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The Parliamentary Library’s e-book experience: from finding the perfect model to measuring its success Liz Luchetti Assistant Secretary, Information Access Branch, Parliamentary Library Abstract During Financial Year 2011/2012, the Parliamentary Library investigated, procured and implemented a range of suitable e-books for our Library clients. This was an essential part of a bigger initiative to increase the proportion of material available in digital form so clients can have easy access to material wherever they are located. After initial market research, the e-book project team compiled a list of e-book vendors and set about investigating each product, considering the number of titles available, search functionality, price, access options, performance history of each vendor, business models available and workflow issues. Based on a detailed evaluation, several e-book products were selected and implemented. This paper will discuss in detail the evaluation process used to determine which products would best suit the Parliamentary Library’s requirements, the implementation of the selected e-book services and the use of our e-book collections over the past 2 years. Introduction During Financial Year 2011/2012, the Collection Management section was tasked with investigating and procuring a range of suitable e-books for the Parliamentary Library. The aim to increase the collection of e-books is documented in the Australian Parliamentary Library Business plan 2010-13. This is an essential part of a bigger initiative to increase the proportion of material available in digital form so clients can have easy access to material wherever they are located. Prior to the commencement of the project, 30 per cent of the Parliamentary Library’s collection was available in digital form. At the beginning of the e-book project, the Parliamentary Library had a small collection of e-books that had been obtained as part of subscription packages. For example, 1175 e-books were part of the OECD iLibrary to which the Library subscribed. These e-books were accessible full text via Summon, a web-scale discovery service from Serials Solutions, as the Parliamentary Library subscribes to the Page | 1 Serials Solutions 360 link for e-books as well as e-journals. Additionally, approximately 20,000 e-books had been captured to the Electronic Resource Repository (ERR) and catalogued on the Integrated Library System (ILS). In July 2010, the Parliamentary Library purchased a Kindle Reader; since then it has been borrowed twenty one times. The Library has 18 titles on the Kindle - 4 purchased monographs and 14 free e-books. Every title on the Kindle and the Kindle-reader itself has a bibliographic record on the ILS. As documented in the Parliamentary Library Digital Collection Policy1, the Library prefers to collect digital format material because online digital content: is available to clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any location (including on mobile/handheld devices); may be accessed simultaneously by multiple users, which is not possible with hard copy; may be disseminated easily and quickly; is generally more up-to-date; is generally available before the hard copy version; can be reused by clients easily, for example it may be text searchable and "copy and pasted" into other applications; requires minimal staff handling, for example issues of journals do not need to be accessioned; and does not require shelving space. E-book business models In 2011, there were many different business models for libraries to obtain e-book content. The Parliamentary Library reviewed each business model to ascertain which model would best suit our needs. Title by title or by the bundle Libraries have the choice of selecting titles ‘one-by-one’ or purchasing an e-book package (i.e. subject or genre collections). Subscription versus perpetuity Subscription packages allow libraries to buy access to a large number of e-books for a set period of time. Subscription packages usually consist of backlist titles that publishers make available to aggregators, knowing the print book sales have already run their course. The included content is selected by publishers or vendors, and libraries have no opportunity to shape the title lists. Libraries can also choose to acquire e-books with the right to ‘perpetual access’. This model is more aligned with traditional print collection practices in which libraries are building collections for future as well as current use. The cost for this type of e-book is typically higher than the print equivalent. On top of the e-book price, most vendors charge libraries an annual platform maintenance fee which is required for ongoing hosting of the e-books purchased. 1 Governance Paper No. 5.3.1 - Parliamentary Library Digital Collection, p. 13, December 2011. Page | 2 Pay-per-view Some aggregators and publishers also offer content on a pay-per-view or short-term rental basis. This can be a cost-effective way of providing access to e-book content. Patron driven acquisitions Patron-driven (also known as demand-driven) models allow libraries to load e-book records into their catalogue without committing to a purchase. Libraries can choose to manually or automatically purchase titles that have been viewed by library clients. Alternatively, there is the option not to purchase any title, but to pay a loan fee each time the e-book is utilised. Demand-driven acquisition significantly increases the amount of locally discoverable content and facilitates access to content at the point of need. In addition, libraries ultimately only purchase e-books when there is known demand based on patron activity. After reviewing the available business models, the project team favoured patron driven acquisitions and individual title selection rather than the ‘just in case’ bulk purchasing models. We also wanted to purchase the e-books in perpetuity and have the ability to access them via mobile devices. Evaluation As part of this project, ten e-book vendors and their products were investigated. The products were: EBL NetLibrary Ebrary MyiLibrary OverDrive University Presses Books 24X7 Springer Brill Taylor & Francis Table 1: E-book features Page | 3 During the course of the investigation, four products were identified as providing the best content and access options for the Parliamentary Library and were evaluated further. OverDrive, NetLibrary, MyiLibrary and EBL all provided a wide range of subject relevant e- books with agreeable access terms and workable business models. Further, the e-books from these vendors were all available for download to mobile devices. These four products were evaluated based on title availability, search functionality, pricing, performance history of each prospective vendor, access options, how each product could be integrated into our current workflows, and the product’s e-book business model. Title availability During August and September 2011, a random sample of 50 titles ordered in hardcopy by Acquisitions staff were checked against the preferred suppliers. The titles searched by staff were all published in 2011 and a large portion were published in Australia. Search functionality All four vendors allowed us to access their sites on a trial basis. We wanted a product that our clients would find easy to search and that would allow for advanced searching. Pricing It was difficult to evaluate on the individual cost of an e-book, as each vendor offered different access/pricing models. Some vendors had platform fees, some allowed concurrent access, and others were strictly one copy one user. Performance history All four products had kept up-to-date with technological developments and client requirements. For example, several years ago the vendors did not offer access via mobile devices, whereas now all four did. All vendors were actively seeking more Australian publishers to join their service, which will significantly increase the percentage of titles of interest to the Parliamentary Library. Access options The project team favoured multiple-user access models, which ensures all clients can access the title when they want. EBL, NetLibrary and MyiLibrary all accommodated this access. OverDrive only allows an e-book to be loaned by one user at a time; however multiple copies of the book can be purchased if demand required. The project team felt it was extremely important to implement a model that allowed downloading to mobile devices. All four vendors allowed access via a range of devices and readers. NetLibrary and MyiLibrary allowed IP authentication; whereas EBL and OverDrive require logons to access titles. Collection Management workflows NetLibrary, MyiLibrary and EBL titles were available in Summon, which would allow the Parliamentary Library to easily integrate the e-books into current library processes. All vendors supplied downloadable MARC records with purchased e-books, though EBL’s records were rumoured to be of poor quality. When a request to purchase was received from a library client, Acquisitions staff would scan the selected e-book vendor’s catalogue to determine if the title was available in electronic format, and if so purchase (unless the client specifically stated a hardcopy was required). James Bennett lists EBL titles on its catalogue so searching time would not be increased. Page | 4 E-book business models EBL’s demand driven acquisition module was very impressive and the project team immediately saw how, combined with Summon, it could open up a huge opportunity for the Parliamentary Library. Rather than load all 200,000 MARC records into our catalogue as is traditionally done with this model, the Parliamentary Library could ‘subscribe’ to the titles in Summon, thereby providing a discovery point without having to manage the records in our ILS. After the e-book had been viewed, we would be billed for that title and own access to it in perpetuity. At this point we could load the free bibliographic record into our catalogue and upgrade the record to meet our standards.

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