1. e-books 2017: What’s the Current Thinking on the Status of E-books?
Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians
Presenter: Lynda Fuller Clendenning
May 22, 2017
NOTE: Unlike journal literature where the digital version is the default, Ebooks are still evolving. Remember that it has taken for journals to move from print + ejournal to ejournal. Just a few years ago, the cry was “the print monograph is dead”. Ebooks will prevail many said. Studies now reveal that students prefer print over ebooks. Ebook delivery and business models are in flux and are being criticized. But lots of folks love their Kindles. What are we to think about the current status of ebook? Our library has over one million digitized books via subscription and purchase. But is it more a question of access than ownership?

2. Presenter profile Lynda Fuller Clendenning Head, Acquisitions Division
Associate Librarian
Acquisitions
OFFICE Herman B Wells Library E350
PHONE (812)
edu
PROFILE: clendenning

3. The World is Flat for Ebooks
Print Books
The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist that first appeared in Camille Flammarion's L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire (1888). The image depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet..."
Ebooks
Ebook sales are flat; print is prevailing. Publishers are struggling to develop a clear business model for ebooks. They experience theft of ebooks via pirate sites like The tension between print and ebook continues as more librarians are developing a critique of ebooks.

4. The Dilemma (in the context of academic publishing)
What is the ebook business model that works for
Library users’ research and classroom needs?
Library collection budgets?
Academic publisher revenue streams?

5. Have E-books Peaked? Association of American Publishers Report
First half of 2016 Ebook sales down 20% from 2015
Ebook sales portion of book sales in 2016 same as 2011
Audiobook sales doubled market share in same period
Academic Book Vendor Report
Ebook sales flat
Print book sales slightly up (75% of A&H titles; 50% of STM titles are print sales)
DDA: Short term loan plummet from 2015
Why:
Users don’t want to pay
Users read for free online, so why pay for an ebook?
I will focus primarily on the academic ebook situation, but we need to be aware of publisher experiences as they live in a commercial world and decisions to publish for the academic market are often revenue based decisions. Ebooks are best for look-up and topic searches – non fiction. They are accessible by a number of folks sometimes at the same time. Longer works of fiction as ebooks are less engaging.

6. Many players ERMS PDA DDA EDS DRM
PDF
PDA
DDA
EDS
DRM
SERU
OPEN ACCESS (OA)
This slide attempts to visualize the scope of ebook management: content, format, provider, licenses, resource management systems, platforms, discovery, access and usage tracking.

7. Ebook Complexities DRM .azw (Kindle) HTML Prevents copying
ePub
PDF
HTML
.mobi (mobile)
Format
Prevents copying
Controls Printing
Date stamps and limits number of users
DRM
Adobe Digital Editions
Calibre (free)
ibooks
Software
Desktop
Laptop
iPad
iPhone
Kindle
Nook
Hardware
Publishers have to publish ebooks in multiple formats for commercial (individual) and academic (networked) use. Publishers protect their content on aggregator platforms via Digital right management. Content delivery more complicated than print publishing.

8. Acquisitions models: Purchase options for libraries
Publisher bundles
Springer 2017 imprint – all titles on Springer platform
Only other option: subject collection
Elsevier 2017 imprint on SciDirect
Wiley 2017 imprint on Wiley Online
Aggregators (Ebsco and ProQuest)
Direct
Firm
DDA/PDA
Subscription
Via library book vendors: Coutts and GOBI
Firm orders
Eapproval
Publisher programs
EBS (Evidence-based)
Publisher Aggregators
Project Muse (UPCC University Press)
JSTOR Ebooks
Oxford (Oxford Scholarship Online)
Libraries are challenged by many access and purchase models.

9. Acquisitions Models: Demand Driven Acquisitions
DDA not working as expected
DDA: Short term loans % of list price for each triggered use
Revenue not sufficient: Publishers responded
Raised STL %
Offered DDA only; buy on first use
Embargoed front list by x months; x years
DDA is User driven purchases by use. Libraries pay percentage of list price for each triggered use (Short Term Loan), then purchase on last trigger. All titles available in the discovery layer or catalog, but purchase only those patron use to the point of trigger. Content is very dynamic; libraries struggle to know what content they provide access to and under what specifications.

10. Each publisher changing commitment to DDA and STL each month.

11. New Acquisitions Models – Trying to solve revenue issue
Next model: Evidence Based Services (EBS)
Select group of titles for potential use
Fund via deposit account or agreed upon amount
Purchase triggered titles – perpetual access
Elsevier EBS (one flavor):
Choose subject collections
One year of access for small up-front fee
At end of one year, choose content to purchase based on detailed usage reports.
Challenge: Providing users with a large enough pool at a low enough initial commitment to cover actual usage.

12. More Evidence Based Options (The University of British Columbia)
Cambridge – Evidence-based Acquisitions (EBA) For the upcoming period from September 2015 through May 2016, Cambridge will give us access to 2015 and eBooks. Subject areas covered will focus on the humanities, social sciences, and science & engineering. These will be available to use through Cambridge Books Online platform. 
CRC Press (Taylor & Francis) – Evidence-based Selection (EBS) CRC Press’ multi-year model will offer access to all 2015 and 2016 published content in the areas of engineering, environmental science, food science, materials, math and statistics from September 2015 through April 2017, as it becomes available online through their designate platform. 
Taylor & Francis Humanities & Social Sciences – Evidence-based Selection (EBS) Complementing the titles available through the CRC Press EBS model, a multi-year model for other Taylor & Francis imprints (including Routledge and Earthscan) will offer access to all 2015 and 2016 published content from September 2015 through April 2017, as it becomes available through their designate platform. 
Wiley – Usage-based Collection Management (UBCM) This model, through Wiley Online Library, offers access to their entire OnlineBooks catalogue for the period of September though August Their collection focuses on areas in health and physical sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. The Wiley model will be available through the Wiley Online Library 

13. Newest Acquisitions Model: Access to Own
Newest model: ATO Access to Own
High first trigger price
2nd pay remaining list price
More solutions…
Open Access
Knowledge Unlatched
Publishers offering open access
Authors paying to make their book open access
Chapter level access DDA / STL models?

14. Critique: Ebook Functionality
Inferior to Codex (Print book)
Lack of Standards
Too many formats; little interoperability
Need “new” format for ebooks --- not a digital version of print book
DRM (Digital Rights Management) -- see Charlotte Initiative slide
Barriers to use
Need note, annotation, images, embedded media
Discoverability and Navigation
Need more internal links
Publishers have removed DRM from their own platforms; JSTOR and Project Muse have no DRM; ProQuest and Ebsco aggregators still have DRM due to publisher licenses requiring. JSTOR using a chapter level discovery ….

15. A Critique with an Action Plan
The Three Principles
Our starting premise is that permanent acquisitions of eBooks requires these licensing terms: 
Provision of irrevocable perpetual access and archival rights.
Allowance for unlimited simultaneous users.
Freedom from any Digital Rights Management (DRM), including (but not limited to) use of proprietary formats, restricted access to content, or time-limited access terms.
The Charlotte Initative holds that libraries will not purchase any ebooks with Digital Right Management limiting user access and limitation on use of ebook content. Publishers are moving away from DRM on their own platforms. This initiative has had and is having an impact.

16. Final thoughts
The need for ebook format and access standards is crucial to the development of ebook technologies that compare favorably with codex technology
Should libraries continue to rent/subscribe for access to ebooks instead of purchase until standards are developed?
Standards will allow publishers and libraries to invest and commit to developing born digital ebook products with media aspects embedded
Should collection budgets be used to make scholarly monographs open access and available to all?
What are the ebook works that libraries should purchase and preserve? Which are fine access only?

17. E-books are Evolving – We aren’t there yet!
Questions?
Comments?
Discussion?
Feel free to questions and comments.

18. References The Scholarly Kitchen No Shelf Required
Conrad, Lettie Y (2017, April 24). The Ebook R/Evolution – Not as Easy as It Seems [Web log post]. Retrieved from:
Schonfeld, Roger C. (2016, April 4). Will the Monograph Experience a Transition to E-Only? Latest Findings. [Web blog post]. Retrieved from: monograph/
No Shelf Required
Roncevic, Mirela (2016, September 13). Academic Libraries are Shrinking, while Content is Growing. How did we get there? [Web log post]. Retrieved from: libraries-are-shrinking-while-content-is-growing-how-did-we-get-here/
NSR Editorial (2016, November 16). Ebook Sales Continue to Decline in That’s Good News (For those who Advocate Free Reading). [Web log post]. Retrieved from: who-advocate-free-reading/
Parker, David. (2016, April). Blurring Lines—The Chapter, Not the Book, as the Unit of Discovery: An Interview with Laura Brown of JSTOR. Again the Grain, pp