From HLABC Continuing Education Panel Discussion on Jan 30, 2015

1. E-BOOKS AND THE SFU
LIBRARY
www.lib.sfu.ca

2. Simon Fraser University
Medium-sized public
university offering
undergraduate and
graduate degrees.
20 203 FTEs
3 campuses (but single
site status – one
administration/president)

3. SFU Collection Information
 Collections budget: approx $9.4 million
 $2.2 million monographs
 50% or more electronic depending on subject
area.
 Coutts/Ingram is our book jobber.
 3.3 million records in Summon Discovery
 Includes free and open access e-books
 Hathi Trust
 Directory of Open Access Books

4. Academic Library Market for E-books
 Scholarly academic monographs
 Research
 Literature
 ReferenceWorks
 Dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopaedias, atlases
 Technical manuals
 Textbooks

5. SFU Library’s E-books – Major Issues
 Digital Rights Management (DRM)
 Third Party Aggregator versus Publisher
Platform
 Simultaneous User Restrictions
 Purchase models:
 subscription (lease) vs outright purchase (own)
 Licenses –permitted uses for course packs
and e-reserves
 Acquisitions workflow

6. Growing usage of e-books at SFU
 E-books increasingly being used for course
readings.
 Added to Course Management Systems.
 Not using the library’s reserve system to
create stable links – and accounting for off-
campus access.
 Using e-books from leased collections.
 Frantic students report on disappearing
access.

7. Leased collections and swapping titles
– monthly updating of records
 Ebrary Academic Complete
 118 000+ titles and growing (unlimited users)
 Books 24x7 (IT and Business Pro collections)
 22 000+ titles
 5 simultaneous users (not per e-book)
 SafariTech Books Online
 25 000+ titles
 8 simultaneous users (not per e-book)

8. Leased collections – stable/growing
and monthly updates
 CRC netbase e-book subscriptions
 SFU was an early adopter
 Low subscription rate
 Collections grow – but titles are almost never
removed.
 11 CRC netbase subject collections:
 ENGnetBASE, ENVIROnetBASE, FORENSICnetBASE,
MATHnetBASE, BIOSCIENCEnetBASE….etc…

9. E-books are in the Library catalogue

10. Communicating info to end-users
 Simultaneous user limits in the link text
 856 field (z note) in a MARC record
 |zFull text - Single user access.
 |zFull text - Access for x simultaneous users.
 |zFull text - Unlimited user access.
 |z[Name of platform] limited to x simultaneous
users.
 199 MARC for leased collection note:
 Leased collection. Future access is not guaranteed.

11. Leased collection and limits on users

12. Leased but unlimited users

13. If multiple copies,choose a different
copy – no leased collection note.

14. Single user access aka one
simultaneous user

15. 3 simultaneous users

16. Unlimited simultaneous users

17. What happens when an e-book
disappears but is being used for a
course?
 We have mechanisms in place to purchase an
electronic copy if there is still one available for
purchase by an academic library.
 If no e-versions available, we will investigate
and work with the instructor to find a suitable
solution.

18. What if there are 500 students in a
class and the e-book is limited to a
single user?
 We have mechanisms in place to upgrade a
purchase to higher levels of users if the
publisher or provider has that option
available.
 Additional e-copies may also be purchased.
 We will work with instructors to find a
solution ASAP.

19. E-reserves and Course packs
 Depends on the publisher, platform and
specific license.
 License details at platform level.
 Best practice is to avoid making a copy.
 Create a link using the permanent link from
the catalogue record.
 Library’s off-campus authentication is embedded.
 If the website changes, the library will take care of
changes.

20. License details at platform level

21. Use permanent link from catalogue at
the bottom of the record

22. E-textbooks
 Higher Education Textbook publishers
generally do not sell electronic copies to
academic libraries directly.
 Some academic monographs designated as
textbooks by the publisher.
 Higher price
 User limits (sometimes)

23. Same publisher
Textbook – 3 users
Monograph – unlimited
users