1. E-books and consortia: business models, access issues, etc. Some ideas for a general discussion SELL meeting, Fiesole, May 23rd 2014 Session E

2. Why ebooks in academic libraries? Students are used to digital information and portable devices The most important academic publishers are digitizing their books Expansion of access availability (24x7, unlimited users, etc.) In theory: New editions easier to update than print books Attractive features: multimedia content, links to related data, etc. Maybe ebooks are more suitable for undergraduates than e-journals?

3. E-books at CBUC/CSUC: consortial purchases Started in 2004: 1.200 titles from NetLibrary (now in EBSCO eBook Collection) Nowadays > 17.500 ebooks Springer ebooks, including LNCS = 12.000 titles Elsevier ebooks, including textbooks = nearly 1.500 titles Wiley ebooks = nearly 400 titles Others are: Ebrary/E-Libro, MyiLibrary, Gale Recent acquisition Ebooks UPC: 150 titles (in Catalan, Spanish, English) But... are they used? are users/libraries happy?

4. Main issues involved (besides price…) Huge universe of ebook titles!!!! In all disciplines/languages? Formats (html, pdf, epub, etc.) Download options / mobile device compatibility DRM and permited uses InterLibrary Loan Long term access and preservation Example of a very detailed list: http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/arl-e-book-requirements-2012.pdf

5. Business models and acquisition issues Directly to the publisher, or via an aggregator? Full collection, subject collections, title selection? One-time payment, annual subscription or temporary loan? On-demand digitization of selected print textbooks? Who selects? User: evidence-based models, PDA Library: traditional method (recommended bibliography lists, desiderata, etc.) Consortia ebook acquisitions How many copies of the selected titles must be paid in order to gain access for all consortia members? Unlimited users available? Or limited concurrent users per ebook? Usage statistics Link resolvers, MARC records

6. Suggested topics for discussion 1.Technical issues 2.Business models 3.Selection criteria 4.Usage levels and impact on users

7. ANY QUESTIONS? THANKS! Núria Comellas nuria.comellas@csuc.cat http://www.csuc.cat/en/libraries-cbuc