Presented at LLAGNY Going Digital: The Challenges of eBooks in Law Libraries Program January 24, 2013
Given at the DLIS St. John's Symposium, March 24, 2012.
1. Evaluating
E-Book Offerings
Ellyssa Kroski
Manager of Information Systems
The New York Law Institute
http://www.nyli.org
2. Why e-Books?
Amazon now sells more Kindle titles than
print books
29% of Americans own a digital reading
device of some kind (eReader or tablet)
According to Forrester, 15 million e-readers
sold in U.S. in 2011
By 2015, Americans are predicted to spend $3
billion on eBooks
Over 40 million iPads sold in 2011
24. Major e-Book Aggregators
• Overdrive
– 1 million digital titles, 1,000 publishers, used by 18,000
libraries, schools, and colleges worldwide
– LexisNexis Digital Library of 1,200 primary law, deskbooks,
code books, treatises and other titles.
• EBL – Ebook Library (Acquired by Proquest on Jan 22, 2013)
– 300,000 e-books, 500 publishers8,650 law-related titles
• eBooks on EBSCOhost (formerly NetLibrary)
– 350,000 e-books, 8,000+ law-related titles
• MyiLibrary
– 300,000 e-books, 1,000 publishers, 8,000 law-related titles
• Proquest ebrary
– 70,000 e-books, 6,000 law-related titles
25. Major Publishers
• LexisNexis Digital Library
– 1,200 primary law, deskbooks, code books, treatises
and other titles.
• Thomson Reuters ProView
– 431 law-related titles which link to WestlawNext
• PLI Discover Plus
– 1,600 treatises, course handbooks, and answer books.
Access to transcripts of PLI seminars and
downloadable legal forms.
• Wolters Kluwer International eBook Store
ˉ 100 titles in the areas of law and business.
• Fastcase eBook Advance Sheets
– Currently 50+ with plans for hundreds. All FREE!
26. Major Wholesalers
• Yankee Book Peddler
– 600,000 eBooks from Proquest ebrary, EBL,
eBooks on EBSCOHOST , Gale, and a host of
publisher-direct titles.
• Baker and Taylor
– eBooks from Proquest ebrary, eBooks on
EBSCOHOST, and Gale, as well as many individual
publishers.
28. Technical Requirements
• Browser compatibility
• Plugins or software required?
• Device compatibility?
• Are you using or plan to use EPUB?
• Data metrics available?
29. Content
• Scope
• Number of titles
• Number of publishers
• MARC records?
• Embargo period?
30. Functionality
• Can User copy/paste?
• Can User print? (is there a limit?)
• Full-text search of books?
• Download for offline reading?
• Annotations?
31. Sales Model
• Platform fee? (Annual, one-time, etc.)
• Single or multiple or unlimited use?
• Title cost relative to print cost?
• Perpetual access?
• Subscription available?
• Free viewing period?
• Short term loans?
• Patron-driven acquisitions?
• Minimum commitment?
• Pricing discounts for consortia?
33. Purchasing Direct from Publishers
• Cleveland Law Library Association - LexisNexis
• Cooley LLP – Matthew Bender titles through
Lexis contract
• Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP - PLI
Discover Plus
• Con Edison Law Department Library - PLI
Discover Plus
34. Highlighting Existing Collections
• The New England Law Library - HeinOnline
Legal Classics Library, LLMC’s digital books,
and Oxford Scholarship Online
• The University of Oklahoma Law Library - Gale
Making of Modern Law Collection, Hein
Online’s Legal Classics, LLMC’s digital books,
the main University’s subscription to
Proquest’s ebrary.
35. Purchasing eBook Collections
Through Aggregators
• The Florida State Law Research Center (FSU) &
The Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center at
the University of Florida - joint eBooks
program powered by MyiLibrary.
• Hofstra Law Library - eBooks on EBSCOhost
• Ava Maria School of Law - eBooks on
EBSCOhost
• CUNY Law School Library - Proquest ebrary
• The New York Law Institute – EBL – Ebook
Library
36. Accessing eBooks through
Membership Libraries
• Debevoise & Plimpton – The New York Law
Institute (EBL – Ebook Library)
• All NYLI Members - The New York Law
Institute (EBL – Ebook Library)
• CLLA Members - Cleveland Law Library
Association (LexisNexis titles on laptops)
37. Combining eBook Strategies
• Squire Law Library at the University of
Cambridge - eBooks on EBSCOhost & MyiLibrary
aggregators and Oxford Scholarship Online,
Cambridge Companions Online, and Westlaw
Commentary.
• Peter Rodino Law Library at Seton Hall -
highlighting collections from Gale’s Virtual
Reference Library, subscribing to eBooks on
EBSCOhost and MyiLibrary.
• The University of Chicago D’Angelo Law Library -
Yankee Book Peddler for eBooks on EBSCOhost,
Proquest ebrary, and Cambridge Books Online.
38. Combining eBook Strategies
• The Lincoln Memorial University Duncan
School of Law - EBL – Ebook Library, eBooks
on EBSCOhost, Proquest ebrary, MyiLibrary
and key publishers LexisNexis and
Cambridge Books Online.
• Also Vermont Law School and the Lillian
Goldman Law Library at Yale University
combining eBook strategies.
39. Creating Their Own
• Massachusetts Trial Court Lowell Law
Library - Massachusetts Court Rules and
Documents (downloaded 4,500x in first year)
– http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/source/mass/rules
/ebooks.html
40. Further Resources
• The No Shelf Required Guide to E-book
Purchasing. Sue Polanka. Library Technology
Reports. http://tinyurl.com/6o6qweg
• JISC E-book Platform Comparison Tool:
http://tinyurl.com/7ankb7e
• Wellesley College e-Book Vendor Evaluation
Matrix: http://tinyurl.com/6om7plj
41. Access this Presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/ellyssa
ELLYSSA KROSKI
http://www.ellyssakroski.com
http://www.ellyssakroski@yahoo.com