Presentation held by ACCUCOMS at ALPSP Seminar 'Books and Journals as One' in London on November 17, 2011. Abstract: While publishers are digitizing more and more of their content and their customers are scrutinizing pricing models, the possibility of integrating different types of digital content presents itself. ACCUCOMS has investigated current changes as well as the thoughts and opinions among its network of publishers, libraries, consortia and other information specialists. Are publishers ready to create and host multi-purpose platforms? Do libraries find integration of content formats useful and practical? Do multi-purpose platforms have a future and in what form? www.accucoms.com

1. Books and Journals As One
ALPSP Seminar
17th November 2011
London, UK

2. Multi-purpose platforms?
Divided by and on content
Raluca Pop
Account Manager
ACCUCOMS

3. Project Goals
• Which e-content do publishers offer? Is
it integrated?
• How do libraries evaluate the supply of
e-content? What are their needs?
• How can supply and demand of
integrated content converge?

4. Our approach
• Publisher inventory
• Online survey
• In-depth telephone interviews with
information specialists

5. Publisher inventory
Results: Content not integrated
Platforms:
• 80% third-party platform
• 20% own platform
E-books:
• 30% do not sell e-books
• Listed in different place from journals
• Listed in different place from print books

6. Publisher inventory
Few examples of integration
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• IOS Press
• American College of Chest Physicians
• Content priced separately, also when listed
in same place
• No e-book + journal packages

7. Online survey
5%
Respondents
22%
• 54% academic
Academic
Medical
• 19% medical
• 22% governmental
Governmental
54%
Other
• 5% other
19%
(corporate, NGO)

8. Online survey
5%
Library size
24%
• 24% 0-1000 users
35%
0-1000 users
1000-10000 users • 35% 1000-10000
10000 users and over
not applicable
users
• 35% 10000 users
36% and over
• 6% unknown or n/a

9. Online survey
Acquisitions & Budget
• No consensus on how to split the budget
• Budget per subject or per format
• E-journals grouped with journals
• E-books not grouped with books
• No fixed solution for e-books

10. Online survey
Which resources are you likely to add to your collection in the
future?
Other
Abstract index
databases
Full-text
Least likely
databases
Maybe
Probably
Print books Most likely
Journals
E-books

11. Online survey
Which are your preferred hosting solutions?
Other
Third-party
platform
Dislike
Library's own
No opinion
system
Prefer
Publisher's
platform
Aggregators

12. Online survey
Books and journals as one?
• 61% prefer same platform
• 39% prefer separate platforms (mostly
smaller institutions and non-academic
organizations)

13. Online survey
Which pricing models from publishers do you prefer?
Other
Multi-year discount packages
Volume discount packages Don't know
Dislike
Neutral
Bundle of journals and e-books Prefer
Collections
Single titles

14. Interviews
Acquisitions & Budget
Same as online survey
• E-journals grouped with journals
• E-books not grouped with books
• Acquisitions and budget differently
structured
• No fixed solution for e-books

15. Interviews
Collection development
• Add mostly electronic resources
• Journals already mostly electronic
• Books still converting from print to electronic
• 10%-100% of books now electronic

16. in Western Europe
Interviews
Platform preferences
• Little choice / Too many platforms
• Personal preferences
• Aggregators disliked because of access
and rights issues
• User-friendliness most important

17. in Western Europe
Interviews
Pricing model preferences
• Decisions based on content and price
• Fair price = fair model
• Pick and mix models preferred

18. in Western Europe
Interviews
Books and journals as one?
• One platform for books and journals
• Concern: Clarity of search results
• Different price models for books and journals
• Concerns: Selection process time-consuming

19. in Western Europe
Interviews
Thoughts for the future
• E-content as a moving target
• Lack of mobile apps
• Patron-driven acquisition models
• Direct to consumer marketing

20. Conclusions
Are publishers ready to create and host multi-
purpose platforms?
• A third do not sell e-books at all
• Or sell them as separate products
• Researching prices is a time-consuming
process
• When journals and e-books are on the same
platforms, their web pages are separate

21. Conclusions
Publishers need to be aware that Libraries…
• Are faced with a wide variety of platforms
and range of pricing models
• Prefer pricing models that give them access
to the most useful content for the best
possible price
• Are limited in their spending

22. Conclusions
Do libraries find integration of content formats
useful and practical?
• Want content to be more integrated
• Concerned about the quality of search
results on an integrated platform
• Want user-friendly platforms
• Want flexible pricing

23. Conclusions
Libraries will have to ask themselves:
• In which budget category do e-books
belong?
• Is an acquisition and budget structure based
on subject preferable over a structure based
on format?

24. Conclusions
Both libraries and publishers need to be
aware that:
• Technologies are still developing
• Changes to IT-infrastructures might be
required in order to align supply and
demand

25. Conclusions
Do multi-purpose platforms have a future and
in what form?
• Aggregators most popular hosting solution
• Aggregators most disliked because of rights
and access issues
Solution: One user-friendly multi-publisher
platform…

26. Conclusions
In an ideal world... One platform for all
• Content from multiple publishers
• Journals and books on the same platform
• Streamline of license agreements for libraries
(renewal alerts)
• Access filtered by format, full-text access
• Flexible price offers according to type of
institution
• Naming standardization of organizations

27. Conclusions
Marketing and selling such a platform
• User-friendliness (filter by subject, publisher,
format)
• Allow users to pick and mix
• Offer paid trials and usage statistics
• Product suggestions for end users(‘You might also
be interested in…’)
• Usage data for Libraries and publishers (‘Users who
read this article also looked at…’)
• Invest in technology, including a multilingual
interface

28. Conclusions
Decisions to be made:
• Who will pay for a multi-publisher, multi-
purpose platform?
• Who will control the content and processes?
• Who will maintain the back office and
technology?
• Which technology is most suitable for such a
platform?

29. Questions?
Thank you
raluca@accucoms.com
rian@accucoms.com
www.accucoms.com
Twitter: @ACCUCOMS