The Million Book Project: Removing Obstacles to Use, Satisfaction, & Success Denise Troll Covey Principal Librarian for Special Projects – Carnegie Mellon LIDA 2004 – Dubrovnik, Croatia

Overview Library users & use in the digital age –Results of national & international surveys –Results of research –Barriers to use, satisfaction, & success Million Book Project response

What Academic Users Want Personal control & ubiquitous access to comprehensive information – 90% want convenient, speedy, easy access Only thing they want more is quality information – 61% prefer remote access to full text Express unmet need for electronic resources twice as often as for print resources – 31% don’t want to go to the physical library

What Academic Libraries Provide Need for personal control & convenient, speedy, easy access to information Service provided by the library – 24% often can’t get information when needed 50% to 90% students & faculty perceive a gap between LibQual+ Survey 2002 & 2003

Priority Problems 1.Enough time 2.Knowing what library resources are available 3.Accessing & using online library resources –Difficulty navigating & searching library web sites –Issues with the design, functionality, & access restrictions of licensed online library resources –Problems with proxy servers & VPN 35% failure rate accomplishing tasks on web sites

What Academic Users Are Doing Students & faculty trust library more than Internet 35% use library less now than two years ago –86% library meets most of their information needs –80% Internet has changed their use of the library 73% of students use the Internet more than the library

Students & Faculty Use Internet search engines because they are easier, faster, & more convenient than using a library or other web site – 48% start with Internet search engine (54% ugrads) – 33% start with library web site (28% ugrads) 33% do not get most of the information they need from their physical or digital library 54% access library resources remotely (68% ugrads)

Information Seeking in the Library % of information seeking time spent in physical library

Undergraduate Student Behaviors 48% use online resources all or most of the time 80% use the library fewer than 3 hours per week 40% use Internet for every assignment 11% use library web site for every assignment Efficiency is more important than relevance

Undergraduate Student Behaviors 69% live off campus 59% use home computer > school computers 90% access the web from their home computer 80% use the library for web access, but only 20% prefer this access point 80% prefer remote access

Undergraduate Student Beliefs 96% information found on the surface web is adequate for class assignments –11% don’t care about the authority of information 46% other web sites have better information than the library web site

What Users Want Personal control & access to information –Remote access to full text –More & easier to use online resources Way to identify appropriate resources & to get updates on available resources –More books, including out of print books –More back issues of journals –Customizable user interface More comfortable library facilities Ease Speed Convenience

Provide Small collection Web site & portal VPN & Shibboleth Automated Resource Finder & SFX Online reserves, reference, renewal, holds, ILL, direct borrowing from other libraries Self check out 1,000,000 printed books 185 databases 18,000 electronic books 13,000 electronic journals

Priority Problems Enough time Personal control & access to information – Barely meeting needs of graduate students – Not meeting desires of undergraduate students – Problems accessing & using online library resources Library catalog & databases are not easy to use Difficulty navigating the library web site Difficulty picking appropriate resources & keeping up to date Physical library & ILL are inconvenient

Database searches Catalog searches Full text retrieval Circulation What Users Are Doing

Virtual visits Physical visits What Users Are Doing Printing Photocopying

ReferenceReserves What Users Are Doing DigitalTraditional

Most important factors in determining search tool –93% Quality of info– 46% Speed –67% Convenience– 41% Ease of use Seeking & obtaining information –1 st Internet search engine –2 nd Library web site –3 rd Human resource –4 th Physical library Graduate Students

82% use Internet search engine most of the time Most of the time they can get what they need from the library, but... Graduate Students

Using the web is twice as easy & convenient as using online library resources Using online library resources is about as easy & convenient as turning to a human resource Small collection limits selection of research topics & quality of work Graduate Students

Barrier #1: Time Time is a limited resource Use what’s expedient –Easy, speedy, convenient Prefer convenience of remote access to full text

Barrier #2: Discovery, Access & Use Library web sites & online resources are not easy to discover, access & use They take more time & are less convenient than Internet search engines So students & faculty often use Internet search engines

Academic Impact Lack of convenient, speedy, easy remote discovery & open access to quality, easy to use resources on the surface web is affecting the timeliness & success of research & learning

What’s Needed? Quality full text resources on the surface web Easy, speedy, convenient, remote discovery, open access, navigation & use

Response: Million Book Project Digitize & provide open access to a million books Vision, leadership, & research – Carnegie Mellon $$ Equipment & travel – NSF $$ Labor & research – India & China Other partners: OCLC & Internet Archive Following standards & laws Commitment to sustain

Academic Significance Convenient, speedy, easy, remote discovery, open access, navigation & use of quality full text resources on the surface web – Project web site – Links in library catalogs – Links in WorldCat – Eventually Google search – Eventually OAI MHP

Social Significance Address disparity in library size & accessibility Democratize & facilitate new knowledge Support digital library research Preserve intellectual & cultural heritage

“Attempt to understand & solve the technical, economic, & social policy issues of providing online access to all creative works of the human race.” Raj ReddyMichael ShamosGloriana St. Clair

Collection of Collections What librarians select & partners want –Books for College Libraries– Cultural artifacts –Government documents – Technical reports What we can acquire – b ulk, cheap, fast Most will be older, out of print materials

Metadata Librarians capture metadata –Bibliographic: MARC or DC –Administrative: copyright permission & source library –OCLC digital registry Intent to preserve & make accessible in entirety Compliance with standards & best practices Professionally managed Public use copy available

Digitization Operators scan & post process –Above average wages –4000 books per year per scanner (two shifts per day) –400,000 books per year with 100 scanners Goal is 100 centers scanning 500,000 pages per day

Issues & Next Steps Updating workflow & processing the backlog Coordinating acquisition & shipping Integrating & mirroring the collection Acquiring copyright permission Adding print on demand Improving the interface

Current book display & navigation Search within the book Next & previous page Zoom in & out Select format Go to page

Proposed book display & navigation Zoom in & out Select format Add or remove bookmark Add to or view bookbag Search within the book Get info about the book Next & previous page Go to page New search for other books Return to results Help Title of book Location within book Beginning & end of book

China: India: U.S.: FAQ: Million Book Project Web Sites Use Internet Explorer

Thank you! Denise Troll Covey – Scanning center in Beijing