The E-book Puzzle

Ksenija Mincic-ObradovicThe University of Auckland Library

SLIS North, 17 August 2011

E-books

users

technology

publishers / vendors

libraries

What is ane-book?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

A monograph available in electronic form

• PC screen, PDA, stand alone reading device, tablet, mobile phone …

• Available via link, or downloaded• PDF, EPUB, AZW (Kindle), TEI,

text, XML…

2011 Aptara e-book publishers survey

Available from http://www.aptaracorp.com/resources/

2011 Aptara e-book publishers survey

Available from http://www.aptaracorp.com/resources/

Cons Pros

Additional features

Full text searches

24/7

Gap between functionality and usability

Need a designated

reader

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Between Publishers and Library Needs

http://assets.bizjournals.com/cms_media/images/ebookuniversel.png?site=techflash.com

Various vendor business models and acquisition methods

• Collections offered by vendors/publishers via various platforms:– subscription (e.g. ebrary) – ~80%– single purchase (e.g. netLibrary)– combination of these two (e.g. Safari)– patron driven acquisition (e.g. EBL)

• Individual books from publishers• Free e-monographs (e.g. Law Commission

publications, Project Gutenberg)

Permanent access

• Persistent URLs (particularly big problem with free e-books)

• Preservation (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS)

Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe

Controlled LOCKSS

MARC records

• Not all vendors and publishers provide MARC records

• Libraries have MARC records for 72.5% of their e-books (Library use of ebooks, 2011 edition)

• MARC updates are not timely• Quality of MARC records varies significantly

Importance of library catalogues

AU SpringerLink usage and MARC records:

• 2007 – Springer • 2008 – Improved Springer• 2009 – OCLC

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

2010200920082007

Year Titles Section requests Titles with usage

2007 34532 11834 2564

2008 34532 51375 6315

2009 37037 75011 8842

2010 43525 82336 9884

… and, a few more issues …

• Communication– Vendors, publishers do not advise on ceased or

superseded titles– No communication between publishers of free books

and libraries– Some publishers do not see libraries as customers at

all• Statistics of usage are provided only by some

vendors/publishers, and in various ways

Statistics of Usage

How can we find out if e-books are worth it?

• User surveys• Statistical data gathered locally from library

systems• Statistical data provided by vendors and

publishers

When are e-books used?

January

February

March

April

May

June Ju

ly

August

September

October

November

December

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

netLibrary accesses

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June Ju

ly

August

Sept Oc

tNov

Dec

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

ebrary usage sessions

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

AU netLibrary and ebrary usage since first purchased

Are e-books used for reference or for reading?

AU Safari statistics of usage, 2004-2010

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Sessions 934 1690 1,531 2,497 2,105 2,224 1,233

SectionsViewed

6,581 12,046 9,922 13,660 12,790 20,262 21,644

Session Length (minutes)

6:37 8:35 6:50 4:09 4:19 7:23 12:14

2010Pages Viewed

Pages Copied

Pages Printed

Unique Documents

User Sessions

January 24,862 313 2,895 949 341

February 23,191 369 2,334 1,068 399

March 100,230 1,393 8,638 2,871 1,799

April 89,035 1,728 12,007 2,793 1,289

May 151,320 2,422 12,697 3,626 1,756

June 57,946 636 6,783 1,555 581

July 34,631 584 6,222 1,466 504

August 96,355 1,430 11,008 3,086 1,627

September 94,793 1,490 10,540 17,037 1,395

October 81,473 1,289 8,702 2,423 1,115

November 27,456 288 5,913 1,157 417

December 18,850 221 2,265 896 186

Print or e?

AU ebrary site activity for 2010

Most popular print/e-books at AU in Feb 2011

Title E-book sessions (Feb 2011)

Print Charges (total usage)

Collection

Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods (2007)

238 14 + 33 Safari

How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice (1999)

87 0 Ebrary

Pharmacotherapy: a Pathophysiologic Approach, 7th ed. (2008)

73 11 + 12 +13 NetLibrary

International Handbook of Higher Education (2006)

70 (sections) 1 + 1 SpringerLink

NetLibrary most popular titles at AUTitle Print Charges E-book accesses

Organizational Behaviour : A Critical Introduction (1999)

43 1,409

Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility : Why Giants Fall (2003)

32 1,360

Food chemistry (1996) 288 + 94 + 579 + 291 (= 1,252)

1,346

Reframing Organizations : Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (2003)

41 + 37 + 75 + 0 + 33 (=186)

1,317

Handbook of Applied Linguistics (2004)

40 + 42 + 15 + 18 (= 115)

1,310

Opportunities

for Libraries

Libraries as publishers

• Make available unique material• Digitisation as preservation• Early New Zealand Books, project done at the

University of Auckland Library http://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz

Offering new experience to librarians and library users

• Full text searches – librarians can search collections more comprehensively and mine considerably more information than ever before

• Customizability of text size and the ability to convert text to audio - for visually impaired

• Hyperlinks – fast access to referenced material• Users can use library collections when and

where they need

PDA use by Healthcare Professionals in the USA

Terena Solomons, Beam me up! Supporting PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) in medical libraries – new technology or just another format? http://www.vala.org.au/vala2004/2004pdfs/57Solom.PDF

• All doctors have PDAs with necessary literature• Libraries are responsible for collection

development and management, loading PDAs, training, developing web pages.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Working_Together_Teamwork_Puzzle_Concept.jpg

publishers / vendors

technology

libraries

users

Thank you

k.obradovic@auckland.ac.nz