An updated version of my June SUNYLA presentation, for the Aug. 5th NCompass Live program.

1. The Secret Art of Patron-
Driven eBook Acquisition
A Snapshot of Cost and Control
Dana Longley
SUNY Empire State College

2. PDA?
• Model: just-in-time, not just-in-case
• Print collections: 80/6 rule*
• Coll dev: emerging fields**
*OhioLINK Collection Building Task Force. 2011. OhioLINK-OCLC Collection and Circulation Analysis
Project 2011.
**Fischer, et. al. (2012). Give 'Em What They Want: A One-Year Study of Unmediated Patron-Driven
Acquisition of e-Books. College & Research Libraries, 73(5), 469-492.

3. Abbreviations
• ESC: Empire State College
• PDA: patron-driven acquisitions
• DDA: demand-driven acquisitions (same thing)
• STL: short-term loan
• YPB: Yankee Book Publisher

4. Ebrary
Definitions
Short term loan: 1 or 7 day, triggered by user
Purchase multiplier: cost of STL based on
publisher-controlled % of cost of title
Academic Complete: collection of subscription
eBooks from ebrary
Trigger:
-Copy, download or print
-10 pg views
-10 min. real usage

5. ESC Background
• FTE: ~8400 (~20,000 adult, distance students)
• 35 locations in NYS (and abroad)
• Hundreds of blended & online courses offered
• Fully online library (no physical collection)
• ILL for grad and faculty only (high cost)
• 4 librarians (no support staff/student workers)
• PDA since Sept. 2013

6. eBooks @ ESC
ebrary PDA
34%
ebrary Academic
Complete
43%
Springer
15%
others
8%

7. Setup
• # of triggers before purchase?
• Titles included?
• Turn-away prevention?
• Purchase licenses
• Approvals?
• STL length
• Add to catalog
• Initial budget

8. Launch
• Pilot mode
• No promotion needed!
• Maintenance is needed

9. Upsides
• 100,000+ added eBooks available
• Only pay for titles that are used
• Easy to add new titles as they come out
• Track usage and spending

10. Downsides
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
Sep13
Oct13
Nov13
Dec13
Jan14
Feb14
Mar14
Apr14
May14
Jun14
Jul14
Aug14
Sep14
Oct14
Nov14
Dec14
Jan15
Feb15
Mar15
Apr15
May15
June15
July15
Cost
Ave cost / trigger

11. Costs (over 3 yrs)
• STL titles available: 100,000+
• Triggers: 2,945
• Unique titles triggered: 2,476
• List price of triggered: $289,693
• Spent on STL: $51,858
• Cost / STL: $17.60
• Titles purchased: 99
• Purchase costs: $10,410
• Total spent: $62,268

12. Impact
• 33% increase in eBook collection size
• Decrease in ILL requests?
• Newer titles available

13. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1974-1999 2000-2005 2006-2010 2011-2012 2013 2014 2015
Year of Publication: Academic Complete vs
PDA
July 2015
Academic Complete PDA

14. User Behavior
Sep
13
Oct
13
Nov
13
Dec
13
Jan
14
Feb
14
Mar
14
Apr
14
May
14
Jun
14
Jul
14
Aug
14
Sep
14
Oct
14
Nov
14
Dec
14
Jan
15
Feb
15
Mar
15
Apr
15
May
15
Jun
e 15
July
15
# of triggers 29 117 178 423 192 261 253 296 152 136 48 31 46 65 88 112 37 61 58 87 71 79 128
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
# of triggers Sept 2013 - July 2015

15. Type of Trigger
68%
17%
9%
6%
view
copy
chapt download
print

16. Academic Complete v PDA
Year to date Academic Complete PDA
Titles 4,425 1,560
List price $ 328,130 $ 172,477
Ave list price $ 74.15 $ 110.56
Pgs viewed 167,359 36,240
Pgs printed 29,297 7,205
User sessions 10,990 2,608
Jul-15 Academic Complete PDA
Titles 243 248
List price $ 17,434 $ 44,040
Ave list price $ 71.74 $ 177.58**
Pgs viewed 6,430 4,957
Pgs printed 1,461 1,505
User sessions 394 334

17. Top PDA Titles (thru Apr 2015)
Title
User
Sessions
Pgs
Viewed Total
Persuasion : History, Theory, Practice 75 2028 2103
Business Ethics : Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality (5th
Edition)
108 1940 2048
Architects of World History : Researching the Global Past 88 1624 1712
Intercultural Communication for Everyday Life 68 1628 1696
Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, Volume 170 :
Church and School in Early Modern Protestantism
60 1569 1629
Introducing Language and Intercultural Communication 76 1452 1528
Religions of the Ancient Near East 82 1306 1388
Saddam Hussein's Ba'th Party : Inside an Authoritarian Regime 52 1324 1376
Introduction to Theories of Personality (7th Edition) 64 1220 1284
Supply Chain Strategies : Demand Driven and Customer Focused
(2nd Edition)
40 1236 1276

18. • Watch prices carefully
• Deeper usage analysis?
• Others: Kanopy (video)
• Slides:
http://tinyurl.com/dhlnco
mpass15
Looking Forward

19. Image Credits
1. https://flic.kr/p/atDq3e by torbakhopper
2. https://flic.kr/p/a4Y7BV by Thomas Hawk
3. https://flic.kr/p/d5XbNW by Thomas Leth-Olsen
4. https://flic.kr/p/xXUXf by Nicole Hanusek
5. https://flic.kr/p/9DhwNs by johnson d
6. https://flic.kr/p/6PiWqn by Gisela Francisco
7. https://flic.kr/p/5j1urX by Steve Jurvetson
8. https://flic.kr/p/aec2jS by Tom Wachtel
9. https://flic.kr/p/dXtxJ8 by That’s Me
10. https://flic.kr/p/qLZjru by Kat R
11. https://flic.kr/p/iULa2A by Christian Holitzko
12. https://flic.kr/p/de5Z8v by Kristina Alexanderson