so choosing
evidence-based acquisitions model
• Approval vendor
• Integration with and de-dup against broader book approval plan
• Profile at more nuanced level
• Manage plan and de-dup across multiple aggregators
PROFILING
Profiling Considerations
• Ensure pool of adequate size relative to budget and user base
• Subject and non-subject parameters
• Relationship to print
• Retrospective titles
MANAGING
MARC RECORDS
MARC Records
• Discovery Records
• Customization and enrichment
• Discoverability
• Library catalog/OPAC, Discovery tool, Shared/consortial catalog
• Point-of-purchase records
• At time a purchased title is invoiced
• Can include acquisitions data to generate ILS order records and support
electronic invoicing
REMOVING MATERIALS
Reasons for Removing Materials
• Collection development choices
• Subject, currency, availability of new edition, duplication with print, price
increase, etc.
• Financial risk
• Reduce pool if budget cannot keep up with demand
• Publisher
• Pulled from aggregator
• Stopped offering via DDA
Recommendations
1. Establishing Goals
• Four broad goals for DDA
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Saving money
Spending the same amount of money more wisely
Providing broader access
Building a permanent collection via patron input
Saving Money
• Providing access to fewer books
• Emphasizing temporary access (STLs) over perpetual access
(purchasing)
• In evidence-based programs, having a higher usage threshold
prior to purchase
Spending Same Amount More Wisely
• Larger pool of titles, emphasis on temporary access
• Smaller pool of titles, emphasis on perpetual access
Providing Broader Access
• Most expansive pool possible
• Emphasizing STLs over perpetual access
• In evidence-based programs, having a higher usage threshold
prior to purchase
Building a Permanent Collection via Patron Input
• Having a tightly-focused profile/smaller consideration pool
• Emphasizing perpetual access over STLs
• In evidence-based programs, having a lower usage threshold
prior to purchase
2. Choosing Content to Make Available
• Important Issues
• Not all p-books available as e-books
• No single supplier provides all e-books
• Not all e-books available via DDA or under same models
• Therefore
• More comprehensive coverage requires more suppliers and more models
• Broadest coverage possible = include print
• Approval vendors can help manage DDA across multiple suppliers
• Publishers should recognize that libraries may wish to limit number
of suppliers, and plan accordingly
3. Choosing DDA Models
Mix of auto-purchase and STL based on goals of program
• Auto-Purchase
• Purchase triggered on the first use longer than free browse
• Purchase triggered after set number of uses
• Purchase triggered after set number of STLs
• STL
• A set number of STLs prior to auto-purchase
• Only STLs, with no auto-purchase
3. Choosing DDA Models
• Evidence-based acquisition
• Sometimes only option based on platform capabilities
• Library and publisher should develop expectations based on analysis
of past usage
• Publishers may wish to participate in some or all models
• Some concern by publishers about sustainability of STL
4. Profiling
• DDA profiles should be based on the broadest definitions possible
within these areas, and relative to goals of the program
• Subject coverage should provide access to a wide range of content, even
in subjects that may not be core
• Retrospective coverage for critical mass
• Especially in programs that otherwise limit coverage
• May or may not overlap with print holdings, depending on library preference
5. Loading Records
Libraries should:
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Load records regularly and as soon after receipt as possible
Load records into as many discovery tools as possible
Code records for easy suppression or removal
Enrich metadata to increase discoverability
Load point-of-purchase records after purchase to ease acquisitions
workflow/payment
6. Removing Content
Libraries should:
• Remove records from all discovery tools as soon as feasible, often using
supplier’s delete file
• Establish regular cycle for removal
• Maintain a record of titles removed for assessment
7. Assessment
• There are multiple reasons for assessment, so this should be
planned from the start
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Measuring overall effectiveness of the program
Measuring success at cost reduction
Measuring usage
Predicting future spending
Managing the consideration pool
• Data sources might include
• COUNTER reports
• Vendor/publisher supplied reports
• ILS or other local data
8. Preservation
Libraries and publishers should work together to ensure that
un-owned content remains available, perhaps in partnership
with third-party solutions such as LOCKSS and Portico.
9. Consortial DDA
Three basic models:
• Multiplier (a multiple of list price allows shared ownership)
• Limited Use (shared ownership, but with a cap on use before a second
copy purchased)
• Buying Club (shared access to consideration pool, but individual
ownership)
10. Public Library DDA
• Mediated
• Wish lists
• Often not through the catalog
Recommended Practice
Demand Driven Acquisitions of Monographs:
http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/rp-20-2014
Survey results:
http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download
.php/12541/DDA_Survey_Results.pdf
Thank you!
David Whitehair
OCLC
whitehad@oclc.org