E-book selection, acquisition and cataloguing:

1. E-book selection, acquisition and cataloguing: a University of York case study NAG seminar – York – 7th July 2009

2. Overview of options and issues: selection acquisitions cataloguing University of York case study current practice future plans Agenda NAG seminar – York – 7th July 2009

3. Selection: 1 Finding out what’s available No single, comprehensive source of information Combination of sources needs to be used: Book supplier databases Publisher websites Publisher promotional emails and visits, stands at conferences etc. Where you look might depend on the type of resource wanted, eg. whether it’s a package or individual titles NAG seminar – York – 7th July 2009

4. Selection: 2 Coverage of library supplier databases Oasis (Coutts): MyiLibary and some publishers Enterbooks (Dawson): DawsonERA GOBI (YBP): EBL, ebrary, NetLibrary Collection Manager (Blackwell): EBL, ebrary & some publishers DawsonERA, EBL, ebrary, MyiLibrary and NetLibrary are all aggregator platforms – they license content from numerous ebook publishers and host that content on their own platforms Aggregators on GOBI also have their own ordering platforms, eg. Ebop from ebrary MyiLibrary titles can also be purchased via Swets and ProQuest Swets developing their own ebooks solution

5. Selection: 3 Lack of availability Textbooks Older titles Smaller publishers Confusion over other platforms/solutions which can’t be licensed by HE institutions Who decides? Collection development policies and practices

6. Acquisition: 1 Purchasing models Individual titles, one-off purchases, access in-perpetuity. Aggregator and publisher platforms Individual titles, annual subscription. Aggregator and publisher platforms Aggregator subscription packages, content not ‘fixed’, either ‘all you can eat’ or subject specific Publisher subscription packages, ‘all you can eat’ or subject specific – usually pay a subscription to a ‘copyright year’ and then keep all that content in perpetuity. Aggregator and publisher platforms Fixed publisher collection, usually covering a fixed number of years, one-off purchase, access in-perpetuity. Could then be ‘topped up’ with more recent content, by subscription if desired, of further one-off ‘chunks’. Aggregator and publisher platforms User-driven selection, aggregator platform

7. Acquisition: 2 Typically, e-book selection and acquisition involves a wide range of library staff, very few of whom have an overview of the whole area book acquisitions serials e-resources liaison librarians cataloguing

8. Cataloguing Joint or separate records per format? Titles individually selected typically catalogued/downloaded manually MARC records for packages supplied by publishers/aggregators often not up to required standard uploaded in bulk to library management systems need to keep up-to-date with additions and deletions Some ebooks also included in databases like Business Source Premier, LNB, Literature Online often need to be catalogued manually

9. University of York case study: 1 Publisher and aggregator packages were purchased initially Subject-specific, eg. ebrary, Springer, Cambridge Companions Online, Oxford Scholarship Online General and reference, eg. Oxford Reference Online, Credo Reference, Specialist, eg. ECCO, EEBO Advantages: critical mass acquired quickly, light on selection and acquisition Disadvantages: cataloguing issues, mainly recurrent rather than one-off spend

10. University of York case study: 2 Packages: who does the work? Selection Content Choice Group, if general or multidisciplinary Academic departments and liaison librarians, if subject specific Acquisition Serials team, if subscriptions E-resources co-ordinator, if one-off purchases Cataloguing Cataloguing librarian and deputy, also systems team input

11. University of York case study: 3 Now trying to buy individual titles that appear on reading lists 10% ‘hit rate’ typical Have checked retrospectively against key text lists and most requested reports Have also tried checking reading lists as they come in YTD: 671 individual ebook titles ordered (total of all books ordered: 19,172) Currently only buy for one platform, but that may change

12. University of York case study: 4 Individual titles: who does the work? Selection For some subject areas, self-selected if ‘key text’ item on reading list Academic liaison librarians, academic staff or researchers Bibliographic Services (Acq/Cat) team check for availability Acquisition Bibliographic Services (Acq/Cat) team Orders sent via EDI alongside orders for print books Cataloguing Bibliographic Services (Acq/Cat) team

13. University of York case study: 5 User-driven selection model Have just started trialling with Coutts/MyiLibrary Set up a deposit account Identified initial file of 3,000 titles using subject profiles, to be topped up monthly as new titles released MARC records for these titles uploaded into our LMS 2 hits converts to a purchase Monthly reconciliation invoices issued

14. University of York case study: 6 User-driven selection: who does the work? Selection Initial subject profiling: Acquisitions manager, Academic liaison librarians Actual titles chosen at the point of use Acquisition Not applicable! Cataloguing Bibliographic Services (Acq/Cat) team

15. University of York case study: 7 Publicity All titles visible in our catalogue, searches can be limited to ebooks only Ebooks web page Future plans Compare usage of titles acquired via different purchasing models Compare and contrast relative use of our e and print books Continue to explore different models

16. Sarah Thompson st20@york.ac.uk Content Acquisition Librarian University of York NAG seminar – York – 7th July 2009