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“eBook Loans – an e-twist on a classic interlending service” Bronwen Woods & Michael Ireland, NRC-CISTI. Presented by Michael Ireland to The 10 th Interlending and Document Supply Conference, Singapore, October 30, 2007. The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview. From opportunity to launch
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“eBook Loans – an e-twist on a classic interlending service”Bronwen Woods & Michael Ireland, NRC-CISTI Presented by Michael Ireland to The 10th Interlending and Document Supply Conference, Singapore, October 30, 2007
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch eBook Loan Service project from the CISTI perspective: • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Wild times in lending history … King Ptolemy III of Egypt ‘borrows’ books for the Library of Alexandria
Why eBook Loans? Current scholarly book access models are limited: • Purchase books or eBook • License eBook collections • Interlibrary loan eBook loans are more accessible and economic: • Cheaper than purchase or licensing eBooks • More efficient than print interlibrary loans
Current state of print book loans End user-initiated orders End user delivery
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Challenges of the eBook Loan Project • Solve the problem of how to loan e-books to external clients • Barriers faced = restrictive e-book licences and publisher locks prevent affordable access for temporary needs
Partnership to achieve a common goal • CISTI out-of-the-box solution to the achieve project goals by forming a collaborative partnership with an e-book aggregator, MyiLibrary. • MIL had the rights to disseminate e-books through publisher agreement and could obtain ILL rights and wanted to increase its reach.
Collaborative project management across the world The project management process was unprecedented for CISTI because it was partnering with a commercial entity located on another continent.
Project Risks Main risks and complexities associated with the project from the CISTI perspective were: • The co-development of a new library service model with an external, commercial partner • The geographical and organizational distances between the two parties • The loading of the publisher metadata onto the CISTI Catalogue platform • Client acceptance of the new business model • Internal service procurement issues
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Critical tasks In August 2006, a joint project team was assembled at CISTI and MyiLibrary to produce a new service model for lending e-books. To embark on this joint venture, two tasks critical to project success were completed: • A client survey (summer 2006 ) • 59% of respondents said “yes” they were interested in this service, sight unseen • An agreement was signed between CISTI and MyiLibrary to implement the new service and share in the investment
Division of responsibility MyiLibrary was responsible for: • Negotiating with the publishers to offer this loan service • Making necessary changes to their system • Providing the publisher e-book metadata • Marketing and client support (shared with CISTI) CISTI was responsible for: • Technology architecture planning and business analysis • Metadata loading and management • Website interface design input and translation • Marketing and client support (shared with MyiLibrary)
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Lessons learned: Communications Problem: At times, the distances and preoccupations with other tasks resulted in slow communications and delays. Mitigation strategy: The project steering committee, which included executives from both organizations provided support on decisions to allow the project to move forward. Learned: Timely communications led to the resolution of key project road-blocks.
Lessons learned:Loading problems Problem: Some diacritics and table of contents publisher metadata provided by MyiLibrary was of poor quality – delaying Catalogue record loading. Mitigation strategy: MyiLibrary pinpointed the problem as occurring in the source metadata records. Some data was corrected on the spot with more corrections promised in future loads. Learned: Given the relatively small number (6%) of records involved affecting findability and with the promise of future metadata updates, the project team decided to accept the status quo and move ahead with project launch.
Lessons learned: Getting Publisher sign-on Problem: Delays in signing publishers created complications because the publisher e-book records could not be displayed and offered to clients until the publisher had signed. Mitigation strategy: CISTI loaded all of the records but had to keep unsigned publisher records “suppressed” from public view if they were not signed. Learned: Because of the hard work of the negotiators, MyiLibrary signed on some of the world’s largest e-book publishers Springer, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis before the official launch.
Lessons learned: Authorizing users Problem: CISTI and MyiLibrary had a disagreement over authorizing end-users accessing the eBooks. MyiLibrary wanted to create an additional end user password login. CISTI preferred not, wishing to put the emphasis on client usability and the minimization of barriers. MyiLibrary had a legitimate business concern about unauthorized use and also wanted to offer additional features to end-users - only possible if they had their own password. Mitigation strategy: At the end, an agreement was reached on having no additional login with an understanding to re-visit the issue if there was proven abuse. Currently all eBook loans expire after four weeks and terms & conditions state they are for personal use only. Lessons: Partnership is about collaboration and compromise.
Best practices • Creating use cases at the outset of the project • Maintaining a shared project task list • Keeping an issues log • Incorporating client feedback for future updates
Findings The project was a success because: • Produced a new eBook loan service where all the stakeholders (CISTI, MyiLibrary, publishers, clients, users) reached a common goal to improve e-book accessibility. • CISTI, as a public sector organization, and MyiLibrary, as a commercial enterprise, shared a vision and carried it through to a successful conclusion. • A project conducted “virtually” over two continents succeeded in its goals and was completed on time.
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Value Proposition for users eBook Loan Service allows the user to: • Find and obtain relevant scientific, technical, medical, business and social science eBooks from major e-book publishers • No mailing wait, download immediately from email link to web browser interface • Search and read eBook on line for 30 days • Copy, paste and print a certain number of pages
Value Propositions for libraries eBook loans allow libraries to … • Have immediate access • Avoid mailing wait / no unfilled • Borrow unlimited books • Reduce loan processing costs • Renew loans • Forward eBooks to end users wherever they are • Avoid recalls / late returns / lost books • No annual eBook license or subscription required
Advantage eBook Loans NRC employees
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Conclusions • The eBook Loan Service project and the implementation of the service break the barriers of time, distance and cost. • CISTI took a practical approach to increasing access to e-books through a collaboration with an aggregator and publishers. • Fair use / dealing issues for e-books are not resolved by this service. The primary goal is to improve client access to e-books beyond the existing licensing and purchase models available.
Next Steps • Promote the service world-wide • Facilitate other forms of payment beyond credit cards, working with other organizations such as OCLC • Expand the service to include more publishers and other providers world-wide to ensure that users have the fullest range of choice • Look for other opportunities to partner to achieve our goals
The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview From opportunity to launch • Why eBook Loans • Project goals, challenges, risks • Project tasks and workflow • Project lessons learned, best practices and findings • Benefits to users and libraries • Conclusions & Next steps • How it works
Take away thought “What technology often does is help us re-invent situations which have already existed but are now ready for modernisation or moderation” Graham Cornish, 2002
Thank you Bronwen Woods Phone 613-990-9140 Fax: 613-952-8239 bronwen.woods@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca Michael Ireland Phone 613-991-9988 Fax:613-993-0747 michael.ireland@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca NRC-Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI)