A panel presentation on E-Books at the University of Alabama Libraries. The presentation will revolve around selection, acquisition, collaboration, promotion of e-books.

1. E-books on a Roll @ The University of
Alabama Libraries
Electronic Resources & Libraries 2010
February 3, 2010
Austin, TX

2. Panelists
• Millie Jackson, Associate Dean for Collections,
UA Libraries
• Mangala Krishnamurthy, Reference Librarian,
Science & Engineering Library
• Beth Holley, Head, Acquisitions, UA Libraries

3. Background
• Began in the late 1990s
– netLibrary
– Big historical packages
– E-Reference collections in Science & Engineering

4. E-Reference in Rodgers
• ENGnetBASE
• AccessEngineering
• Knovel
• McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science &
Technology
• Smithsonian Physical Tables
• Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical
Technology

5. E-book progress
• Mid 2000’s
– Some growth but …
– still some hesitancy
– Still wanted print for many disciplines

6. At the same time ….
Print
journals
decreasing
Electronic
journals
increasing

7. Opportunities
• Capstone College of
Nursing DNP program
• Added R2 summer of
2008
• Analyzed circulation of
print collections at
Rodgers, fall 2008
• Transferred funds from
print to electronic
books

8. Pilot projects
• Added 3 Springer e-book packages for 2009
• Collaboration between UA, UAB and UAH to
purchase more R2 digital library content
• Safari Tech Books

9. E-book Collections in Rodgers Library
Save time for the User *
• Capstone College of Nursing
• Three distance education programs
• Use of mobile devices
• R2 Digital Library
• Springer Pilot project
• 2009 front list and 2005-2008 backlist
• Monitored use of E-books by faculty and students
• Need for a mix of print and electronic
*Ranganathan’s Laws

10. Results of the pilot…
Every book its reader*
• Collaboration with UA, UAB and UAH allowed
us to add 259 e-books to the collections
• Took advantage of discounts from Rittenhouse
*Ranganathan’s Laws

11. More e-books…
The library is a growing organism*
• Added Academic
Complete from ebrary,
fall 2009
• 2010 purchasing
Springer and Elsevier
e-books
*Ranganathan’s Laws

12. Promoting the collections
• LibGuides
• Website
• Added records to
catalog
• Twitter, Blog, RSS
• E-mailed faculty
• Met with faculty
• In house displays/table
tents

13. Promoting the collection
• Revised existing
tutorials
• Requested that faculty
encourage students to
use e-books
• Feedback from faculty
and students

14. Acquisitions process
• Ordering options
– Subscription
– Perpetual access
– Patron driven acquisition

15. Availability
• Publisher platforms
• E-Book aggregators
• Downloadable PDF’s or
HTML

16. MARC Records
• Vendor
• Serials Solutions

17. Issues/Problems
• Funding
• Terminology (ebrary/echo)
• License agreement addendums
• Dual hosting
• E vs. print
• Digital Rights Management (DRM)
• Statistics
• Readers

18. Advantages of E-books
• Available to multiple
users/locations 24/7
• No lost, stolen, or
damaged books
• No additional physical
space or shifting
required to expand
collections
• Opportunities to add
specialized collections

19. Disadvantages of E-books
• Difficult to catalog and
make accessible to
users
• Platforms vary
• Leasing vs. owning
• Paying perpetually for
continued access

20. Final thoughts
• Require new workflows
• Require thinking differently about funding and
access
• Publicity, raising awareness
• Increased use of e-books

21. What’s next?

22. Questions?
• Millie Jackson, Associate Dean for Collections, UA
Libraries mljackson@ua.edu
• Mangala Krishnamurthy, Reference Librarian, Science &
Engineering Library mkrishna@ua.edu
• Beth Holley, Head, Acquisitions, UA Libraries
bholley@ua.edu
• Thank you!
• Photos courtesy of iStock
• Cartoon courtesy of Tuscaloosa News