Dreaming big, going boldCreating a “shovel-ready” e-book collection during a time of economic caution, confusion, and crisis

What’s it all about, PALCI? Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium Founded in 1996 with 35 members; now 76 in

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia Primary focus on resource-sharing

(E-ZBorrow, RapidILL) and e-resources New emphases on cooperative collection

management, disaster preparedness, et al.

We’re are all mixed up State system, “state-related,” and

“independent” institutions (76%) ARLs, Oberlin Group schools, other consortia Very small to very large, under 100 FTE to

more than 80,000 FTE 54 schools (71%) have under 6,000 FTE Total FTE in excess of 500,000 Well-to-do institutions—and not so well-to-do

Ready, aim, collect Create a consortium-wide e-book collection Do so at minimal cost to members Use grant funding from various sources Keep pace with student approaches to

research Allow libraries to repurpose space Make it a library-focused collection—not a

vendor-determined collection

E-book buzz E-book talking: Increased discussion of e-

books and their use by academic libraries More e-books on the market “Millennial revolution”—more internet, less

print, please We’re full up—making room for less It’s a Texas thang, y’all—UT System Digital

Library, TexShare

Hey, kids, let’s put on a survey Using SurveyMonkey, we surveyed PALCI library

directors and collection development coordinators for 3 weeks in September 2008

150 persons were surveyed; 71 responded Complete survey results:

PALCI website— http://www.palci.org Click on “Services” tab Select “Collection Management” Scroll to “E-Books”

The survey says one thing . . . 53.8% of respondents stated that their

institutions had 1 to 4 off-campus centers or multiple campuses

40.4% of respondents said their student population was nearly 100% residential

57.7% said that their institutions offered fewer than 25% of courses through distance education

Then another . . . 87.5% of respondents said their institutions

already had an e-book collection 28.3% said that their collection had more than

10,000 volumes 74.5% had NetLibrary books 51.1% had e-books from other sources (APA,

Credo Reference, Gale, Springer, Sage, et al.)

The survey also says . . . 62.5% said they would be interested in a

PALCI e-book collection 66.7% would like to see a collection that is

purchased/owned with annual maintenance What would they be willing to pay?

One time--$2,000 to $20,000 Annually--$100 to $5,000

All over the map Top choices for collection content

Reference (80.0%) Computer science (63.3%) Core works (e.g., RCL) (60.0%) STM (53.3%) Business (46.7%) Education (46.7%) Social sciences (43.3%)

Obstacles and opportunities Global economic crisis State budget crisis College and university budget crises Pennsylvania (and New Jersey) Knowledge Initiative Lyrasis merger E-ZBorrow migration/other PALCI cooperative

endeavors American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Where to now? First steps Currently investigating collections large and small

from various vendors Reference, subject-specific, EBL, MyILibrary, eBrary

Academic Complete, et al. Offering collections for subscription/purchase to

individual libraries Facilitating selection through approval vendors Request for proposal for ideal e-book collection

Keep on walkin’ Consortial purchase of e-book collection

Smaller, subject-specific collections Maintenance paid for by members

Part of dues? Or an added charge? Based on what?

FTE? Use? Some combination of both?

Investigate funding sources

Are we there yet? Deposit account for purchases

Both library- and patron-driven Create a profile, limiting to specific publishers

and parameters (e.g., university, STM) Realistically grant-fundable? ILL entire book (at least inside the consortium) An “E-Z” solution to maintenance?

Other paths Buy an e-book platform (eBrary)

Follow OCUL model Discrete purchase

Annual maintenance?

Requires advanced technical support Open source?

MARC records or a searchable target Would all collections be able to use this

platform?

Playing to strengths Pennsylvania Digital Library replacement? Accessory to

Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository? PALINET/Lyrasis mass digitization effort Million Books project University of Pittsburgh Press digital editions Possible LOCKSS connection But do we gain enough from the effort?

Let’s keep exploring . . . Another idea: An e-book reader pilot project Group purchase of e-book readers for 1 or

more member libraries Provide textbooks; let students, libraries,

select additional content Fund e-book service for a period of time See what gets used, by whom, and how

Or should we simply go home? Use grant funds to support depleted book

budgets A discrete purchase . . . And one benefitting the publishing industry,

not just a few large vendors . . . But not a very “sexy” investment And doesn’t help with library space needs But could be done (fairly) quickly!

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) ALA identifies specific ARRA funding for

libraries: National Endowment for the Arts ($50m US) Title I (Department of Education) ($13b US) Enhancing Education through Technology

($650m US) Broadband/telecommunications ($7.2b US) State fiscal stabilization ($53.6b US)

Dollars and sense Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

Mission: “Create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas”

Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Part of IMLS but administered by states

Philanthropic sources (Pennsylvania connections) Carnegie Corporation of New York

“Meeting the challenges ahead”—K-16 education, science and math education

Mellon Foundation Higher education, information technology, scholarly

communication

What do you think? Which approach would be most easily grant-

fundable? Which approach would be of the most benefit to

libraries and their users? How do we deal with ongoing maintenance? How do we make maintenance fair? Could e-books become E-ZBorrow 3.0? Will the Pens finally take the Stanley Cup this year?

Let’s talkJohn Barnett

Assistant Director, PALCI

Room 333, 7500 Thomas Blvd.

Pittsburgh, PA 15208 USA

(412) 247-4130 (voice)

barnett@palci.org OR jhb23@pitt.edu

http://www.palci.org