Thursday, November 4, 2010 3:00 - 3:45 PM

1. We Don’t Need a Grand Slam,
but a Designated Hitter
Would be Nice….
Anne E. McKee, MLS
Program Officer for Resource Sharing
Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)
1/29/2015

2. Team GWLA:
 32 research libraries in 17 states in the “greater west.”
◦ 31 academic
◦ 1 privately funded public library for science, engineering
and technology
Members Include:
 27 members of the Association of Public and Land Grant
Colleges (APLU, formerly known as NASULGC)
 26 members of the Association of Research Libraries
(ARL)
 14 members of the Association of American Universities
(AAU)
 1 member of Hathi Trust
 No shared acquisitions monies; all content packages must
fit within each member’s current budget.
1/29/2015

3. Current economic realities
•GWLA region one of hardest hit
•Southwest: tourism drops and housing defaults
•Northwest: bank foreclosures and unemployment
•Rockies and plains: ongoing drought and drop in oil
revenues
•Midwest: manufacturing rust belt
•Draconian budget cuts
•threats of up to 60% reduction-over all reductions
•approximately 20-25%
•multiple rescissions (sometimes 2 or 3 in same budget
cycle)
•Members permanently lost library faculty and staff
either thru attrition or lay-offs
•40 employees alone at one library
1/29/2015

4. Realities cont’d
 Dizzying pace of new technologies
 Pressure (real or perceived) from users
to utilize virtual world/social media
 All content on any medium
Conclusion:
All factors combined to create not a
perfect game but rather a perfect
storm.
1/29/2015

5. GWLA Survey
 Percentage of change in current budget:
◦ Roughly 1/3 increased, 1/3 decreased and
1/3 remained flat
 However, more than 2/3rds reported that
their current budget allowed for an
increase in e-content, averaged approx.
7% increase
 The percentage of total materials budget
spent on e-content ranged from 44% to
88%
 Moreover, 2/3rds+ reported that e-
content was now preferred medium over1/29/2015

6. Social Media/Devices du jour
 Most members are utilizing a variety of
social media choices and devices to
allow virtual users to access content
◦ Social Media:
 Facebook
 Microblogs (Twitter)
 Bookmarking (Digg etc)
 Photosharing
◦ Devices
 Smart phones
 E-book readers
 MP3 and PDA devices
1/29/2015

7. Where Do We Go From
Here
Or
Are We Still Even in the
Game?
1/29/2015

8. Base Hit
 User Driven Purchasing:
Experimentation within an environment of
controlled risk (Macicak/Schell, 2008 Charleston Conference Presentation)
◦ University of Texas, Austin
 EBL pilot
 Purchase and pay-per-view
◦ MyiLibrary Patron Select E-Book Program
 Started in 2008 with 5 libraries
 E-books are purchased thru this program
 To date, libraries have spent approx $150K on program
◦ Another member library performed a “quick and
dirty” survey on ebooks 2 years ago. Results
show a 200% increase in usage over same
printed material.
1/29/2015

9. On Deck:
 Primo as discovery tool (enables both a
mobile and more traditional browser
interface)
 Promoting and/or emphasis on all types of
mobile versions of library materials
 Partnering with campus on university-wide
mobile app
 Baylor University’s Fine Arts Library is testing
“Variations” (online access to streaming audio
and scanned score images in support of
teaching , learning and research)
◦ Open source from Indiana University
◦ Enables music majors access to all audio
reserves
1/29/2015

10. Who’s Going to Step Up
to the Plate?
 Unbundling of e-content. Why are we
forced into purchase content our users
do not want or require?
 No single universal e-book format
 Common sense licenses
 Interlibrary loan with easy-to-
implement/download technology
 Non-proprietary apps
1/29/2015

11. Ninth Inning Observations
 DRM/Preservation
◦ Portico etc has helped alleviate the worry somewhat but
still major hurdles to overcome
 Steep learning curve
◦ Not by students but by older library staff
◦ Staff can be very wary when using new technology
 Data Migration
 Alarming shift to “new normal” or “non-normal” in
purchasing ebooks versus paper
 Students have been clear that they don’t want the
library sending stuff to the "social spaces" they use
online. They want to be able to access from many
devices; [however] they are not interested in having the
library push information at/to them. (S. Bosch, Univ of
Arizona)
1/29/2015

12. As all Arizona Diamondback
fans say:
“Oh well, there’s always next
season…”
Anne@GWLA.org
480-575-0340
1/29/2015