The future-of-the-academic-information-supply-chain-cnur
1. 31st ADLUG ANNUAL MEETING
19 â 21 September 2012
â˘Quality Content ⢠Resource Management ⢠Access ⢠Integration ⢠Consultation
The future of the academic
information supply chain
Marco Cassi
EBSCO Italy & Greece
2. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Context
⢠The supply chain remains hugely
complex and highly dynamic
⢠Wide range of factors:
⢠evolving technology
⢠financial pressure
⢠economic climate
⢠research practices
⢠user behaviour
/expectations
⢠new service providers
⢠evolving roles
⢠changing business models
⢠new and emerging markets
⢠wider web
⢠and much more!
3. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Survey of opinion leaders
⢠141 colleagues invited
⢠98 answers
⢠70% response rate
⢠Qualitative and quantitative
⢠Academic librarians (26/32)
⢠Agents/intermediaries (13/31)
⢠Publishers (28/36)
⢠Consortia leaders (6/13)
⢠Other opinion leaders (25/29)
(consultants, trade associations, research
funders, software providers etc.)
4. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Outcomes
⢠A series of white papers:
1. The Future Role of
the Academic Library
2. Access to Content:
Now and in Future
3. The Impact of Open Access
4. The Role of Subscription Agents
5. Future Forces for Change
⢠Available from EBSCO by the end of May
⢠Selected highlights in this presentation
6. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
For the coming 3-5 years, academic libraries
will remain a necessary and important
component of universities?
21% 1%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
78% Strongly disagree
Not sure
7. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
For the coming 3-5 years, academic libraries
will remain a necessary and important
component of universities?
â[Libraries] are challenged to demonstrate their value
in this digital age of widespread and easy access to Opinion
online information.â Leader
8. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
Thinking about the next 3-5 years, please
identify any significant changes you anticipate
in the role played by academic libraries
9. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
Academic libraries
significant changes
Key themes
General services
⢠Far less collection
development activity
⢠Far fewer print holdings
and services
⢠Less buying:
access not ownership
⢠Emphasis on tools for
search, discovery & access
10. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
Academic libraries
significant changes
Key themes
Faculty/Student
Support Services
⢠Managing research
outputs (papers and data)
⢠Providing innovative
learning space
⢠Information and
digital literacy training
⢠Creating digital
collections from local
resources & assets
11. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
Academic libraries
significant changes
Key themes
Technology
⢠Being adept with
channels and tools
native to users
⢠Integrating technology
into teaching and learning
⢠Being based more within
faculty/departments
12. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Future Role of the Academic Library
Academic libraries
significant changes
Key themes
Open Access
⢠Managing article
processing charges and
OA budgets [Gold OA]
⢠Supporting academics to:
⢠create their own
OA journals
⢠get best value from
their funding
⢠The library as publisher e.g.
New on-campus OA journal
14. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
The future of the big deals
As a means of optimising library budgets
the Big Deal has outlived its usefulness?
35%
30%
Strongly agree
14% Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
11% 10%
Strongly disagree
Not sure
15. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
The future of the big deals
Comments
âThere is currently no model that fits all libraries.
Publisher
The Big Deal is still very good value for moneyâ
âThe unpredictability of library budgets in the current economic
climate and the fact that big deals leave no flexibility for
Librarian
nuancing collections at the title level mean that librarians are
becoming increasingly disenchanted with the big deal.â
âThe relevance/validity/usefulness of the big deal depends on
the kind of institution. It will remain appropriate for smaller Agent/
(possibly teaching-lead) institutions, but will become less and Intermediary
less relevant to larger or more research-focused institutions.â
16. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
Access models
For academic content, the subscription model
has outlived its usefulness?
42%
Strongly agree
22% 25% Somewhat agree
10% Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
1% Not sure
17. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
Access models
Within 3-5 years, access/acquisition triggered
by patron request will be the most common
purchase model for academic content?
41%
31% Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
15% Somewhat disagree
4%
8% Strongly disagree
Not sure
18. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
Pricing based on one/more characteristics of purchasing
institution (e.g. FTEs; prior year spend etc.)?
49%
Pricing models
Strongly agree
whoâs the fairest of them all?
28%
Somewhat agree
7% Somewhat disagree
8% 8% Strongly disagree
Not sure
19. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
Pricing models whoâs
the fairest of them all?
Pricing based on actual usage assessed
after a period of access?
38% 39%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
18%
Somewhat disagree
1% Strongly disagree
4%
Not sure
20. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
Pricing models whoâs
the fairest of them all?
There are currently no fair methods
of pricing academic content?
36%
24% Strongly agree
14% 21% Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
6% Strongly disagree
Not sure
21. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
We asked librarians only to comment
on a range of other factors which might
influence purchasing decisions
22. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Access to Content: Now and in Future
What else matters...?
Most Important
⢠Relevance to
research/teaching programmes
⢠Recent usage by faculty
and students
⢠Value for money Least Important
(however determined)
⢠Demand from faculty ⢠Fit with existing collection
⢠Cost-per-use ⢠Availability through patron-driven
access model
⢠Demand from students
24. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
In 3-5 yearsâ time, most academic content will
be available through one or more OA models?
49%
Strongly agree
26% Somewhat agree
15% Somewhat disagree
4%
Strongly disagree
6%
Not sure
25. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Open Access will disintermediate subscription
agents from the information supply chain
38%
33% Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
14% Somewhat disagree
4% 11%
Strongly disagree
Not sure
26. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Open Access will disintermediate subscription
agents from the information supply chain
âSubs agents will still be needed but will have to find new
roles for themselves in assisting librarians â and those roles Publisher
are there, just being taken up by other non-agent players.â
âWe can make a lot more content available in our Agent/
pre-harvested index - thus providing better resource Intermediary
discovery for libraries and their users.â
27. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
âŚpossible disintermediation of
publishers?
78%
Impact elsewhere�
Agreed
13% Disagreed
10%
Not sure
28. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Impact elsewhere�
âŚpossible disintermediation of
publishers?
âThe journal publishers/vendors need not fear OA: it increases access to content mainly
to those who would rarely pay for the content in any caseâŚusers and libraries continue Consortium
to prefer to search for and access content through aggregated, organized, and full- Leader
featured, and attractive platforms - as provided or facilitated by the publishers/vendors.â
âMy feeling is that we will end up with a very mixed picture for the
foreseeable future, and that publishers and intermediaries should not
Librarian
fight against the trend but seek to embrace it by providing the
facilities and services that authors and readers really want.â
29. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Impact elsewhere�
âŚpossible disintermediation of
libraries?
76%
Agreed
18% Disagreed
6%
Not sure
30. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Impact elsewhere�
âŚpossible disintermediation of
libraries?
âThe phrase "library as broker of access" is jarring: a librarian was
never meant to be the business person brokering the deals: in an OA
Publisher
world, the librarian returns to a world of curation, selection, discovery
and information literacy - surely that is far more relevant?â
31. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
In the coming 3-5 years, Open Access will
be the most significant force for change in
the academic information supply chain?
40%
24% Strongly agree
12% Somewhat agree
14% Somewhat disagree
10% Strongly disagree
Not sure
32. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Impact of Open Access
Open Access: Themes
⢠OA will continue to grow
⢠Broad acceptance of
author pays (Gold OA)
⢠Some support for Green OA
but not universal
⢠Concerns about funding
(especially in humanities)
⢠Concerns about peer review
and quality
34. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Role of Subscription Agents
The Changing Supply Chain
Environment
Pressure to make cost-savings is widespread
but felt most keenly by subscription agents?
40%
37%
23% Agreed
Disagreed
Not sure
35. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Role of Subscription Agents
The Changing Supply Chain
Environment
Subscription agents continue to play an invaluable
role within the academic information supply chain?
77%
Agreed
Disagreed
10% 14%
Not sure
36. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Role of Subscription Agents
The Changing Supply Chain
Environment
As digital content becomes widespread, agents become
increasingly irrelevant to library-publisher transactions?
53%
34%
Agreed
14% Disagreed
Not sure
37. EBSCO Information Day 2012
The Role of Subscription Agents
The Changing Supply Chain
Environment
As long as agents continue to develop value-added
services they will continue to have a role?
94%
Agreed
6% 0% Disagreed
Not sure
38. UKSG Annual Conference
The Role of Subscription Agents
Current value from agents
(high response examples)
⢠Consolidation services (e.g.
ordering, invoicing, claiming, currency)
⢠Servicing long tail of publishers
⢠Managing payments
⢠Resource discovery tools/services
⢠One to many efficiencies
⢠Usage stats
⢠(Information feeds to) knowledge bases
⢠Provide meta-data/other references
⢠Track licensing T&C
⢠Local market knowledge
⢠Administrative efficiency; aggregation;
39. UKSG Annual Conference
The Role of Subscription Agents
Future value from agents
(high response examples)
⢠Services to support the growing number of OA
transactions
⢠Support services for transaction based access
(e.g., PPV, PDA)...
⢠âŚto complete management of patron-driven options
⢠License management and ROI analysis
⢠MARC records for e-books
⢠Provision of discovery tools and services
⢠Registration, IP management and access
management services
⢠Usage data collection and analysis
⢠Managing rights information
⢠Managing data and metadata on behalf of institutions
⢠Providing reports based on data-mining user logs
41. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Future Forces for Change
1. Pressure on library budgets
2. Pressure on teaching & research budgets
3. Govt./funding body mandates for funded
results to be available through open access
4. Mobile technology
5. China/India/emerging economies shaping publishersâ
activities
42. Colleagues were asked to rate a range EBSCO Information Day 2012
Future Forces for Change
of factors as potential forces for change
in the coming 3-5 years
1. Pressure on library budgets
2. Pressure on teaching & research budgets
3. Govt./funding body mandates for funded
results to be available through open access
4. Mobile technology
5. China/India/emerging economies shaping
publishersâ activities
44. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Conclusions
Known knownsâŚ
⢠Landscape hugely dynamicâŚand will
continue to be so
⢠In the West, the economy will remain
the issue foreseeably, pressurising:
⢠institutional funding
(library, research, teaching
budgets)
⢠the entire academic information
supply chain
⢠Open access will continue to bring
change and opportunity, and (for some)
threat to survival
45. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Conclusions
Evolution for most of usâŚ
⢠Libraries: curating digital research data
⢠Publishers: growth beyond US/Europe
e.g. China, India, Brazil etc.
⢠Agents: as originators/curators of
metadata
⢠Content: nature/delivery/use shaped by
mobile technology
⢠Users: continually evolving behaviour
and demands
⢠Universities: increasingly competitive;
showcasing output
⢠Govts./Funders: mandates challenging
subscription paradigm
46. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Conclusions
Revolution for some?
⢠Library as publisher (e.g. OA journals; data)
⢠Librarians as digital literacy experts
⢠Agent as (OA) fund manager
⢠Agent as manager of patron-driven
access and use
⢠Agents to become first and foremost
technology companies?
⢠Publishers as research partners
(e.g. Digital Science)
⢠Funding bodies as publishers (e.g. eLife)
⢠New players may surprise us all -
through acquisition, encroachment or
by seizing an opportunity first
47. EBSCO Information Day 2012
Thank you
Visit:
www.ebsco.com/whitepapers to download
any of the white papers in the series
The Future of the Academic
Information Supply Chain:
1. The Future of the Academic Library
2. Access to Content: Now and in Future
3. The Impact of Open Access
4. The Role of Subscription Agents
5. Future Forces for Change
Marco Cassi
EBSCO Italy & Greece