1. PDA and the University Press
AAUP 2012
Chicago
Joseph J. Esposito

2. What impact will patron-driven
acquisitions have on university
press publishing and how can
presses best adapt to this new
development?

3. To answer this question, we need to
know . . .
 How many books do presses sell to libraries?
 How big is the market for PDA?
 What will the PDA market look like in a few
years?
 Are there structural changes coming for this
marketplace?
 How can publishers stimulate sales within PDA?
 What new marketing is in order?

4.  No one really knows the answer to this
 Distinguish academic libraries from all other
 No two presses are alike
 Average library sales: 25%
 Other channels:
 International: 10%
 Course adoption: 25%
 Amazon: 25% (and growing)
 Other, including other bookstores: 15%

5.  About 400-600 libraries have PDA systems today
 Growing rapidly; could double in 18 months
 Total volume: approximately $20 million
 Publishers’ share: around $13 million
 University press total (25%): $3.25 million
 May be upward bias in the figures

6.  By some estimates, 40% of books in academic
libraries never circulate (figure is sloppy but
useful)
 Books that do circulate are not at risk with PDA—
but payment for those books may be delayed
 Presses’ financial exposure = 40% of 25% of
$320 million, or $32mm (not counting delayed
payment)
 Challenge is for the libraries’ gain not to be the
presses’ loss

7.  PDA is mostly about ebooks; Amazon (for
libraries) is mostly about print
 Amazon is the largest library vendor nobody
heard of
 Amazon’s growth for U. presses has multiple
causes:
 International reach of online venue
 Course adoptions
 Library sales
 Sales to individuals (e.g., faculty)

8. Amazon #2
 Amazon is likely to seek a way to get ebooks
(Kindle) into libraries
 An acquisition of a library vendor is
possible, including an acquisition of a PDA
vendor
 This could restructure the marketplace
 Amazon’s growth means lower margins
 (Ironically, PDA is a better alternative)

9.  Some publishers believe PDA will hurt them, but
some publishers believe PDA will help them
 Libraries investing a great deal of effort into
developing these systems; they won’t go away
 PDA involves complex integration of multiple
systems (catalog, billing, budget, etc.)

11. The intriguing thing about PDA is that
it encourages libraries to put many
records into their catalogs, more
records than they would if they only
purchased books outright. That’s the
opportunity for publishers: augment
discovery and sales by influencing
the metadata that goes into the PDA
catalog.

12.  Publishers create metadata and send it to trading
partners
 Publishers often work with ONIX vendors
 Publishers give metadata to Bowker, which
charges users (including libraries) for it
 The quality and amount of metadata across the
supply chain is uneven; often incorrect and
incomplete
 PDA catalogs draw on this questionable metadata

13.  Make metadata creation and distribution the #1
marketing priority (marketing is metadata)
 Take control of ONIX feeds
 Make ONIX available for free directly from the
publisher’s Web site
 Don’t cut off Bowker; complement them
 Establish library metadata advisory board
 Put as much care into metadata as you do to
editorial work
 Goal: every library becomes a virtual “bookstore”

14.  Replace ILL with PDA (collect fees on rentals)
 Price increases—inevitable
 Participate in digital book aggregations
 Move business from low-margin Amazon to
higher-margin PDA
 Use the library catalog as a basis for discovery
(the metadata issue again)
 Explore a consortium to create bookstores within
library catalogs (the Scholars Catalog project)

15.  Joseph J. Esposito
 espositoj@gmail.com
 (831) 425-1143
 +Joseph Esposito
 @josephjesposito
 http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
 The research for this project was made possible
with the generous support of the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation