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To Buy or Not to Buy: That Is the To Buy or Not to Buy: That Is the Question – E-Book Acquisition at Question – E-Book Acquisition at the University of Macau Librarythe University of Macau Library

Paul W.T. Poon, Ph.D. Paul W.T. Poon, Ph.D. University LibrarianUniversity LibrarianUniversity of MacauUniversity of Macau

June 2008June 2008E-Book Conference HK

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ContentsContents

• Emergence of E-Books

• To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books

• UM’s Unique Situation

• UM’s E-Book Collection Development and Management Policy and Practices

• Concluding Remarks

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Emergence of E-BooksEmergence of E-Books

• E-Databases (Libraries started to use during 1970s)

• E-Journals (Libraries started to use during early and mid-1990s)

• E-Books Libraries began to collect end of 20th century and

beginning of 21st century Became a permanent feature in the last 3 – 5

years

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Emergence of E-Books (II)Emergence of E-Books (II)

A TCR (The Charleston Report) survey of 64 librarians from primarily academic libraries in USA at the end of 2007 (TCR – November/December 2007, Vol. 12/No. 3)All except one planned to increase the holding of

E-Books37 of the 64 librarians noticed an increased usage

of E-Books

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Therefore, to Buy or Not to Buy?

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To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Booksfor E-Books

• Increasing demand on library materialsA bigger and more demanding users A bigger and more demanding users

groupgroupInter-disciplinary coursesInter-disciplinary courses

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A Bigger and More Demanding A Bigger and More Demanding Users GroupUsers Group

Increasing number of faculty members (about 400 in year 2007)

Increasing number of students (about 6,400 in 2007)

Ten-Year Development Plan (2007/8 to 2016/7)Student number to rise from 6,400 to 10,000; 70%

to 80% Ug, and the remaining Pg (one-third should be MPhil or PhD students)

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A Bigger and More Demanding A Bigger and More Demanding Users Group (II)Users Group (II)

Within 5 years, 70% of faculty members should have a PhD (or equivalent) with a 30% senior staff ratio

Promote research culture Earmark 10% of recurrent expenditure to r

esearch

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A Bigger and More Demanding A Bigger and More Demanding Users Group (III)Users Group (III)

Provide a variety of continuing education programmes

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Inter-Disciplinary CoursesInter-Disciplinary Courses

• Offer a wide range of programmes, particularly niche courses e.g., Macau Studies, Gaming Management

• Whole Person Education and co-curricular programmes

THEREFORE, greater demand on THEREFORE, greater demand on popular titlespopular titles

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E-Books Can Help!!E-Books Can Help!!

Multi-User Accessibility

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To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books (II)for E-Books (II)

• Users have used e-Databases/e-Journals and found it convenient. They come to expect the same with books

• Today’s students are: Digital nativesMillennials/Generation Y

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Available on the web

Wired and hyper-linked

E-Books Can Help!!E-Books Can Help!!

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To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books (III)for E-Books (III)

• About 280,000 volumes, but running out of shelving space shortly

THEREFORE, THEREFORE,

E-Books can help!E-Books can help!

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UM’s E-Book Collection UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and PracticesDevelopment Policy and Practices

• Started to buy e-Books from Ebrary in 2006

• At present, e-Book collection –English titles: Around 35,000 titlesChinese titles: Around 7,000 titles (Apabi)

• Based on unique background and situation, different libraries have different collection development policy

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UM’s Unique SituationUM’s Unique Situation

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UM’s Unique SituationUM’s Unique Situation

• Five Faculties:– Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)– Faculty of Education (FED)– Faculty of Law (FLL)– Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH)– Faculty of Science and Technology (FST)

• No of teaching staff:

• No of students:

about 400

about 6,400

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UM Library Resources (as of 31-12-2007)

ItemsItems QuantityQuantity

CollectionCollection(All printed and a/v materials)(All printed and a/v materials)

Around 286,352Around 286,352

Print journals (Incl. ceased titles)Print journals (Incl. ceased titles) Around 4,000Around 4,000

Databases (IEEE, EBSCOhost, Databases (IEEE, EBSCOhost, …)…)

Around 87Around 87

Full-text E-journalsFull-text E-journals Around Around 30,00030,000 titles titles

NewspapersNewspapers Around 70 titlesAround 70 titles

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UM’s E-Book Collection UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and PracticesDevelopment Policy and Practices

• Different Faculties have different treatmentFBA & FST: Use English as teaching medium;

therefore, English e-Books are acquiredFSH & FED: Use both English & Chinese;

therefore, Chinese books are needed. But too few up-to-date Chinese e-Books are published. Have to acquire print copies

FLL: Use Portuguese in some courses. Not too many Portuguese e-Books.

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UM’s E-Book Collection Development UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices Policy and Practices

(II)(II)

• Selection Policy E-Versions Vs Print Versions

Print copies are preferred by users because Easier reading More convenient printing-out

E-Copies are preferred by library staff because they are easier to handle

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UM’s E-Book Collection Development UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices Policy and Practices

(III)(III)

• In the case of journals, E-Versions are preferred becauseJournal articles are shorterPrinting out is easy

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UM’s E-Book Collection Development UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices Policy and Practices

(IV)(IV)

• E-Reference: Usage not highFor quick information -- Google or

WikipediaReaders education is important

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• Library CollaborationUM is the only public-funded university in Macau

and comparatively well-resourcedOther public or private academic institutions are

not well-funded / Subjects taught not compatibleDifficult to establish co-operation schemeLook for co-operation with libraries in Hong Kong

UM’s E-Book Collection Development UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices Policy and Practices

(V)(V)

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Forum on “Library Collaboration in the Forum on “Library Collaboration in the Web 2.0 Age -- an International and Web 2.0 Age -- an International and

Regional Perspective”Regional Perspective”「「 Web 2.0 Web 2.0 時代的圖書館互聯 ─時代的圖書館互聯 ─

從國際及地區視野探討」論壇從國際及地區視野探討」論壇

Co-organized by UM Library and JULACCo-organized by UM Library and JULAC

5 September 2008University of Macau Library

ALL ARE WELCOME!

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Keynote speakers: Dr. Rush Miller (University of Pittsburgh Library, USA)Ms. Sherri Schmidt (Arizona State University Library, USA)Mr. Michael Robinson (Hong Kong Institute of Education Library)Dr. Paul W.T. Poon (University of Macau Library)

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Library Forum on 5 September 2008Library Forum on 5 September 2008University of Macau LibraryUniversity of Macau Library

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Concluding RemarksConcluding Remarks

• UM Library will increasingly acquire more e-UM Library will increasingly acquire more e-booksbooks

• A survey will be conducted to gauge the level A survey will be conducted to gauge the level of usage of e-Booksof usage of e-Books

• It is hoped that the technical set-up and format It is hoped that the technical set-up and format of e-Books will improveof e-Books will improve

• More publicity, marketing and users education More publicity, marketing and users education of e-Books are neededof e-Books are needed

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Thank you!Thank you!