Shaping a strategy for e-books

1. Shaping a strategy for e-books Louise Edwards JISC Collections Manager l.edwards@cranfield.ac.uk

2. Outline • Let’s agree what an e-book is! • What’s happening in the e-book industry? • What does it mean for us? • Strategic issues for e-books • Questions and discussion

3. E-book devices Gemstar Franklin Palm GoReader

5. The e-book industry • Phase 1 (Late 1990s to late 2000) • Entrepreneurial activity in the US • New digitisation companies • New aggregators e.g. NetLibrary, Questia, Ebrary • Phase 2 (Late 2000 to Late 2001) • Funding dries up • Lower than expected sales • Phase 3 (Late 2001 onwards) • Consolidation • New players and products

6. New economics/new packaging • Financial transactions • outright purchase • subscriptions • other short-term leasing • pay-per-output • Content delivery • ‘complete’ individual e-books • subject bundles • chapters; sub-sections

11. Main supply issues for librarians • Availability of electronic format • Quality of material • Distribution • Pricing models

12. Joint Information Systems Committee Committee of the funding councils New further education remit Network infrastructure Content services Data centres Resource discovery Training and support Monitoring and advisory services Learning environments JISC: an introduction

13. Collection Development Policy Collection Management Policy Charging Policy Licensing Policy Communication Policy Preservation Policy Usage Policy Content activity: Work in Progress

14. JISC current collecting areas • e-Books • Geospatial data • Primary research data • Moving pictures and sound • Images • Learning materials • Archives/special collections • Journals “ A managed environment for accessing quality assured information sources”

15. JISC E-Books Working Group • Mission: to provide leadership in establishing a strategy for the develop of electronic books for the benefit of the academic community • Monitor and influence e-book industry • Acquire content for HE and FE sectors • Achieve a sustainable economic model • Promote content exploitation • Understand impact on institutions, libraries and users • Advise on content creation

17. JISC content acquisition programme • Current activity • Early English Books Online (EEBO) • Wiley reference works • Portfolio of major general reference products

18. Oxford Reference Online xreferplus

19. Britannica Online

20. Current marketing actions need to consult community extensively e-book community established market research to map UK requirements Joint marketing plans with publishers and suppliers

21. JISC strategic studies • Market mapping • Economics of e-textbooks • A vision for e-textbooks • Exploitation of free e-books • Access to e-books

22. Market research exercise • For each discipline: • Seek consensus on essential titles for electronic collection • Agree on top 5 publishers • Core questions: • Key challenges in managing print collection? • Does going electronic provide the answer? • Where would you prioritise your e-book acquisition? • What are your preferred economic models?

23. Initial feedback • Priority on high demand books and distance/part-time learners • More content for our money • Ease of access • Collection management tools • Multi-user model licence

24. Conclusions • Collection development plan for 2002/03 • Core reference works • Critical mass of material for UK HE/FE • Strategic development of e-books • Marketing plan for e-books www.jisc.ac.uk