This session will provide a basic overview of the state of the art of ebook collection development and acquisition strategies as they pertain to individual libraries and shared collections. It will also solicit a list of ebook-related challenges from the audience, and suggest initial steps for a roadmap that could be followed to support future cooperative development of individual library and cooperative ebook strategies.

1. Toward Ebook Strategy
Development for ATLA
Member libraries
Jason Price, PhD, MLS
jason@scelc.org
Director of Licensing Operations
SCELC Library Consortium
ATLA Annual Conference June 2017 Atlanta, GA

2. Think/Pair/Share - What is your
biggest ebook related challenge?
 Getting people to use them
 SPecific content needs
 DRM – simultaneous users – Cost
 Books being pulled out of DDA programs
 Terrible marc records
 Language materials
 Developing a multiyear purchase plan / afoordability
 Administative support for E (and P!)
 Which format best dependig on the title
 Offer with a minimum group participation that you don’t reach

3. [Aspirational] Conversation Outline
 State of the art
 Ebook Collection Development & Acquisition Strategies
 For individual libraries
 For shared collections
 Cooperative Development Roadmap Foundation
Easy… Right?
The good news

4. Opinions/Biases that frame my perspective
 Ranganathan’s (1931) 5 Laws still apply
 (e)BOOKS ARE FOR USE
 (e)BOOKS ARE FOR ALL (p 74)
 EVERY (e)BOOK ITS READER
 SAVE THE TIME OF THE (eBook) READER
 A LIBRARY IS A GROWING ORGANISM
 ”…takes in new matter, casts off old matter, changes in size and takes new
shapes and forms…” (p 382)
 Libraries should minimize staff time spent on collections & access
 Practical limitations of print books DO NOT or SHOULD NOT apply
 Ebooks have plenty of practical limitations of their own!
 My work involves negotiating deep discounts on ebook collections
 I work with general academic libraries many of which already spend more
on ebooks than on print books

5. Rubric of 5 Ebook Acquisition Evaluation
Criteria
 Discount
 Rights
 Longevity
 Granularity
 Ease
 FMI:
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/library_staff/37
 Price, J. and Savova, M. (2015). DDA in Context: Defining
a Comprehensive Ebook Acquisition Strategy in an Access
Driven World. Against the Grain, 27(5), 20-22

6. 5 Ebook Acquisition Mode Options
Title-
by-Title
Demand-driven
Acquisition (DDA)
Evidence-based
Acquisition (EBA)
Package Purchase
Package Subscription

7. Package Subscriptions
e.g. ACLS Humanities Ebook
Rights! Longevity
Granularity Ease
Discount!

8. Package Purchases
e.g. Oxford Scholarship Online Religion
Rights Longevity
Granularity Ease
Discount

9. Evidence Based Acquisition
e.g. Project Muse Pilot / JSTOR
Rights Longevity
Granularity Ease
Discount

10. Demand Driven Acquisition
e.g. on Major Aggregator Platforms
Rights Longevity
Granularity Ease
Discount

11. Title-by-Title selection
e.g. on Major Aggregator Platforms
LongevityRights
Granularity Ease
Discount

13. Cooperative Collection Development Contexts
Cooperative
All-in
Cooperative
Opt-in
Cooperative
Local
•e.g Shared purchase
individually funded per
collection (e.g. Brill or
DeGruyter)
•e.g. Shared purchase
everybody gets (and
funds) everything
(e.g. TLELP)
•e.g. with faculty or
students

14. What foundations are needed for
cooperative collection development?
 Greater Understanding of Ebook Acquisition Options
 Shared Content Goals
Identification and Agreement on which content is most
desirable?
 Modern Mechanisms for Content Discovery, Delivery, & Use
 Shared Benefit & Funding
 Others?

15. Your thoughts: What are some potential next
steps toward ATLA library Ebook Strategy
Development?