ReadersFirst: A Movement to Improve eBook Access for Public Library Users Jim Loter, Director of Information Technology, Seattle Public Library

1. A movement to improve e-book access & services for public library users
Presented by Jim Loter, The
Seattle Public Library
NISO Virtual Conference
Can't We All Work Together?:
Interoperability & Systems
Integration
November 19, 2014
ReadersFirst

2. 292
Library Systems
199
Million Readers

3. eBook Challenges
Libraries face challenges
with e-book content:
affordability and
understanding and
tracking various
licensing models
Libraries face a
challenge of
discoverability and
access from eBook
platforms that are
fragmented and/or
hard-to-use

4. Present Focus of ReadersFirst
discoverability
and access

5. Libraries have a
responsibility to ensure that
users have the same open,
easy, and free access to e-books
as print books.
Products currently offered by
e-content distributors create a
fragmented, disjointed,
and cumbersome user
experience.

6. ReadersFirst Principles
Discover
content in a single
comprehensive
catalog
Interact with
the library within the
library’s own context
Read e-books
that are
compatible with all
readers
Access a
variety of e-content
from multiple
sources

7. The Story So Far
Early 2012
BiblioCommons
moves to
integrate
OverDrive; faces
challenges
and shared with
vendors
Early 2012
Bibliocommons
moves to
integrate e-
Books; faces
challenges
June 2012
ReadersFirst
launched at
BookExpo
America
September
2012
First General
Membership
Meeting
November 2012
Functional
requirements
drafted and
shared with
vendors
January 2013
ReadersFirst
hosts a vendor
roundtable at
ALA Midwinter
Meeting
January 2014
ReadersFirst
launches its
Guide to Library
E-book Vendors

8. The Guide

9. What?
•Create an objective rating system for
library e-book platforms and distribution
systems
•Share a vision for a seamless e-book
experience for our readers
•Identify areas for improvement in library
e-book systems

10. Why?
Libraries:
purchasing
new e-book
systems
Libraries:
evaluating
existing
systems
Libraries:
creating
platforms and
discovery
layers
Vendors: designing
and prioritizing
developments for
existing and new e-book
platforms and
distribution
systems.
Libraries:
presenting a
collective voice
on shared
experiences and
shared visions

11. How?
1. ReadersFirst Working Group members set
up a list of possible technical
requirements for library e-book systems
2. Working Group members voted on
prioritizing these technical requirements
3. Created a vendor product survey from the
prioritized technical requirements

12. How?
4. Distributed the survey to library e-book
vendors.
5. Held follow-up conference calls with vendor
representatives.
6. Content subgroup wrote up assessments
based on the completed surveys (an other
accompanying text).
7. Draft was submitted to both a professional
editor and a professional proofreader

13. Content Access Requirements
General
Terms and
Conditions
Item
Metadata
E-Content
Format Administrative
Reporting
and Support
Patron
Account
Information
Circulation
Transactions
Patron
Notifications

14. Item Metadata
…rates how well readers can search for and identify items.

15. User Stories

16. Vendor Matrix

17. Some Next Steps for the Guide
Expand
Sustain
2nd
Edition
Winter
2015
Listen
and
adapt

18. Some Next Steps for ReadersFirst
Product Guide
resource for libraries
to help evaluate RF
progress and
compliance
Dialog continued
communication with
vendors and libraries –
particularly about API
standards
Create API
standards for
the public library
e-book market
Advocacy
all of you can play
a role in your
libraries and in
your dealings with
vendors

19. ReadersFirst is advocating
for vendors to unbundle
functions and provide
methods (API’s) to
integrate them into the
environments our patrons
already know and
associate with our
libraries.

20. APIs
Application
Programming
Interface
An application programming
interface is a set of rules or
protocols that can be used by
software components to
communicate with each other.

21. Open Architecture
Provider
develops API’s (or
other methods) to
expose content
and lending
functionality
Consumer
uses API’s to
integrate and
display content
and borrowing
functionality
OverDrive
3M
Baker & Taylor
LibraryIdeas
Recorded Books
Ingram
SirsiDynix
BiblioCommons
Innovative
Polaris
CARL
Evergreen
Boopsie
ANY APP!!!
API’s

22. Proposed Next Steps for API Standards
With NISO, form a
committee composed
of various vendors (e-
Book distributors, ILS
systems, and discovery
layers) and public
library representatives
to work on and agree
to these standards
Partner with the
National Information
Standards
Organization (NISO) to
create and sustain
these standards

23. Standards Needed
• eBook / eContent objects
• Library holdings
• Availability of items
• Lending terms/rules
• Transactions (Reserve, Suspend,
Borrow, Return, Renew, Expire,
Block)

24. Challenges
• Highly distributed volunteer
leadership
• Communications and logistics
• Resources for project management
• Sustaining positive vendor
relationships

25. readersfirst.org