Time to stop kicking the can down the road?

Why the problem with licences might not be the problem with licences

JIBS workshopMonday 13th July 2015

Nick Woolley

Head of Library Services

“This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of

the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many

solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were

largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper,

which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of

paper that were unhappy.”

From The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1979)

“This planet library has – or rather had – a problem, which was this:

most of the people living on librarians working in it were unhappy for

pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this

problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the

movements management of small green pieces of paper e resource

licences, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green

pieces of paper e resource licences that were unhappy.”

Northumbria University

1894 (Rutherford College of Technology) 32,000 students from over 130 countries Four faculties Tripled research power in REF2014 560 employer-sponsored courses and 60 programmes accredited

by professional bodies Extensive partnerships in the UK and worldwide

University Library Part of super-converged Academic Services directorate Three sites across two campuses 24/7 and Customer Service Excellence (CSE) 2nd highest scoring in the UK - THE Student Experience survey Single Academic Services frontline – ‘Ask4Help’

Northumbria’s digital library

Digital rich infrastructure and service catalogue:– 2,000 study spaces, 900 workstations and 250 self-service laptops– Online skills and literacy – ‘Skills Plus’– RFID self-service and NFC ebooks– Summon for unified discovery (since 2009)– Digital reading lists and content– Institutional repository, OA, publishing platform (OJS)– Bibliometrics service

Online Library Collection:– Approx. 700,000 ebooks (550,000 print)– Growing ‘on demand’ services, DDA ebooks embedded in ILL as well as discovery– 38,000 ejournals (1,000 print – members of UKRR)

JISC projects - OA Pathfinder and ORCID pilot

Digital First approach – emphasising connectivity, digital literacy, and the customer

Digital First at Northumbria

Licence management at Northumbria

350 licences for e resources, local MS Access database Authentication via Shibboleth and virtual desktop Heavily used discovery and access services Experiencing increase in scholarly reading

Most significant licence challenge is extending off-campus access beyond authorised user, i.e.

– Wider student lifecycle – pre-entry and alumni– Collaborative partnerships in the UK and overseas – validated students

Currently hitting my desk– 2 international partners– 5+ UK partners– Issues with alumni access– Several other ‘miscellaneous’

Reflections on progress since 2010…

Thorny issues at the JIBS workshop ‘Where now for resource licensing’ 2010

Significant progress since, e.g. JISC– Ongoing development of model licences– JISC decision tool– ONIX and KB+

Thorny issues remain – JIBS workshop ‘Licensed to death?’ 2014 Different and evolving HEI business models Doing more for less – manual back-office not attractive Successful licence negotiation for extended access doesn’t

necessarily enable delivery – e.g. rights but no channel Library still becomes visible when something stops working or

provisioning access is difficult

Challenging comparisons

Prevailing perception that academic libraries should either be more like the current and anticipated generation of streaming and on demand media services, e.g. Netflix or Spotify

..or, that the existence of these commercial services combined with perception that there is nothing unique behind publisher paywalls, demonstrates libraries have had there day when it comes to content

But these business models don’t apply, i.e. end-user can’t pay and cost shouldn’t reflect usage (who wants to limit scholarly reading?)

Libraries and the wider knowledge community have achieved more than is perceived, e.g. international standards, automation, self-service… However, ‘access’ has never really been solved since transition from print to e

Principles for content delivery in HE?

Free at point of need Anytime, anywhere Customer chooses format Maximum usage is desirable Seamless – workflows, SSO Must provide value for money, and ensure financial sustainability Multi-channel and sourcing is a necessity Balance JIT v. JIC Inter Library Loan and document delivery are as important as ever

Should the principles we set out for acquiring content should reflect the principles we adopt for supporting Open Access?

Mobile

Technology characterised by extreme opportunities and challenges Superficially attractive – anytime, anywhere Growing ubiquity of devices – bridging digital divide? User as product, hidden costs, privacy issues, platform wars Devices and apps in the educational context

– How does the level of personalisation translate to institutional delivery?– Silos of content and activity– Poor fit with existing infrastructure, e.g. federated access

Most promising content apps third party?– e.g. BrowZine

User experience – digital sampling versus immersive reading Is there content that fits the mobile channel?

– Granularity versus scholarly tradition– Re-use and machine readability

Mobile at Northumbria

Increasing range of services and channels geared to mobile across University, e.g. campusM, SafeZone

Responsive and mobile-friendly library platform (Springshare)

Digital – connectivity, e.g. NFC and ebooks – where a moment of truth converges with a point of need

Potential of mobile digital wallet for cashless payment

Digital Literacy is a driver – encouraging and supporting students rather than just responding to perceived need

On-campus experience still part of core offer

Customer insight and focus

How do we really know what students and Faculty really want?– Trends and market data– Feedback and engagement at institution and national level– Observing behaviour and analysing activity

Relationship between Millennials and mobile technology appears clear-cut

How does perception compare with reality?– Is ownership equivalent to usage? Do students want a single channel of access, i.e. mobile?

Most frequent student feedback – space then content. Behaviour – students currently:

– Use multiple devices, screens, and print simultaneously. And use their mobiles to photograph the evidence!– Use mobiles to access online services but mostly use desktops – according to analytics. Separating

business v. pleasure?– Use and share big screens when working in groups, either for social or collaborative learning.– Want more space for reading. Immersive reading of print as well as digital sampling.

Understand direction of travel but also nuance. Necessity v. preference?

Print and e book usage at Northumbria

Identity and access

Libraries downstream in ESA and IAM Can’t designate status and attributes Internal challenge to create appropriate governance, policy, and

infrastructure Are we aware of all our affiliates?

International standards but no standard implementation? Complex and hybrid environment for SSO (see NISO ESPReSSO) Shibboleth rarely fully exploited – too late? Still chicken and egg

between SP and IdP? Rapidly evolving commercial and personal systems – ‘BYOI’ Value of learning analytics versus user experience versus privacy

concerns Mobile exacerbates these issues

Final thoughts #1

Need to be strategic. Change will happen. Continue national conversation, e.g. via JISC’s manifesto for mobile.

Mobile is ‘as well as’ not ‘instead of’ – yet.

When you think mobile, also think digital. This means digital literacy as well as connectivity.

Design with and in response to students. What they tell us, and how they are behaving. Not just market trends and technocratic solutionism or fads. Academic libraries should support institution’s pedagogic strategy.

Final thoughts #2

Could – should – content delivery become unified?

Are licences that allow content delivery via third party apps for mobile possible across the board? Do we need to find new approaches on usage data to enable this? Recent experience with PDA suggests it will be a bumpy road ahead.

Licences will continue to be key but copyright law will continue to develop in response to digital.

We need to factor mobile into content we licence directly or through advocacy, e.g. Open Access, Library as publisher, not just content we consume.

To go mobile and solve long-running challenges we will need new approaches to identify management and authentication.

Thanks for listening…