Transcript E-books and Echidnas: Looking Beyond the Spines

E-Books and Echidnas
Looking Beyond the Spines
Andrew Wells
University Librarian
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Outline
• Personal reflections
• E-books at UNSW – institutional context
• Consortial activity in Australia
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E-books – what are they?
• More than digital versions of print books
• Compare Harrison’s Online and Harrison’s
Principles of Internal Medicine
• Different experience!
• E-books part of spectrum of e-content
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Reference
Monographs
Journals
Textbooks
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E-book challenges
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How are they used?
Matching content to user needs
Delivery – reading, printing, downloading
Access – who can use them?
Making content more useable
Buying them for the sake of buying them
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Tipping points
• Journals may tip from print/online to online
only in 5-10 years
• Conceivable for e-books?
• How many years left for the era of the ‘hybrid
library’
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Inhibitors
• Multiple delivery platforms
• Licensing and purchasing models
• Lack of current content
• These problems will be resolved … when?
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UNSW Library and e-books
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75% of budget spent on e-content
90% on research content
Content first; format second
No target for e-book acquisition
No strong demand for e-books
But strong demand for e-journals
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Enrolled students
Up to 50
No textbooks
purchased
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No of readings
purchased
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Up to 100
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Up to 200
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Up to 300
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Up to 400
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Up to 500
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Over 500
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Textbooks and course support
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Quotas for library provision
Electronic reserve
Statutory licences in copyright law
Students satisfied with current provision
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Research
• Most acquisition for research
• Well used
• Research repository for UNSW research -UNSWorks
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Areas for improvement
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Intend buying more
Discovery services
Statistics for decision making
Delivery
– Readers?
– Print on demand?
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Collaboration
• CEIRC = C= EIRC
• C = Council of Australian University
Librarians
• EIRC = Electronic Information Resources
Committee
• CEIRC Program = consortium for datasets
purchasing
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CEIRC membership
• 39 CAUL member
• 8 from New Zealand (CONZUL = Council of
New Zealand University Librarians)
• >25 ‘external’ – government and research
libraries
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CEIRC activity
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150 products
10 vendors
Fees for staffing, meetings and travel
Member of ICOLC
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CEIRC success factors
• Opt in /opt out
• Light governance
• Flexibility – one size does not fit all
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CEIRC e-book survey
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2007, 39 responses
57 products identified
Textbooks a gap
Old stuff!
Some looking at pay per view or user driven
selection
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Market leaders
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These products used by >20 libraries
Wiley Interscience
NetLibrary
Elsevier
Safari
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Informit
James Bennett eTitle
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