Ebooks: Finding a Way to Share
44th Annual CO Interlibrary Loan Conference
Joan Lamborn
Associate Dean of University Libraries
University of Northern Colorado
George Machovec
Executive Director
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
April 18, 2013
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries
• Who are we?
– Non-profit library consortium (501c3) founded in
1974
– 13 member libraries in Colorado & Wyoming (12
academic and one public)
– Our initiatives
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Shared licensing ($12m/year)
Prospector union catalog - 40 libraries
Gold Rush (ERM, A-Z, Linker) – 60 libraries
Alliance Digital Repository Service (Fedora/Islandora)
Long History of Resource Sharing
• Launched CARL ILS and UnCover in the 1980s
– Sold in mid-1990s
• Launched the Prospector union catalog (INNReach) in the late 1990s
– 41 libraries (half academic/half public)
– 12 million unique titles/30 million items
– 600,000 lends per year
What is a Book?
• A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or
blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or
other materials, usually fastened together to
hinge at one side (Wikipedia)
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–
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A container for information
Is it defined by a publisher?
Is it defined by size or number of pages
Is it defined by its format (paper, digital, analog)
How is it different from reports, serials, documents….
What is an ebook?
• A book produced in electronic or digital
format is known as an ebook (Wikipedia)
– How do you spell its shorthand version – ebook,
eBook, Ebook, e-book?
– Is it defined differently if read on a computer
screen, ebook reader, listened to, etc.
– Is it an ebook if it contains embedded audio or
video? What if it’s only audio or video?
– Definitions are getting muddled!
More Confusion
• Our online catalogs and discovery systems
mask from the reader what our digital content
is
– Most don’t carefully read the MARC record
– Our format icons (if used) are not universal
– Reports, large monographs, pamphlets and other
e-content all look essentially the same in our
portals
Frustration for the End-User
• Why can’t I access an ebook?
• Who controls my access
– The library?
– The publisher?
– Some intermediate organization?
• I can sometimes get into ebooks and sometimes I can’t.
Why?
• I go to Amazon, Apple or Google Books and I can always get
to a book ($) but there often are not available copies of
ebooks to borrow at my library (particularly with popular
titles at public libraries). Why?
• If another library owns an ebook why can’t you lend it to
me or give me temporary access like printed books (ILL)?
Books and Ebooks/Copyright
• Intellectual content is controlled by copyright law
– In the printed world long standing laws (e.g. fair use)
have defined proper use which, among other things,
allows libraries to exist and do interlibrary loan
– In the digital world, the distribution of content can be
more tightly controlled by publishers and vendors and
libraries sign contracts which limit our use – these
limits are often much more restrictive than traditional
fair use provisions
Public Domain
• In U.S. copyright law anything published
before 1923 is in the public domain
– 1923 is currently frozen (Mickey Mouse)
• In the U.S. anything published by federal, state
and local governments is in the public domain
• There are many “orphan” works where the
publisher and/or author cannot be easily
found and materials are in limbo
Our Contention
• Resource Sharing (ILL) is an important element
of library service
• Not every library can purchase everything, no
matter how large
• If sharing of library resources is not permitted
then the publishers have won!
– Particularly devastating for smaller academic and
public libraries
– It hurts everyone
No Single Solution
• Since no national standards or policy exist for eBook
resource sharing, be creative
– Ask for resource sharing contract provisions with
publishers
– Look for creative solutions
– Can short term loans be a proxy for ILL?
– Can resource sharing in a limited domain solve some
problems?
• Some Alliance approaches
– Springer eBooks
– Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO)
– Consortial Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA)
Lending of Springer eBooks
•Eleven libraries license the Springer ebook
package now with backfiles to 2005 (>50,000
titles)
•The titles are lent to the non-subscribing
libraries in the Prospector system
•About 100 titles are lent per month
•PDFs are sent to patron’s owning library with
no-DRM or other restrictions (allowed in
contract)
Lending of Springer eBooks
• Libraries load OCLC MARC records into local
OPAC
• Records automatically flow to Prospector
union catalog
• URLs are available for subscribing libraries
• Selected libraries have agreed to be fulfillment
libraries for eBooks
• The system load balances between these
libraries
Lending Springer eBooks
• Library receives request and rather than
getting a print version from shelves, they login
to Springer, download eBook and send
• Item sent to borrowing library (not directly to
patron) and they send the link to their patron
for pickup on the Web
– We use yousendit.com because files are too big to
be emailed
• Prospector fulfillment stats are logged
Oxford Scholarship Online
• OSO titles licensed by 9 academic Alliance
libraries
• Contract allows any public library or
community college in Colorado or Wyoming to
have free access riding on the coat tails of
Alliance contract
– This was their counter to ILL provisions
– Started September 2012
Douglas County eBook Project
• Locally loading content from on Adobe Content Server
(ACS)
– Currently about >8,000 titles. Still missing big publishers
– Gives library local control with rights similar to print for
sharing and accessing (one book, one reader)
– http://evoke.cvlsites.org/
• Making available through their VuFind discovery
interface
• Working with Marmot Library Network (who also uses
VuFind)
• This model is being mimicked in other public libraries
around the United States
Colorado Alliance
DDA Pilot
• Demand Driven Acquisitions Pilot
– 9 academic libraries
– Working through YBP with ebrary and EBL
– Publishers selected for each aggregator
– 6 Short Term Loans (STLs) before purchase at 1015% of retail cost of book
– When purchase is triggered, 2.5 times multiplier
of cost of book will be paid to allow all 9 libraries
to have perpetual access
Colorado Alliance
DDA Pilot
• Free previews of books (5 minutes for EBL and 10
minutes for ebrary)
• Pilot launched in May 2012 (with 2012 and later
imprints). Includes only books that retail for less
than $250.
• Currently about 3,000 eBooks in the pilot but
more being added each week
• No ebook lending to non-pilot participants but
would like to address this issue in the future
– Could STLs be used to provide “lending” in Prospector
– How does the money flow?
Preliminary Alliance Use Data
June 2012 – March 31, 2013
* It doesn’t matter who triggers a purchase. Titles are owned by all in the group.
Institution
Short Term Loans
Auto-Purchase*
Owned Loans
Auraria
213
7
79
Colorado College
53
1
18
CSU/Fort Collins
745
20
394
DU
196
3
108
Colorado Mesa U
87
2
9
Regis
191
2
21
UCCS
55
2
68
UNC
115
0
14
University of Wyo
151
4
81
TOTALS
1806
41
792
Alliance DDA Monthly Expenditures
eBook
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
eBook
2,000
1,000
0
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
Advice
• Be sure to contribute your MARC records for
eBooks to local catalogs, discovery systems,
union catalogs
– Many of your patrons go directly to these different
interfaces (you can’t predict)
– All authenticated resources have the same
protection as in your local catalog
– If you don’t contribute all of your records, when
your patrons search these interfaces they won’t
be seeing everything you own
Advice
• When you contract for eBooks think about
resource sharing
– In the move from print to digital if we sign away all
of our rights, the publishers have won
– Try to get ILL rights
– Let’s look out for each other
– No one solution will fix everything, we’ll need to
fight this battle one contract at a time
One Library’s Perspective on the Alliance
DDA Project
University of Northern Colorado
Joan Lamborn
Associate Dean of University Libraries
University of Northern Colorado
• Founded in 1889 as the State Normal School for
training teachers
• Became the University of Northern Colorado in 1970
• Recognized programs: Teacher preparation, business,
music and theatre arts, nursing
• Fall 2012 enrollment: 12,497
Undergraduates: 10,102
Graduate students: 2,395
Project Coordination
Alliance Shared Collection Development Committee
• Representatives from the Alliance libraries responsible
for collection development
• Responsible for planning and assessment of the project
Subcommittee of catalogers from participating institutions
• Established practices for modification of discovery
records and cataloging of purchased titles
• Established an email list for notification of discovery
record availability and for group communication
Impact on UNC Operations
• Selection
• Acquisitions
• Cataloging
• ILL
Selection
• Selectors are accustomed to making decisions for
the collection
• If a title is part of the project, it is not known
upfront if the title will be purchased
• The platform decision has already been made as
a result of the project
• It is not always clear whether a title will be
available through the project
Acquisitions
Orders for print and e titles may duplicate
titles available on the project
• Duplicates are investigated to determine if
the duplication a result of the project
• If an order for print duplicates a DDA title,
the print title is ordered
• If an order for e duplicates a DDA title,
the e order is held
Exception: if the title is needed for a course
Acquisitions
• Print and e duplicates are tracked on a
spreadsheet
• Print title purchases may shed light on use of
print vs. e
• E duplicates may be purchased at the
end of the project
Acquisitions
Approval books may also duplicate project
titles
The selector is notified for a decision
whether to keep or return the print
approval copy
Cataloging
• Processing of discovery records
• Deletion of discovery records
• Cataloging of purchased titles
Cataloging
Discovery records
• Loaded into the local catalog
• Edited according to practices agreed
upon by the participating libraries
• Edited based on local needs as well
Cataloging
Deletion of discovery records
• Monthly lists of deletions are sent to the
established email list
• Each library removes the records from the
local catalog
• Once deleted by all of the local libraries,
removal occurs in Prospector
Cataloging
Cataloging of purchased titles
• The decision was made to fully catalog purchased
titles rather than load point-of-invoice records
• Titles are cataloged by Colorado State
University
• MARC records are sent to other libraries
• Discovery records are overlaid
• Libraries send holdings to OCLC
Interlibrary Loan
• No impact on ILL workflow
• Access replaces borrowing and lending
of project titles
• Are short term loans a way to handle
ILL for ebooks?
UNC’s Experience
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The project is an adjustment for selectors
Selectors have different preferences about ebooks
Duplication is the most difficult issue
A project-wide policy about duplication at
the beginning of the project would have been
helpful
• The impact on cataloging is not significant
• Communication among everyone involved is critical
Participation in the Project
Participation in the Project
UNC Usage by Subject Category (EBL)
UNC Usage by Subject Category (ebrary)
Next Step - Assessment of the Project
Does demand-driven acquisitions make
sense at the consortial level?
If so, what is an appropriate pricing
model?
Assessment of the Project
Examples of specific questions to be investigated:
• How does usage by institution compare to $
contributed?
• How does usage by institution compare to FTE?
• What are the percentages of use and cost
by institution?
• To what extent to institutional patterns differ by
subject? By publisher?
Options Going Forward
• Continue
• Change the metric for funding
• Expand?