Patron-driven is a popular model for e-book acquisition but its success varies by institution and implementation. The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries participated in one of the first patron-driven acquisition initiatives offered by NetLibrary in the late 90’s. One outcome of this patron-driven pilot was the banana book incident of 2000 which has now become part of popular collection development lore. This incident will be described more fully and will highlight the difficulties of establishing demand-driven models that are divorced from an institution’s approval plans. More recently, the University of Colorado has taken the lessons learned from the banana book snafu and has developed institution specific solutions for patron selection and use of e-books. This presentation will discuss strategies for integrating e-books into subject and publisher based approval profiles with Ingram/Coutts and the MyiLibrary platform. The presentation will also address the complexities of customizing 70 profiles that are a combination of print, e-preferred, e-patron-driven with Coutts and 30 selectors.

1. Patron-Driven eBook Solutions:
Moving Beyond the Banana Books Incident
Gabrielle Wiersma Yem Fong
Electronic Collections & Assessment Librarian Faculty Director, Collection Development
University of Colorado Boulder Libraries University of Colorado Boulder Libraries

2. 3 PDA Models at the U of
Colorado Boulder (CU)
 1999 netLibrary – consortium PDA
 2009 CU MyiLibrary PDA Pilot
 2010 Integrated PDA with Coutts &
MyiLibrary

3. netLibrary
Patron-Driven eBooks?
That’s Bananas!
 Perpetual access
 2nd view = purchase
 Additional simultaneous use = 2nd
purchase
 MARC records loaded quarterly
 Per Library cost = Based on Alliance
membership formula

4. That’s Bananas!
 Consortium managed
 Unpredictable expenditures
 Out of scope titles
 Selectors not involved
 Printing limits, functionality issues

5. netLibrary 10 years later
 Total expenditure : $208,817
 Total netLibrary titles: 16,076
 Total Accesses: 122,152 / $1.71 cost per
use
 Average cost per book as of 10/11: $12.99
 Top 20 titles = 200 or more accesses
 6,580 titles – two or less uses (40%)
 netLibrary bought by OCLC, lastly by Ebsco

6. Top subjects, by title
 Business, Economics and Management - 3,009
 Social Sciences: General - 2044
 Medicine - 1418
 Literature - 1059
 Computer Science - 852
 2 Banana books top 100 access: Bananas, Beaches &
Bases : Making Feminist Sense of International Politics
(1990) – 203 accesses
 The Political Ecology of Bananas : Contract Farming,
Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern
Caribbean (1998) – 102 accesses

7. netLibrary Lessons Learned
 Content still used many years later
 All content vs. profiled content
 High duplication with print approvals – 40%
 Trigger events important
 Controlling expenditures
 Workflow
 Balancing local needs with consortium goals

8. My iLibrary Pilot, Fall 2009-Fall 2010
 928 PDA titles
 Deposit account - $20,000
 5 subject areas: religious studies,
business, chemistry, women's studies, and
ethnic studies
 3+ uses triggered a purchase
 Multiuser licenses, perpetual access

9. My iLibrary Pilot Results
 25 titles in 6 months
 Less than $5,000
 Average purchase price: $184
 Average time to purchase: 95 days

10. MyiLibrary Pilot Lessons Learned
 Managed by selectors
 Opportunity to create new workflows for
PDA
 Proof of Concept

11. PDA Integrated in Approval
 Profile with Ingram-Coutts and My iLibrary
 18 subjects receiving PDA eBooks
 3+ uses triggers purchase
 Add new titles weekly
 Monthly invoices for purchased titles

12. Integrated Approval Plan Results
 Purchased 69 titles
 Less than $10,000
 Average purchase price: $140
 Average time to purchase: 148 days
 Loaded approx. 3,000 PDA eBooks

13. PDA Purchased on Approval by Subject
Women's Studies
1%
Computer Earth Sciences
Science 5%
Science 9%
22%
Religious Studies Engineering
5% 21%
Physics Political Science
31% 1%
Psychology
5%

14. Benefits of PDA Integration
 Profile Customization
 Title-by-title selection
 Frontlist v. Backlist
 Preventing Duplication
 Streamlining Workflows

15. Issues and Challenges
 How many eBooks do we make available?
 How long do we wait for a purchase?
 What do we do with eBooks with 0-2
uses?
 eBook availability

16. Next Steps at CU
 Expand patron-driven at CU
 Patron-Driven eBooks with CU System libraries
 Explore patron-driven options for articles and print books
 Explore purchase on demand and short term loan
options instead of ILL borrowing
 New Alliance patron-driven eBook pilot?

17. Lessons Learned Overall
 Power of Profiling
 Selectors need to be involved
 Streamline workflow
 Avoid duplication
 Managing expenditures

18. Thank you!
Questions?
Gabrielle Wiersma Yem Fong
Electronic Collections & Assessment Librarian Faculty Director, Collection Development
University of Colorado Boulder Libraries University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
gabrielle.wiersma@colorado.edu yem.fong@colorado.edu
303-492-4316 303-492-4414