Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education ICOLC Briefing: Some European Initiatives on E-Books and Journals Alicia Wise Head of Development Joint Information Systems Committee

Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Contributors Claudine Dervou, Greece Louise Edwards, UK Fred Friend, UK Tommaso Giordano, Italy Kristiina Hormia, Finland Alison McNab, UK Bo Ohrstrom, Denmark Hans Roosendal, Netherlands Kari Stange, Sweden Hazel Woodward, UK

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education E-Books, 1 Very little market penetration in any country. A few isolated universities have done deals in most northern European countries. One regional consortium in the UK has done a deal with Knovel. UK is perceived as leading in this area. – Very active working group published a discussion document last year ( – Steered clear of early deals with aggregators (reasons = lack of UK content, chaotic international marketing) and initiated discussions direct with content owners. – A number of key publishers are now developing quality e-book services. Publishers with whom we are establishing relationships include Oxford University Press, McGraw-Hill, Palgrave, Taylor & Francis and Wiley.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education E-Books, 2 Have signed a perpetual national purchase agreement for Early English Books Online and a three-year deal for Wiley Reference Works (which offers institutions the flexibility to pick and mix from a range of online reference products) Current negotiation priorities are: – Acquiring a core electronic reference collection. Negotiations are taking place with Oxford University Press, Xrefer.com, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Palgrave. – Acquiring a collection of monographs and textbooks from leading UK publishers. Most-requested publishers = Open University Press, Palgrave, OUP, CUP, Penguin, Pearson Education, Sage, Blackwell, Kogan Page, Harcourt and McGraw-Hill. We are in the final stagese of negotiation with Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and McGraw-Hill. Contacts have also been established with Pearson and Blackwell. The Group is keen to support small presses with e- book projects. One of these is Pluto Press and we are undertaking a market research exercise with them.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education E-Books, 3 Need to establish the favoured means of access to e-book content, including the use of library online catalogues (OPACs), a front-end developed by a commercial provider or one developed by JISC. Our (current) preferred business models are: – Reference works, handbooks and manuals on an annual subscription, unlimited access basis – Monograph services segmented by subject – Subscription models for monographs, ranging from annual contracts to fully flexible choice of time blocks (for example, two days, one week, one month, 90 days, one year) – Textbook pricing based on a combination of user accesses and time. For example, an institution may buy a certain number of user licences (e.g. based on the number of students on a course) for a block of time (e.g. one week).

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education E-Books, 4 On-going market research. A pilot focus group held in early April suggests: – Key challenges in managing print book collections are access to material by users, economic considerations, stock maintenance and administrative tasks, concerns over the quality of stock and exploitation of book material. – In adopting e-books, perceived benefits include wider access (esp. for distance learners), the elimination of routine maintenance, improved quality and currency of stock. – Librarians rank heavy demand items, particularly core texts, as highest in their priorities for e-books. Reference material and specific subjects, particularly those where material dates quickly, were also identified.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Web Challenge 1 - Standalone Content Content (local and remote) End-user Many different services Each has own user interface Each has a learning curve

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Challenge 2- User Behaviour Typically use Internet search engines Learn from tutors and colleagues Unsophisticated usage patterns Patterns of use become habitual Key issue: available quality-assured information under-used Other issues: quality, relevance, time spent

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education What Users Said They Used… Source Undergrads n = 300 Postgrads n = 178 Academics n = 87 Search engines 77%76%53% BIDS, etc 11%10%37% Local OPAC 29%21%37% E-journals 5%3%34% Local CD-ROMs 18% 23% Web databases 12%13%15% Subject gateways 0% 9% Source: JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, First Annual Report, August 2000

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education “Unsophisticated” Users I used the Internet to get examples to put in my assignment, mainly for the bibliography, to show I’d done a bit more research and used different media. I have Encarta. That’s a nice reliable source that you can cut and paste. I like that! It even references itself when you do it. A list of references… What’s the use of this? Well, I’m sorry, you’ve now got to wander around and find them.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education “Sophisticated” Users (Yr 3 UG) A third year undergraduate doing a term paper: – First I used BIDS and MEDLINE (course said to). – Then I tried Yahoo. – My supervisor said to use manual sources. – I tried Chemical Abstracts but didn’t understand how to use it. – I tried the library, but the librarian wasn’t there. – I wrote to the drug company and am waiting for a reply.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Challenge 3 - Changes in Learning Environment More emphasis distance learning, lifelong learning, and widening participation Virtual learning environments – new software systems, deployed in classrooms or via the Internet through which students interact with materials, tutors, and other students. Researchers and their students are rallying to the GRID – this will be a specially designed software environment for facilitating international collaboration, controlling remote experiments, and managing vast quantities of data. Managed learning environments – the name used when VLEs are interconnected to other systems deployed at educational institutions (e.g. the library OPAC, MIS, student records).

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Recap the Problem Multiple standalone content sources Awareness of what’s there and how to use it Quality and relevance of what’s retrieved Integration with learning environment Available quality-assured information is under-used!

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Some JISC objectives, working in collaboration… Build an Information Environment providing secure and convenient access to a comprehensive collection of scholarly and educational resources Leading UK innovator, stimulating development both here and abroad Enable UK colleges and universities to make their own content (e.g. learning objects, research collections) more widely available

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Design features of the Information Environment Accommodate all types of information Discovery of relevant information is easy Subject access Seamless user experience Accommodate beginners and experts Maximise use of all content Understand user behaviour and use

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Web IE Functional View Content (local and remote) End-user Use Access Discovery

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Functional View - Discovery Seamless discovery across multiple content providers “Portals” give multiple views of what’s available, e.g. by subject, by institution, by course Based on metadata from different sources (e.g. catalogues, finding aids, publisher header data, secondary databases)

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Functional View - Access Authentication and authorization, e.g. the national ATHENS service and it’s successor (based on digital certificates?) plus IP addresses Access to the most appropriate copy (given access rights, cost, speed of delivery, etc) In due course, the selection of resources to be accessed should be chosen and customised by the individual user

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Key Development Principles of the Information Environment Interoperability International standards and protocols, e.g. Z39.50, IMS, Open URLs, OAI, Dublin Core Take advantage of on-going initiatives, e.g. DOI, CrossRef Initiate a dialogue with stakeholders, e.g. lecturers and tutors, publishers, librarians, academic researchers, managers Phased development, manage expectations Timescale: 3 years ( ) Work in partnership with both the public and private sector!

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Some Issues Will the JISC become a “publisher”? – No, but the IE can enable colleges and universities to publish their own intellectual property Will the IE replace secondary publishers? – No, JISC plans to work with secondary publishers and license metadata from them Can users still get to my services direct? – Yes, but novices will want the integrated approach

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Content Issues Must all content be “absorbed” into a giant database? – No, it can remain distributed on a multitude of web sites Will my branding disappear or be replaced? – No, each document or resource can carry branding Do I need to submit metadata for users to know my content exists? – No, but the more metadata available with the information environment, the more users will know about what’s available.

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education Licensing Issues Does the IE change the license agreement? – Not necessarily, licensing and delivery are separate Will the IE replace NESLI? – No, NESLI is a licensing arrangement How could licensing change? – New clause for licensing metadata – Opportunity to consider true “national” licensing

Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting UK Further and Higher Education More information? PALS Conference on the Information Environment, June 21, 2002 in London. Flyers on ALPSP, EDINA, and MIMAS stands. For publishers who would like to explore ways of ensuring their content is interoperable with the Information Environment, or systems vendors who would like to ensure their products support the Information Environment, please or For further information about the technical details of the Information Environment architecture, the IE vision/strategy, or ongoing IE development projects and programmes, please see: Talk to Peter Burnhill, Sean Dunne, Ross Macintyre, Alison McNab, Terry Morrow etc.