Briefing paper for staff / colleague circulation on growth of eBooks and prospective issues / suggestions for an academic library

1. eBooks in academic libraries- a briefing paper 2010 Terry O’Brien Deputy Librarian, WIT Libraries August 2010

2. “By the year 2020, 40% of UK research monographs will be available in electronic format only, while a further 50% will be produced in both print and digital. A mere 10% of new titles will be available in print alone by 2020” (British Library 2005) This is probably an underestimation eBooks – the future is now

3. In the above report, CIBER – the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research at UC London, refer to the “inexorable rise of the eBook” and “a student population, hungry for digested content” According to CIBER, print sales will fall sharply as electronic publishing matures and consumer demand grows By 2017, eBooks will be the default format for textbooks, scholarly books and reference works Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future

5. High pricing and complex pricing models

6. Bundling solutions did not meet needs

7. Complex licensing issues, digital rights management (DRM)

8. Multiple formats and platforms

9. Uncertain market

10. Lack of key e-texts

11. Discoverability - poor marketing by libraries This is all changing … Some background

12. Significant growth in eBook adoption by libraries is expected in next couple of years Usage of eBooks is a different issue! eBooks are no longer a new technology, although the market is evolving quickly The argument over print versus technology is a philosophical one at this stage eBooks, eReaders are (very close) mainstream The consumer market is exacerbating expectations in the academic library sector Adoption and usage

13. Here to stay, but print books also for the forseeable future, the internet has meant growth in all book sales because of increased visibility Adoption and usage of eBooks on the rise, practically all Irish academic libraries are now using eBooks Enable on-campus access, remote access, 24/7 access, multiple campus access and concurrent use Enhanced user experience, functionality: searching, saving, cross-referencing, OCR, cut and paste, look inside, chapters, rough cuts, Tables of Content, paragraphs, hyperlinks, favorites, EndNote compliant More accurate usage metrics, monitor flows can measure page turns and type of usage eBooks are …

14. Publishers Students Librarians The market - consumerism Space Cost Convenience Accessibility Environmental Peaks in demand (exam time & semesterisation) Distance, off-campus and part-time learners are very important user groups eBook - Demand drivers

15. eBooks offer chapters, paragraphs, sentences etc as units of consumption According to CIBER this appeals to digital consumers and students who prefer bite size chunks of information eBooks are not read sequentially and this is part of their actual appeal, sometimes called ‘dipping’ eBooks tend to be scanned not read, eBooks are not read cover to cover in the traditional sense Cover to cover reading preference remains for print No theft of eBooks Usage

16. Most frequent use of eBooks relates to textbooks and reference research eBooks for ‘use’ (specific) more than ‘read’ (cover to cover) eBook usage tends to be stronger amongst undergraduates and academic staff. Postgraduates and researchers veer more towards monographs, conference proceedings, journals There is evidence to suggest that men are greater users of eBooks and that business students are more likely to use over any other subject discipline (JISC Studies, 2009) Usage II

17. eBooks best ‘support learning activities in certain subjects where information is structured in relatively discrete blocks and where a premium is placed on currency’ e.g. business, law, computer science (UCG, eBook seminar, May 2010) UK market still quite small – according to Publishers Association £150m in 2009, of which 80% academic-professional, but the growth of the iPad, Kindle and Smartphones will increase this dramatically Amazon already report eBook sales superseding hardbacks in certain categories (The Guardian, 2010) Cost and availability of readers is prohibitive although iPad and Amazon Kindle recently launched in UK/Ire According to CourseSmart (US), sales of textbook downloads rose some 400% from 2008-2009 Usage III

18. Offline viewing is possible with some suppliers eBooks can be linked and incorporated into VLEs Digital Rights Management (DRM) has been an issue but publishers and aggregators are tending to solve this problem at point of access and through control monitors Individual publishers will have different agreements with aggregators but from an end user perspective – fair usage and copyright educational exemptions generally apply to printing and downloading Copyright rules apply to eBooks Usage IV

19. Quick overview Positives Negatives Demand Simultaneous/concurrent users Off campus/remote access Content versatility – search and scanability eBook fully index'able Space – no shelving Reduced back-end work No repairing or covering Can be easily integrated No physical security issues Offer convenience and flexibility Complexity Licensing Software Reading screens DRM Locating actual eBooks Confusion - platforms Cost Turnaways Pace of change in consumer market is rapid

20. Workflow changes in terms of acquisitions Offer portability, convenience, instant access, simultaneous usage Potential for longer-term cost savings and flexible usage by more users Established eJournal adoption (primarily through databases) will aid familiarity Development growth has mirrored adoption of e-journals Physical book sales are as yet increasing despite eBooks Impact

22. Making eBooks available directly through library catalogue rather than separate resource lists

23. Marketing and promotion is essential - library website, staff contacts, alerting, institutional and dept. publicity

24. Place eBook links into VLEs and reading lists, this can also apply to parts of books and chapters

25. eBook access can also be achieved through other pathways such as link solvers, A-Z listings and federated search

26. Digital visibility is also increased through abstract and keyword searches in search enginesDiscovery

27. In most cases the license agreement is with the aggregator (on behalf of the publisher) The academic library model is similar to that used for databases – registered staff and students have access on campus and (authenticated) off-campus eBooks are generally bought in perpetuity meaning access/ownership is forever (though may not be the case with bundles) The license normally allows for concurrent and multiple (though not unlimited) users DRM imposes certain printing, copying restrictions again dependant on the publisher Multiple suppliers may mean multiple licensing agreements Licensing

28. Direct cost approx. up to 20% higher than physical book cost, although higher cost usually relates to concurrent usage and it may be that certain titles are actually cheaper Ownership models vary but generally cost is direct Some aggregators charge an annual platform fee – normally a moderate payment irrespective of number of titles bought Others charge a monthly fee, some use token or slot systems Cost may be offset by indirect cost savings - less back end work required, less multiple copies required Most publishers now offer a pay per title model with no minimum order requirements Bundle and subject packages are available but don’t necessarily represent value or efficiency Packages do generally involve discounts Fees & ownership

29. Dawsons Coutts(MyiLibrary) EBSCO(formerly NetLibrary) Swetswise Ebrary Safari Coutts and Dawsonera score best in surveys and are most widely used. EBSCO are new to the market and Safari, although strong on IT, have had some negative comment because it uses a token system and monthly fees. Ebrary are strong on collections and open access, Swetswise offer total procurement and acquisition solutions Main vendors / aggregators

30. 18,000 + active publishers, 1/4m + titles Simultaneous, multi-user access, no turnaways Full-text and subject searching Full DRM No plug-ins or readers necessary – viewed as flowable text via jpeg format Flow control measures Highly recommended Multiple authentication access – IP on, EZ proxy or ATHENS off-campus MARC records VLE and bibliographic software compliant No minimum order requirement, widely used in academic libraries COUNTER usage reports Annual platform charge – c. €500 Dedicated OASIS catalogue Coutts – main details

31. 130,000 + eBooks OPAC ready MARC records COUNTER usage reports No minimum order No platform fees Use ‘access credit’ system DRM – online and download Perpetual access Offer rental model Bib software compliant Does not allow IP authentication – password required EZ proxy for off campus One-off hosting fee but not a subscription service Widely used Printing, copy limited at 5% across the board Dawsonenter dedicated catalogue Dawsonera – main details

33. Ovid

34. SpringerLink

35. Taylor & Francis

36. Informaworld

37. Emerald

38. Royal Society of Chemistry

39. ElsevierDirect Publishers

40. Google Book project may have a major impact on eBooks Google eBookstorelaunched December 2010 Print on demand such as Springer’s MyCopy and Coutts Lightning Source Free or ‘open access’ eBooks Tablets, Smartphones, Notepads becoming increasingly ubiquitous eReader market – developments post-iPad could change Colour screens and better display technologies Other developments

41. Some publishers such as Cengage are appealing directly to students by offering rentals or purchase of eTextbooks, eChapters, student packages and freebies - CengageBrain Overdrive type services. Overdrive are a digital products distributor who offer integrated digital library reserves. Primarily used by public libraries as focus is on downloads to individual user devices. Very impressive WhisperNet - wireless delivery system for the Kindle that allows user to download books without the use of an outside internet provider PDA – ebrary pushing patron-driven acquisition meaning patrons decide what eBooks library should have. Allows real-time updating ebrary PDA Other developments II

42. There are many free eBooks available on the web but many are of limited value Can add volume to a collection but how widely used is questionable and in terms of textbooks, quality is variable Gutenberg does give access to many classics outside of copyright and in a variety of formats Google Book project may change the landscape and has potential to be an amazing resource Although a somewhat useful resource, are not a replacement for a proper demand driven eBook collection Some contain advertisements, nearly all in pdf format, lack of integration into catalogue makes ‘discovery’ difficult Many publishers give some free access for branding or marketing purposes Free eBooks

43. Some of the best known and most widely used include – BookBoon (all in pdf) eScholarship from University of California Project Gutenberg (classics) Google Books (subject to publisher agreements, incl. previews ) Wiley’s Dummies.com (incl. video’s, chapters, how to’s etc. Free eBooks

44. eBooks are generally accessed in two broad ways by academic libraries – Download or Streamed (Flowable text) In most basic form, eBook is a downloadable pdf form (often cannot be saved) Many academic libraries currently use flowable html to view / stream books from a hosted server (connection required). The book is then ‘viewed’ and used subject to DRM. Also enables multiple types of access The download model is a little bit more difficult because of ownership issue. Public libraries overcome this by using services such as Overdrive which enable expiry of books based on pre-defined loan dates etc. Consumers are currently buying books that they download and personally own Accessing eBooks

45. Downloads work on e-readers and smartphones. Reading device is what controls the reading experience Flowables work on pc’s and tablets. The platform performs the other functions. From user perspective, full ownership gives more security. Flowable approach is more vulnerable, more control and DRM to publisher (but this probably suits academic libraries better at the moment) Streamed books enable enhanced metrics – no. of book titles, cost per use, cost per title used, age books used Aggregators use COUNTER compliant statistics http://www.projectcounter.org/ ePub format – free open industry standard for eBooks (not supported by Kindle) Accessing eBooks

46. The eReader market is very fluid and is evolving rapidly In academic libraries context, computers remain primary tool for downloading, storing, retrieving eReaders market aimed mainly at casual reader but publishers are focussing more on getting content to students via eBook model eReaders represent what students in future will expect - portability, cost-effective, access at any point in time, flexible not static content The eReader consumer market (leisure, recreation etc.) has exacerbated user expectations but requirements of academic libraries and their users is different (i.e. research and study purposes) to the commercial market eBooks and eReaders

47. Theft of books reduces but theft of eReaders a problem? All support pdf save for iPad but there is an app for that which will convert pdf to ePub Swopping eBooks between eReaders will be difficult Content compatibility across platforms is a real problem – Adobe ePub, Kindle AZW, iPad (Educause, 2010) Some eReaders cannot be used in the dark due to electronic ink / electronic paper displays (EPDs) eReaders can hold up to 1500 books, may have ‘Text to speech’ functionality and the Kindle 2 for example has a ‘Read aloud capability’ Commercial eReaders have made huge improvements to screen, text, readability, electronic ink technology, energy efficiency but remain prohibitively expensive Commercial eReaders

49. Kindle 2 (Amazon)

50. Nook (Barnes & Noble)

51. iPad and iPhone (Apple)

52. Sony Reader Touch (Sony)

53. Opus (Bookeen)

54. iLiad (IREX)PDA’s can also read eBooks but do not have electronic ink display Convergence of eReaders with more general-use devices (smartphones, pda’s, notepads, tablets etc.) Dedicated eReader & eBook devices

55. Likely that money spent on eBooks will not be in addition to print books but a compliment or replacement. In other words print book budgets will decrease as eBook budgets increase. However some separate initial investment may be required to begin an eBook collection Ideally for us – eBooks that can be viewed (streamed) and/or downloaded onto a variety of formats is preference Develop site license model for loaning digital texts to multiple users simultaneously CIBER/JISC studies - - eBook needs to be placed in broad context of scholarly information provision “e-books are being dropped into an already crowded information environment” Mainstream penetration - consumer appetite for digital content consumption growing rapidly Some issues to consider

56. eReaders a separate issue, will need monitoring over next years but no real evidence yet that our users will use eReaders to access library material i.e. eTextbooks In time all library content – journal articles, books, texts may be delivered to eReader or smartphone devices Problem of how best to “read” the eBooks a library invests in– the solution for now comes from the aggregators platforms rather than eReaders Quandary for libraries - “invest in proprietary eBook files that only work on a limited number of devices or on non-proprietary file formats supported on a number of eReaders” (Educause, 2010) Some more issues to consider

57. Set up accounts with aggregators semester 1 2010 Avoid multiple formats and platforms where possible eBook budget part of wider acquisitions budget eBook should be treated as an eResource in terms of management Purchase next 100 books in eBook form and monitor costs, usage and effectiveness Recommendations for WIT Libraries I

58. Thereafter purchase eBooks not for sake of it, but only if quality and demand established Avoid buying subject collections for now, bulk eBook collections are simply not read or used Dispense with all multiple copy purchasing unless completely unavoidable Purchase individual titles Look at specific suppliers for specialist areas Develop a hybrid acquisitions approach to books Recommendations for WIT Libraries II

59. Books vs. eBooks – Does One Have to Win? http://www.pdviz.com/books-vs-e-books

60. Highwire Press 2009 Librarian eBook survey Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, (CIBER, UCL) 2008 eBooks - Costs and Benefits to Academic and Research Libraries (Springer.com White Paper) eBooks – The End User Perspective (Springer.com White Paper) The Book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOorZQLsmuA&feature=related Some further reading