The document discusses the British Library Document Supply service and its plans for the future. It notes that the traditional document supply model is declining as the proportion of public good/higher education customers increases. The library plans to introduce a new strategic direction with three pillars: the British Library brand focused on trust and compliance; new technology to improve speed, quality and value; and a revised business model with differential pricing. The goals are to provide a more user-friendly hybrid service leveraging both physical and digital collections while maintaining standards of quality, speed and value. Benefits for customers include more electronic content and a more streamlined ordering process.
British Library Document Supply Service Adapts for the Digital Age
1. British Library Document Supply
..“a changing service for a changing landscape”
Samantha Tillett – Head of Business Development
2. www.bl.uk 2
British Library Document Supply
..“a changing service for a changing landscape”
• BL Document Supply – purpose?
• Our track record ..
• What does the future hold? What do customers want?
• New strategic direction – 3 pillars
• Benefits
• Higher Education Scanning Service
• Questions
4. www.bl.uk 4
Helping people
advance knowledge
to enrich lives
National library of the UK.
Serves researchers, business,
libraries, education & the
general public
Collection includes over 2m
sound recordings, 5m reports,
theses and conference
papers, the world’s largest
patents collection
One of the largest document
supply services in the world.
Secure e-delivery and ‘just in
time’ digitisation enables
desktop delivery within 2hrs
Over 250 years of collecting.
Beneficiary of legal deposit,
and £14m annual acquisitions
budget 150 million collection
items
Generates value to the UK
economy each year of 5.0 times
public funding
Collection fills over 625km of
shelving and grows at 12km
per year Terabytes of digital
material through voluntary
deposit
The British Library - The World’s Knowledge
5. www.bl.uk 5
“We exist for everyone who wants to do research for
academic, personal or commercial purposes”
7. www.bl.uk 7
The Future? Traditional document supply model declining and
Public Good (HE) proportion increasing
Document Supply Demand Proportion from Public Good
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2007 2009 2012
PublicGood Commercial Other Non-UK
8. www.bl.uk 8
The Future? Library of last resort for the hard to find or ….
reinvent a new identity that leverages USPs and caters for a need.
Source - Ithaka S+R | Jisc | RLUK UK Survey of Academics 2012
“When you want a monograph or journal article that you do not have immediate access to through your college or university library’s
physical or digital collections, how often do you use each of the following methods to seek access to that material–often, occasionally,
rarely, or never?” Percent responding that they use the following methods “often” or “occasionally.”
Document Supply Services and ILL still an
important access route
BL Document Supply can be a convenient extension
of the university library - see technology later
9. www.bl.uk 9
New Direction – a fundamental review undertaken in order to
reassess the strategic direction and redefine the business model
BL Brand
(trust &
compliance)
Technology
Business Model
BL Brand
(trust & compliance)
Continuous Improvement
10. www.bl.uk 10
BLDSS Brand – epitomises trust, reliability and compliance, but
also …
Perception - traditional service, not easy to use but good access to long tail
Factor Previous Future
Compliance 100% - no compromise 100% - no compromise
Breadth of
content
Extensive collection
30% digital, 70% scanned print
Extensive collection
50 / 50 with increasing digital
Reality – Hybrid service, easy to use with extensive collection
Critical Success Factors?
Quality* All B/W scanned print Born digital, colour scanned print or
black and white as appropriate
Speed* 5 working days - standard Immediate download for born digital
Value for
money **
Single pricing, B/W images,
longer delivery times
Improved speed and quality with a
lower price for “e”
* See Technology slides later
** See Business Model – next slide
+
11. www.bl.uk 11
Business Model- introduce differential pricing from 1st
Aug 2013,
expand available electronic and work closely with customers
New Pricing Model:-
•Differential pricing from 1st
Aug 2013
(electronic different to scanned print)
•Expand corpus of available electronic content
•Populate search engines, library systems with
BL (article level) catalogue.
•Customer Account option – as now, but with
mediation
•Pay as You Go option
12. www.bl.uk 12
Technology - you want Information!
We’ve got Information! How do we join up?
33m physical items
(digitise)
11m electronic items
(immediate)
Researcher
API
Search
Match
Availability
Price
Order
Track
3rd
party websites
13. www.bl.uk 13
Benefits – in terms of the new service proposition, what are the
benefits in terms of Public Good users and also for the British Library
Customer BL
Up front transparent pricing –
informed choices
Reliable and sustainable
Real time availability and
delivery options
Increased efficiencies - More
streamlined workflows
API allows embedding BLDSS
system into work flow
Platform to build on future
products and services
Order tracking and a faster
service
Standard e commerce practices
More electronic = quality +
speed + value for money
Caters for a need
14. www.bl.uk 14
Higher Education Scanning Service (HESS)
Course Packs and Reading Lists
– The student population has grown by around half a million in 10 years
– Course Packs and Reading Lists are on the increase
•Changes to HESS
– CLA API
– Single Licence from the CLA
•What service could/should the BL offer?
– High Quality scanning?
– OCR for DDA compliance?
– Partnering with Course Pack providers
– Outsource for all scanning?
– Capacity management for busy times?
15. www.bl.uk 15
Next Steps – where should the service be looking to plan in the
near future?
• More (and more) electronic content
• Integration of other services
• Embed the service in workflows/LMS
• Partnerships – e.g. with Talis
• Suggestions – all welcome!