2014 Charleston Conference Friday, Nov 7, 11:30 AM

1. Evidence-based Selection:
A Case Study
Julia Gelfand, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Susan Sanders, Taylor & Francis
Charleston Conference, 7 November 2014
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2. Librarian’s Perspective
Julia Gelfand, UCI
(jgelfand@uci.edu)
• Background – The University of California had a full archive of CRC
eBooks from 2002-2012 with perpetual access
• Campuses reviewed priorities
• In 2013, selected 6 CRCnetBASES for Tier 2 access (5+ campuses
participating)
• In 2014, explored options for “demand driven acquisitions” (DDA)
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3. More history…Acquiring engineering books
from CRC Press
• Largest collection of titles from CRC Press: CRCnetBASE’s (eBook
platform) ENGnetBASE – 2310+ titles from 1999 in database
• UC has 6 active & growing Schools of Engineering
• Became test for DDA in 2013
ENGnetBASE
CivilENGINEERINGnetBASE ElectricalENGINEERINGnetBASE
GeneralENGINEERINGnetBASE IndustrialENGINEERINGnetBASE
MechanicalENGINEERINGnetBASE MiningENGINEERINGnetBASE
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4. Advantages
• Administered by California Digital Library (CDL) unit of University of California
• Added all new titles as released
• Standard DDA procedures introduced – but no final decisions based on number of uses;
title acquired for system-wide access by campuses’ review
• Process engaged multiple colleagues & campuses in collection strategy
• Did not force the same model for all CRCnetBASEs
• Received MARC records to load in local catalogs through the UC shared cataloging program
• Publisher knew what the minimum payout would be; CDL could budget accordingly
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5. Decision-making process
• Wanted to utilize the CRCnetBASE platform instead of via aggregator
• Only wanted DRM free content
• Wanted to make sure that users could search/find related yet relevant
content
• Wanted to share costs or distribute through the consortia members; keep
unit costs reasonable
• Reaffirms what DDA means – buy what we need at time of need
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7. Procedures in play
• Defined goals with CRC Press
• Worked closely with book vendor (YBP) & revised approval plan profiles –
YBP receives content about netBASE placement from CRC
• Concurrent users across campuses
• Shared centralized cataloging distributed
• If needed, print copies can be added
• Year-end statistical analysis conducted by CDL
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10. Year-End Analysis
• Payment was made 2x/year to publisher determined by minimum spend
• Titles added in last quarter rolled over – thus 16 month review
• Factor analysis was 2.5x cost of title in print
• Member libraries reviewed usage as provided by CRC
• Usage did not always determine acquisition, but usually was a strong indicator
• Statistical analysis also included anticipating value of content with no or low use
• First year conclusion was about 7% more than projected
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11. Lessons Learned Thus Far
• Can add as many titles as needed
• Entire consortium benefits from shared purchases & individual campus use
• Particularly beneficial for release of large number of titles
• Usage data very helpful
• Still have to promote content in various ways
• Experience can be scaled for analogous content
• Have total flexibility
• Makes financial sense – offers consortia full access
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12. If we could do anything differently, what?
• Have full cataloging records
• Not have to conduct multiple reviews
• Reduce publishing cycle for year-end
• Better anticipate what ratio of title list will be added
• Apply this model to other sister imprints of T&F & other eBook offers
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13. Publisher Perspective

14. An Evidence-Based Selection Model (EBS)
• Standard aspects:
• Publisher to provide MARCS, usage stats
• Agreed-upon spend (no up-front deposit required in this case)
• Access to content in a specific subject area
• One calendar year term
• Unique complications:
• Shared ownership of purchased titles among all system member schools
• Specific publication year only (as prior content was already owned by the system)

15. Things that helped
• Existing customers
• Users already used to having access to and using our content in this area
• Less need to publicize to end users to promote discoverability, usage

16. Details, details…
• How do we handle the need for a joint/parent account as well as
individual school stats?
• Is there any easy way to differentiate between usage of just these
titles and the older titles already owned in this area?
• How are we making sure that they get new MARCs in a timely
fashion?

17. Clear Communication
• Do support staff fully understand the details
of the agreement?
• Does everyone know specifically what their
responsibilities are?
• Does our billing department understand
how/when we will be invoicing purchases?
• Do we all understand how we define
publication year?
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18. Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)
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19. Recognize when you need to change direction
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20. Adjustments
• Realized need to extend access period, in
particular to allow 4th quarter publications
time to be discovered and used
• Extended amount of time content was
accessible
• Split into 2 orders: half by mid-December,
remainder my mid-June of following year.
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21. Takeaways
• One size does not fit all; there are benefits to a mixed-bag
approach to collection development
• Continue to offer, and be open to, various means of
purchase/access
• EBP puts ever more importance on discoverability and usage
statistics
• Listen to your customers; work together
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22. What’s Ahead?
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23. Susan Sanders
Account Manager – Western Region, eBooks and Digital Content
(646) 379-4673
susan.sanders@taylorandfrancis.com