E-books, E-audio, and Other E-content Instructor: Anthony Costa An Infopeople Workshop Fall 2006

This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis. For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

Introductions  Name  Library  Position  What e-books or e-audio does your library offer, if any?

Workshop Overview  What is e-content? e-books e-books e-audio e-audio  Planning for e-books  Implementation best practices best practices

What is E-Content?  Electronic versions of books, audio books, music recordings, and video recordings.  In this class we will not cover online reference databases that are primarily made up of articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals.

What are the pros of e-content versus print? What are the cons of e-content versus print? What are the cons of e-content versus print?

Using Bookmarks in Class 1. Go to: bookmarks.infopeople.org 2. Look for the class bookmark file 3. Click on it so it shows on the screen 4. With the class bookmark file showing in Internet Explorer, click the Favorites menu, choose Add to Favorites… 5. Notice the name in the Name: box so that you can use the Favorites list to get back to the class bookmarks for the rest of the day

What is an E-Book?  An e-book is an electronic version of a monograph that can be read on a personal computer, e-book reader, or other portable device.  How it works usually in Adobe or html format usually in Adobe or html format sometimes downloadable sometimes downloadable

 Exercise #1 Formats: HTML and PDF

When Comparing E-book Providers Consider…  Platforms  Functionality  Content – what’s available?  Acquisition/ownership models digital rights digital rights

Functionality  Download  Markup  Full-text searching  Hyperlinks  Standing orders  Authentication  Adjustable font size

Platforms  HTML  PDF  Proprietary readers  Mobipocket  Downloadable for offline use

What Are You Buying?  Purchase – one time up front cost Access fees Access fees Title selection Title selection  Subscription Pay annually Pay annually Updates Updates  Archival rights

Authentication Models  In-library use only  Vendor-side authentication  Library-side authentication  Use your borrower database

Simultaneous Users  One copy, one user  Unlimited  Pay for simultaneous users

Policies  Loan periods  Authentication  Co-branding

Exercise #2 Library Catalog Searching vs. Full-Text Searching

Free E-books  AudioBooksForFree:  Escholarship: texts.cdlib.org/ucpress/ texts.cdlib.org/ucpress/  Google Book Search: books.google.com/ books.google.com/  Internet Public Library’s List of other small collections:  ManyBooks:  ManyBooks:  Memoware:  Online Books Page: digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ digital.library.upenn.edu/books/  Oxford Text Archive: ota.ahds.ac.uk/ ota.ahds.ac.uk/  Project Gutenberg:  University of Virginia Electronic Text Library: etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks

E-books and Print Books  How should your e-book collection relate to your print collection?

What is E-Audio?  Sound recordings in electronic format audio books audio books music music  Current state of technology  How it works Windows Media DRM Windows Media DRM library products not iPod compatible library products not iPod compatible

When Comparing E-audio Providers Consider…  Platforms  Functionality streaming v. download streaming v. download  Content – what’s available?  Acquisition/ownership models digital rights management digital rights management burn to CDburn to CD unlimited simultaneous usageunlimited simultaneous usage transfer to portable devicetransfer to portable device

Exercise #3 Download an E-Audiobook

How does e-audio fit with other formats in your collection?

Planning to Incorporate E-Books Into Your Collection  Who is the audience?  Are there catalog issues?  Training issues?  How to promote?

In-House vs. Remote Usage  What type of content makes sense in electronic format?  Where will users most likely access your e-content?

Exercise #4 Plan an E-Content Collection

Should you change your collection development policy? If so, how? Who should be selecting e-content?

When Selecting an E-Content Provider Base Your Selection On…  Platform  Content  MARC records availability  Support  Usage statistics

Exercise #5 Select an E-content Provider

Best Practices for Implementing E-content  Collection development  Access configuration  Cataloging  User support  Staff training  Promotion  Usage statistics

Collection Development  Integrate with print selection  Integrate with database selection  Collaborate with other libraries through consortial collections  Let users suggest new titles  Consider weeding needs

Access Configuration  Multiple access points database links database links MARC records MARC records  Test remote access  Use proxy server software  Test public PC access

Cataloging  Evaluate MARC records  MARC load frequency  Weeded titles  Item records  Use E-ISBNs

User Support  Staff must be comfortable  Vendor tech support  Limit support for individual issues  Liaison between staff and vendor

Staff Training  Train staff so that they are comfortable  Train all staff  Let staff try downloading and using portable devices  Have cheat sheets for staff and patrons

Promotion  Press releases  Use bookmarks, signs, flyers etc.  Use your website, blog, newsletter, , etc.  Raffle mp3 player or pda to be used with your collection

Exercise #6 Write Web Copy for Your New Collection

Usage Statistics  Don’t wait to collect stats  Standardize measures across platforms  Calculate cost per checkout and cost per download

More Implementation Issues  E-collection budgeting  Shared collections and consortial discounts

What has worked or would work well for your library?

Exercise #7 Start an Action Plan for Developing an E-Collection

Evaluation Form infopeople.org/workshop/eval