Dreaming big, going bold
Creating a “shovel-ready” e-book collection
during a time of economic caution,
confusion, and crisis
What’s it all about, PALCI?
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Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium
Founded in 1996 with 35 members; now 76 in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia
Primary focus on resource-sharing
(E-ZBorrow, RapidILL) and e-resources
New emphases on cooperative collection
management, disaster preparedness, et al.
We’re are all mixed up
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State system, “state-related,” and
“independent” institutions (76%)
ARLs, Oberlin Group schools, other consortia
Very small to very large, under 100 FTE to
more than 80,000 FTE
54 schools (71%) have under 6,000 FTE
Total FTE in excess of 500,000
Well-to-do institutions—and not so well-to-do
Ready, aim, collect
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Create a consortium-wide e-book collection
Do so at minimal cost to members
Use grant funding from various sources
Keep pace with student approaches to
research
Allow libraries to repurpose space
Make it a library-focused collection—not a
vendor-determined collection
E-book buzz
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E-book talking: Increased discussion of ebooks and their use by academic libraries
More e-books on the market
“Millennial revolution”—more internet, less
print, please
We’re full up—making room for less
It’s a Texas thang, y’all—UT System Digital
Library, TexShare
Hey, kids, let’s put on a survey
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Using SurveyMonkey, we surveyed PALCI library
directors and collection development coordinators
for 3 weeks in September 2008
150 persons were surveyed; 71 responded
Complete survey results:
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PALCI website— http://www.palci.org
Click on “Services” tab
Select “Collection Management”
Scroll to “E-Books”
The survey says one thing . . .
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53.8% of respondents stated that their
institutions had 1 to 4 off-campus centers or
multiple campuses
40.4% of respondents said their student
population was nearly 100% residential
57.7% said that their institutions offered fewer
than 25% of courses through distance
education
Then another . . .
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87.5% of respondents said their institutions
already had an e-book collection
28.3% said that their collection had more than
10,000 volumes
74.5% had NetLibrary books
51.1% had e-books from other sources (APA,
Credo Reference, Gale, Springer, Sage, et al.)
The survey also says . . .
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62.5% said they would be interested in a
PALCI e-book collection
66.7% would like to see a collection that is
purchased/owned with annual maintenance
What would they be willing to pay?
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One time--$2,000 to $20,000
Annually--$100 to $5,000
All over the map
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Top choices for collection content
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Reference (80.0%)
Computer science (63.3%)
Core works (e.g., RCL) (60.0%)
STM (53.3%)
Business (46.7%)
Education (46.7%)
Social sciences (43.3%)
Obstacles and opportunities
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Global economic crisis
State budget crisis
College and university budget crises
Pennsylvania (and New Jersey) Knowledge Initiative
Lyrasis merger
E-ZBorrow migration/other PALCI cooperative
endeavors
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Where to now? First steps
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Currently investigating collections large and small
from various vendors
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Reference, subject-specific, EBL, MyILibrary, eBrary
Academic Complete, et al.
Offering collections for subscription/purchase to
individual libraries
Facilitating selection through approval vendors
Request for proposal for ideal e-book collection
Keep on walkin’
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Consortial purchase of e-book collection
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Smaller, subject-specific collections
Maintenance paid for by members
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Part of dues?
Or an added charge? Based on what?
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FTE?
Use?
Some combination of both?
Investigate funding sources
Are we there yet?
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Deposit account for purchases
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Both library- and patron-driven
Create a profile, limiting to specific publishers
and parameters (e.g., university, STM)
Realistically grant-fundable?
ILL entire book (at least inside the consortium)
An “E-Z” solution to maintenance?
Other paths
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Buy an e-book platform (eBrary)
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Follow OCUL model
Discrete purchase
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Requires advanced technical support
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Annual maintenance?
Open source?
MARC records or a searchable target
Would all collections be able to use this platform?
Playing to strengths
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Pennsylvania Digital Library replacement?
Accessory to Access Pennsylvania Digital
Repository?
PALINET/Lyrasis mass digitization effort
Million Books project
University of Pittsburgh Press digital editions
Possible LOCKSS connection
But do we gain enough from the effort?
Let’s keep exploring . . .
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Another idea: An e-book reader pilot project
Group purchase of e-book readers for 1 or
more member libraries
Provide textbooks; let students, libraries,
select additional content
Fund e-book service for a period of time
See what gets used, by whom, and how
Or should we simply go home?
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Use grant funds to support depleted book
budgets
A discrete purchase . . .
And one benefitting the publishing industry,
not just a few large vendors . . .
But not a very “sexy” investment
And doesn’t help with library space needs
But could be done (fairly) quickly!
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA)
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ALA identifies specific ARRA funding for
libraries:
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National Endowment for the Arts ($50m US)
Title I (Department of Education) ($13b US)
Enhancing Education through Technology
($650m US)
Broadband/telecommunications ($7.2b US)
State fiscal stabilization ($53.6b US)
Dollars and sense
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Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
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Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)
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Mission: “Create strong libraries and museums that
connect people to information and ideas”
Part of IMLS but administered by states
Philanthropic sources (Pennsylvania connections)
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Carnegie Corporation of New York
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“Meeting the challenges ahead”—K-16 education, science and
math education
Mellon Foundation
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Higher education, information technology, scholarly
communication
What do you think?
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Which approach would be most easily grantfundable?
Which approach would be of the most benefit to
libraries and their users?
How do we deal with ongoing maintenance?
How do we make maintenance fair?
Could e-books become E-ZBorrow 3.0?
Will the Pens finally take the Stanley Cup this year?
Let’s talk
John Barnett
Assistant Director, PALCI
Room 333, 7500 Thomas Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15208 USA
(412) 247-4130 (voice)
barnett@palci.org OR jhb23@pitt.edu
http://www.palci.org