1. Alliance E-book Service
Summer Meeting
July 8th, 2015

2. Agenda Where are we coming from? Where are we going? Q&A
Overview of the ebook service
Snapshot views on usage
Where are we going?
What does this all mean?
Looking forward
Q&A
JIM
-- not spending much time on this slide but will give quick overview for newcomers of number of years DDA program has been active, role of EWG, etc.
Photo by Peat Bakke; downloaded from Flickr Creative Commons

3. Where we are now: program overview
Publishers included:
ABC-CLIO
Ashgate
BRILL
Cambridge University Press
John Benjamins
McFarland & Company
NYU Press
Oxford University Press
SAGE Publications
Taylor & Francis
University of California Press
Wiley
JIM
-- over time, have constructed publisher pool that accommodates the needs of all Alliance libraries
-- although still emphasizing ownership over access, we have diversified our model to include more backlist content via AC
-- that diversification came at zero (additional?) cost to members
-- discuss tricky balance between adding new publishers and keeping content pool manageable
-- have worked to add those publishers requested by Alliance libraries

4. Where we are now: budget
Budget breakdown FY16
DDA $785,000
Ebrary $210,000
Fees $5,000
JIM
-- we came in on budget for FY2015! (crowd cheers, moment of mayhem)
-- no increases in member contributions for this coming year, holding steady at 1 mil.
-- vast majority of our budget still dedicated towards DDA purchases and STLs.
-- splinter allocation for ebrary’s AC remains.
-- no increase in vendor fees.
Mr. Monopoly. Parker Brothers.

5. Where we are now: annual survey
Significant overall program satisfaction (92%)
Majority pleased with addition of ebrary Academic Complete (>70%)
Those less satisfied reported as issues:
low use compared to $ contribution
lack of content for some specialties (STEM)
DRM / Adobe Digital Editions generally annoying
JIM
-- the annual survey continues to be a valuable mechanism for gathering member feedback.
-- almost 92% of respondents think the overall program is successful - up almost 4%
-- over 70% of respondents indicate satisfaction with ebrary AC; less than 7% of respondents were dissatisfied with addition of AC
Respondents who see the program as less successful said:
overall institutional costs balanced by low use
shift in emphasis from ownership to access
lack of appropriate content (particularly for highly technical schools)

6. Where we are now: annual survey
“This is truly a consortial effort -- more content than we could ever access/purchase on our own, and it takes minimal effort, on our part, to maintain.”
“Patrons have access to many more ebooks than we could afford to buy on our own.”
“One success metric I see is that a number of books I investigate to purchase are already available via the O-C program or Ebrary Academic Complete! I recognize that there are issues with the program, but I think it is valuable and worth the investment.”
JIM
-- first bullet reflects improvements SILS has brought to the program by alleviating past cumbersome workflows at local level.
-- members seem happy with the greatly expanded academic publisher pool included in AC.
-- backlist AC content appears to be filling a need in our program and is getting used.

7. Usage/Statistics Cost per Use DDA-only Use FY13 average: $8.62 / use
DDA + ebrary Use
FY15 average for all members: $3.36 / use
KATHI
4 years into DDA -
Use increases every year
Owned use is now over 50% of all use
Improved cost per use each year
Adding in ebrary / Academic Complete -
further drops cost per use
subscription is heavily used

8. Usage/Statistics: ebrary & EBL
ebrary Academic Complete
9/ /2015
User Sessions: 245,685
Full Title Downloads: 16,521
Pages Viewed: 3,913,445
Subscription cost: $210,000
EBL DDA
7/ /2015
Purchased Titles: 400
$253,240
Browses: 127,166
Short Term Loans: 84,643
$645,054
KATHI
Use at all institutions.
DDA - STL price increases meant...
fewer purchases this year (737 in FY14, 400 in FY15)
fewer STLs this year (28,499 in FY 14, 24,208 in FY15)
with a similar budget

9. Usage/Statistics: EBL DDA
Wiley
Oxford
Cambridge
Taylor & Francis
KATHI
4 publishers represent
65% of currently available unowned titles
82% of FY15 use
Numbers will shift with upcoming changes:
reduction of price cap = removal of many T&F and Wiley titles

10. What does this mean? Implications
SERIN
Talked a little about:
What the program looked like this past year, quick snapshot of some statistics and heard about some of the survey results
Transition...
Ultimately, there is nothing static about either publisher reactions or the ebook marketplace.
Those changes are challenging how we manage the DDA collection and keep the service within our budget.
Image:
Photo Peter Reed; downloaded fromFlickr Creative Commons

11. What does this mean? Ebook marketplace
Publishers w/ Increased Rates
Old 1-Day STL Rate
New STL Rate
Date Changed
ABC-CLIO
10%
15%
1-Nov-14
Ashgate Publishing Ltd
30%
1-Jun-14
Cambridge University Press
1-Jul-14
John Benjamins Publishing Company
25%
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 5%
50%
1-Feb-15
NYU Press
Oxford University Press
SAGE
2-Jan-15
Taylor & Francis
Wiley
1-Aug-14
SERIN
The cascade of change...
At the time of the STL increases, four of the publishers comprised approximately 80% of the DDA title pool (Kathi’s pie chart) - huge budget implications with STL trigger of 15 -
We were previously paying roughly about 6 ½ - 7 times list price for each book we purchased (5x multiplier plus STLs)
Given the changes in STLs, it’s now about 9 times list price for each title purchased.

12. What does this mean? Ebook marketplace
SERIN
Effective March 1st - Wiley removed the right to have STLs for Demand Driven Aquisition programs - virtually non-existent notice.
Kathi’s quick action results in a waiver for Orbis, but it takes ProQuest two weeks to fix - Wiley titles are briefly unavailable
Following Wiley move, the working group meets in person in May to regroup and strategize

13. What does this mean? Implications
SERIN
So, what does this all mean?
By mid-April, we had approximately $155,000 left with 2.5 months to go where a busy month expenditures typically near or over 100k (February almost $112,000)
Actions taken to control spending (with goal to reduce pool with minimal disruption, stop purchasing):
removal of ebrary duplicates from the DDA pool
removal of titles over our price cap with no browse/use since January 2015
stop purchasing
stop titles coming into the pool
May 13th - meeting of everyone on the ebook working group along with Mike Olson, Chair of Shared Content Team
Message: We can’t continue as is.
Goal: review survey data, brainstorm options and finalize a list of goals/objectives for the team to use when considering new options
Photo by Greg Westfall; downloaded from Flickr Creative Commons

14. What does this mean? Next steps
Goals & Objectives: May, 2015
Build a broadly useful collection
Diversify publisher list
Improve cost stability and predictability
Improve percentage of budget devoted to purchase
Reduce barriers to access (ADA, interface, DRM)
Reduce impact of fluctuating title pool
SERIN
What are the parameters, the important pieces of information that we’ve heard from surveys, from individuals, from patrons at our own institutions that will help guide decision-making over the next year?
needed a way to measure and compare different options

15. What does this mean? New challenges
Publisher embargoes
Price changes
More expected over the coming year
SERIN
Huge emphasis on preserving revenue related to front lists.
Publisher embargo:
Brill 12 month front list, NYU Press 18 month front list no longer available for STLs
Sage increasing prices to 150% of list
Similar announcements are expected.
Photo by stavos; downloaded from Flickr Creative Commons

16. What does this mean? Changes for FY16
Publishers for FY16:
ABC-CLIO
Ashgate
BRILL
Cambridge University Press
John Benjamins
McFarland & Company
NYU Press
Oxford University Press
SAGE Publications
Taylor & Francis
University of California Press
Wiley
Additional changes to DDA pool:
Price cap of $200
Removal of 2012 & older titles
Removal of titles over price cap
Negotiations on multiplier & trigger
Photo by tracyshaun; downloaded from
Flickr Creative Commons
SERIN
Managing and reconfiguring the pool for FY16 has been a top priority - avoiding mid-term title withdrawals AND halting purchases
Removal of Brill & NYU Press titles due to front list embargoes
Removal of SAGE titles due to price increases
Dropping the price cap from $ 250 to $ 200
Removal of all titles over $200
Removal of 2012 and earlier titles in our annual pool reduction
Negotiations in process to reduce our multiplier to 4 and trigger max to 11 (for almost all publishers)
Neil Christensen (Univ. of California Press) comment: “Essentially every dollar you spend is a vote for a particular business model.”
Image:

17. Accomplishments Centralized management of DDA records in NZ
Finalized walk-in policy for all Alliance institutions
Finished the FY within budget
“Success Kid” [meme]. Original photo taken by Laney Griner.
AMY
Centralized management of DDA records in NZ
Finalized walk-in policy for all Alliance institutions
All Alliance institutions are allowed but not required to provide walk­‐in access to visiting patrons. This is in accordance with the Alliance ProQuest license and is up to each individual institution to implement locally. There are no specific visiting patron restrictions for printing or copying aside from those already in place for all patrons.
Finished the FY within budget - adjustments worked!

18. Looking Forward Next 6-8 months we will be investigating:
Consortial evidenced based purchasing in practice
Publishers/platforms experimenting or committed to evidenced based purchasing
Online programs across Alliance institutions
Nursing/allied health programs across Alliance institutions
Continue negotiations and evaluation of trigger and multiplier for current DDA
AMY
Looking at other platforms, publishers (including JSTOR, Springer, etc.)

19. Looking Forward ProQuest Ebook Central [EBL + ebrary]
Late Fall 2015; transition Q4 (consortial later Q4)
AMY
ProQuest Ebook Central = merged EBL & ebrary
Sneak peek + timeline
ProQuest Confidential
ProQuest Confidential

20. Looking Forward Communicating with the membership Email listserv
Shared Content Team reps
Surveys?
Open calls for discussion?
AMY
changes in communication - listservs from ebook to shared content representatives - we’re looking to the representatives to share feedback from their institutions
Photo by peterned; downloaded from Flickr Creative Commons

21. Q&A / Discussion
If this program changed, what changes would you want to see?
Tell us your thoughts and ask any questions you may have.
AMY
What are the preferences re: ownership and access?
Is ownership still a primary goal?
How does access come in to play?
Do you already have experiences with some of these vendors (publishers, platforms, etc.) we may be negotiating with in the future? If so, what are your thoughts about their products? (Project MUSE, Springer, JSTOR, etc.)
Do you have subject- or program-related ebook acquisitions thoughts or questions? (Are there additional Alliance-wide programs that should be supported beyond nursing/allied health and online ed?)
Photo by Marcus Ramberg; downloaded from Flickr Creative Commons