GALE-CENGAGE & EBL
E-TEXTBOOK PILOT IN
AUSTRALIA
Vanessa Gamet, MLIS
May 2015
Mythical creatures
2
Background
 Publishing a textbook
• Aims:
 Keep libraries in the conversation while publishers transition
from print to e
 Try to replicate the textbook services libraries currently supply
through short term loans
 Try as much as possible to keep the costs reasonable
 Gather information about performance of e-textbooks in libraries
– test student behaviours
– assess the effect on sell through rates for sales of textbooks to
individual students
Pilot details
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EBL platform
Pilot commenced Monday 2 June, 2014
ANZ Libraries exclusively
7 core Australian textbooks exclusive to EBL, never before e
E-textbook only, no additional resources, assessment etc.
Model: 3-user; 3 x list price per unit
Total cost ~ £1,500
2014 only
Acquisition Summary
– 16 libraries out of 42 participants purchased all 7 titles outright
– 238 copies owned out of potential 294 copies (but some had up
to 9 copies)
– 29 copies purchased through automated turnaway handling
setting
Usage Summary
– 23,023 usage sessions (average 96.7)
– 49 demand driven usage sessions
– 12 instances of titles owned but not used at all out of a total 238
copies owned (5% of titles were not used).
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Turnaway summary
– There were 37 copies that experienced turnaways (orange
coloured cells)
– There were 29 occasions of additional copies purchased through
automated turnaway handling setting (mauve coloured cells)
Devices
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PC Windows:NT = 178
Macintosh = 106
iPad = 9
Android = 4
iPhone = 1
Mobile Access to over 100 devices
QUT Pilot Usage
 QUT purchased 1 copy of all 7 titles
 QUT have bought an additional copy for 2 of the 7 titles
 Total spend: £1,862.53/381 = £4.09 average cost per use
(£18.13 Sem. 1 only print)
QUT Pilot Usage
• Loans = 48; Browse = 250
• Loan Length
– 3 x 14 day
– 17 x 7 day
– 28 x 1 day
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Pages read = 11,726 / 298 uses (av. 39.34)
Downloads = 36 / 9 copies (12% of uses)
Pages printed = 203 (22.5 per copy)
Pages copied = 32 (3.5 per copy)
Fundamentals of Management: Asia Pacific
Edition (4th.ed) Samson, D. and Daft, R.
MARKETING THE CORE
GLOBAL BUSINESS TODAY - ASIA PACIFIC
EDITION
BSB113: ESSENTIALS OF ECONOMICS
BUSINESS LAW & ETHICS: BSB111 QUT
CUSTOM PUB + iSTUDY
ACCOUNTING BSB110 CUSTOM
PUBLICATION
AUSTRALASIAN BUSINESS STATISTICS +
iSTUDY - BSB123
ESSENTIAL UNIVERSITY PHYSICS VOL 1
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ASIAPACIFIC EDITION + CONNECT ACCESS
STATICS & MATERIALS (QUT CUSTOM
PUBLICATION)
ENGINEERING YOUR FUTURE: AN
AUSTRALASIAN GUIDE + iSTUDY
Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having and
Being.
Number of copies/Average YTD CIRC per item
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Number of copies
Total YTD CIRC
Average YTD CIRC per item
Conclusions
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Etexts have high average use
Few titles not used
Students don’t read, print or download the whole etext
Low turnaways = low user frustration
Etexts good for students
Etexts good value for libraries
Etexts good value for Cengage
Next steps…
 Its success has led to expanded number of titles offered
• Extended with second batch of 20 titles 30 Jan 2015