c/o Katina Strauch 209 Richardson Avenue MSC 98, The Citadel Charleston, SC 29409 CHARLESTON CONFERENCE ISSUE TM VOLUME 26, NUMBER 5 NOVEMBER 2014 ISSN: 1043-2094 “Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians” Library Roles with Textbook Affordability by Charles Lyons (Electronic Resources Librarian, University at Buffalo, 520 Lockwood Library, Buffalo, NY 14260; Phone: 716-645-7703) <[email protected]> http://library.buffalo.edu/clyons n the Venn diagram linking libraries and them difficult for many students to manage. course reserves. Finally, simply putting more textbooks, the overlap has for years been Making higher education more affordable energy and creativity into promoting the use of Irepresented by a narrow sliver. Library and accessible to a wider array of students is library-licensed resources as course materials policies rain down on students seeking shelter a theme that resonates as motivation for the is a strategy gaining steam with librarians from high-priced textbooks like an edict from authors of the articles in this issue. looking to play more active roles in textbook the authorities: we don’t own them, won’t What is remarkable is the variety of ap- affordability. purchase them, and can’t borrow them for you proaches librarians are using to tackle text- In “Spreading the Word, Building a via inter-library loan. More recently, how- books. The thrust of many library initiatives Community: Vision for a National Librarian ever, librarians seem to have misplaced their revolves around the creation and promotion OER Movement,” Nicole Allen, Steven Bell, certainty about avoiding textbooks. Indeed, if of open education resources (OER) as al- and Marilyn Billings call on academic librar- the articles in this special issue of Against the ternatives to costly commercially-published ians to unite and form a national movement to Grain are any indication, librarians are discov- textbooks. Some librarians are negotiating promote the widespread adoption of OER with ering they can play significant and impactful with traditional commercial publishers, the the goal of taking control of learning materials roles in the provision and creation of textbooks oft-maligned villains in the textbook world, for away from commercial publishers and putting and other course materials at their institutions. more sustainable pricing and licensing terms it back into the hands of educators. Why are librarians reassessing their stance for e-textbooks. Others are going head-to-head While the number and quality of OER are on textbooks? The central issue is afford- with the bad boys and publishing their own increasing, making the switch from traditional ability: textbooks simply cost too textbooks to com- textbooks to OER-based learning materials is much. Even the most jaded pete with traditional no small matter. Redesigning course materials university bookstore publishers. There is continued on page 12 manager or Pearson also renewed interest representative would and vigor being put not deny that text- into more tradition- What To Look For In This Issue: book costs have risen al library services to levels that make like course packs and “Our Library Needs to Change...” ...84 What Exactly Are We Retaining When We Retain That Book? Part One. ...100 If Rumors Were Horses Of Ecosystems and Stakeholders ....104 Are Seeds for the Birds or Libraries? ...110 Gearing up for the 2014 Charleston Con- BTW, the Charleston Conference program ference! A lot of you will be here! Welcome! is available in a great app — 2014charleston- Interviews Was excited to see the Webcast sponsored by conference.sched.org. Using this app allows Gilles de La Rouchefoucauld ...........44 LJ and ExLibris the other day, which previewed you to download your personal schedule and Dr. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour .................48 a few of the hundreds of upcoming panels during information about sessions that you want to at- the 2014 Charleston Conference. Michael Per- tend onto your iPad or iPhone, tablet, etc. Very Anthea Stratigos ................................53 ry, Collection Services Manager from Northwest- convenient and useful! David McCune, Jason Hoyt, and ern was the moderator of the panel which included As the great conference directors, Beth Peter Binfield .....................................55 Roger Brisson (ExLibris), Rachel Borchardt Bernhardt and Leah Hinds who put together (American University Library), William Cross the whole Charleston Conference schedule Profiles Encouraged (North Carolina State Uni- and loaded all the info into the app, Jessica Bowdoin ................................12 versity), and Hilary Da- etc., etc. with no help from yours Kate Pitcher .......................................24 vis (North Carolina State truly said, “There is always something University). The Webcast going to happen that is beyond our Tyler Smeltekop .................................28 lasted an hour and is ar- control.” This time it was a problem Plus more .............................. See inside chived on the LJ Website. with the sched.org platform. Most Many of the participants of our speaker photos were deleted, in this Webcast will be in leaving only the ones that are linked Charleston presenting at to a Facebook or LinkedIn account the panels. Check it out! continued on page 6 1043-2094(201411)26:5;1-0 The industry’s leading is here! OASIS is moving to ipage ipage offers these benefi ts: Easy-to-use Interface Unmatched Content Availability Effi cient Workfl ows Customizable Pages Faster Page Load Times To sign up for an ipage demo, visit ingramcontent.com/ipageAcademic For a live demo of ipage, visit us at The Charleston Conference at Table #109. Experience. Innovation. Partnership. HELLO CHARLESTON! Join YBP’s dedicated team for a discussion on how we can provide end-to-end workflow support for your library. Through partnerships with publishers and content aggregators, YBP offers the most comprehensive integrated digital and print discovery and fulfillment services in the industry. YBP’s mission is to ensure that you deliver relevant content and value to your users. Come see us at Table #100 at the Vendor Showcase during the 34th annual Charleston Conference. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Please contact your YBP representative at [email protected] or visit www.ybp.com. AGAINST THE GRAIN Against the Grain (USPS 012-618) (ISSN 1043-2094) is published six times a year in February, April, June, Sep- TABLE OF CONTENTS tember, November, and December/January by Against the v.26 #5 November 2014 © Katina Strauch Grain, LLC, 209 Richardson Ave., MSC 98, The Citadel, Charleston, SC 29409. Subscription price per year is $50 U.S. ($60 Canada, $85 foreign, payable in U.S. dollars). ISSUES, NEWS, & GOINGS ON Periodicals postage paid at Charleston, SC. Postmaster: Send change of address to Against the Grain, LLC, 209 Rich- Rumors ................................................. 1 Letters to the Editor ............................ 6 ardson Ave., MSC 98, The Citadel, Charleston, SC 29409. From Your Editor ................................ 6 Deadlines ............................................ 46 Editor: Katina Strauch (College of Charleston) FEATURES Associate Editors: Rosann Bazirjian (UNC-Greensboro) Library Roles with Textbook Affordability — Guest Editor, Charles Lyons Cris Ferguson (Murray State) Tom Gilson (College of Charleston) Library Roles with Textbook TextSelect: Purchasing Textbooks for John Riley (Consultant) Affordability ........................................ 1 Library Reserves ............................... 34 Research Editors: Judy Luther (Informed Strategies) by Charles Lyons — Librarians are reassessing by David Gibbs and Jessica Bowdoin — In Assistants to the Editor: their stance on purchasing access to textbooks. order to alleviate high textbook costs encoun- Ileana Strauch Spreading the Word, Building a tered by students, George Mason has begun Toni Nix (Just Right Group, LLC) TextSelect. They emailed department heads Editor At Large: Community: Vision for a National whose courses had books on reserve and Dennis Brunning (Arizona State University) Librarian OER Movement ............... 14 emphasized TextSelect’s value not just as a Contributing Editors: by Nicole Allen, Steven Bell and Marilyn substitute for buying required textbooks, but Rick Anderson (University of Utah) Billings — The time is right for a national also as a supplement for students who already Sever Bordeianu (U. of New Mexico) owned the textbook. Todd Carpenter (NISO) OER movement. Bryan Carson (Western Kentucky University) Getting Faculty into the Fight: The The UCLA Libraries Affordable Course Liz Chapman (University College London) Eleanor Cook (East Carolina University) Battle Against High Textbook Costs ....18 Materials Initiative: Expanding Access, Use, Anne Doherty (Choice) by Ann Agee and Christina Mune — For and Affordability of Course Materials ...38 Anthony Ferguson faculty, there are many challenges to replacing Ruth Fischer (R2 Consulting Services) by Sharon E. Farb and Todd Grappone — In Michelle Flinchbaugh (U. of MD Baltimore County) traditional, commercially-published textbooks 2013, the UCLA Library launched the Afford- Joyce Dixon-Fyle (DePauw University) with alternative learning materials. able Course Materials Initiative (ACMI) which Laura Gasaway (UNC, Chapel Hill) Library Publishing of Open Textbooks: incentivizes instructors to use low-cost or free Chuck Hamaker (UNC, Charlotte) alternatives to expensive course materials. William M. Hannay (Schiff, Hardin & Waite) The Open SUNY