The Secret Art of Patron-Driven eBook Acquisition

A Snapshot of Cost and Control

Dana Longley

SUNY Empire State College

PDA?• Model: just-in-time, not just-in-case• Print collections: 80/6 rule*• Coll dev: emerging fields**

*OhioLINK Collection Building Task Force. 2011. OhioLINK-OCLC Collection and Circulation Analysis Project 2011.**Fischer, et. al. (2012). Give 'Em What They Want: A One-Year Study of Unmediated Patron-Driven Acquisition of e-Books. College & Research Libraries, 73(5), 469-492.

Abbreviations

• ESC: Empire State College• PDA: patron-driven acquisitions• DDA: demand-driven acquisitions (same thing)

• STL: short-term loan• YPB: Yankee Book Publisher

Ebrary Definitions

Short term loan: 1 or 7 day trigger by user

Purchase multiplier: cost of STL based on publisher-controlled % of cost of title

Trigger: -Copy, download or print -10 pg views -10 min. real usage

ESC Background

• FTE: ~8400 (~20,000 adult, distance students)• 35 locations in NYS (and abroad)• Hundreds of blended & online courses offered• Fully online library (no physical collection)• 4 librarians (no support staff/student workers)• PDA since Sept. 2013

eBooks @ ESC

Springer16%

other collec-tions9%

ebrary subscription46%

ebrary purchases

0%

ebrary PDA/STL

30%

EBook Collections

Setup• Triggers before purchase• Titles included?• Turn-away prevention?• Purchase licenses• Approvals?• STL length• Add to catalog• Initial budget

Launch

• Pilot mode• No promotion needed!• Maintenance needed

Upsides

• 81,000+ added eBooks available• Only pay for titles that are used• Easy to add new titles as they come out• Track usage and spending

Downsides

Sep 13

Oct 13

Nov 13

Dec 13

Jan 14

Feb 14

Mar 14

Apr 14

May 14

Jun 14

Jul 14

Aug 14

Sep 14

Oct 14

Nov 14

Dec 14

Jan 15

Feb 15

Mar 15

Apr 15

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

Ave cost / trigger over time

Cost

Costs

• Titles made available: 81,516• List price: $268,773• # of triggers: 2,670• Spent: $54,735• cost / trigger: $19.69• Titles purchased: 90

Impact

• 33% increase in eBook collection size

• Decrease in ILL requests?

User Behavior

Sep

13

Oct 13

Nov

13

Dec

13

Jan 14

Feb 14

Mar 14

Apr 14

May

14

Jun 14

Jul 14

Aug

14

Sep

14

Oct 14

Nov

14

Dec

14

Jan 15

Feb 15

Mar 15

Apr 15

# of triggers

29 117 178 423 192 261 253 296 152 136 48 31 46 65 88 112 37 61 58 87

2575

125175225275325375425

# of triggers Sept 2013 - Apr 2015

Axis Title

User Behavior (cont’d)

68%

17%

9%

6%

Type of Trigger

viewcopychapt downloadprint

Top PDA TitlesTitle

User Sessions

Pgs Viewed Total

Persuasion : History, Theory, Practice 75 2028 2103

Business Ethics : Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality (5th Edition)

108 1940 2048

Architects of World History : Researching the Global Past 88 1624 1712

Intercultural Communication for Everyday Life 68 1628 1696

Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, Volume 170 : Church and School in Early Modern Protestantism

60 1569 1629

Introducing Language and Intercultural Communication 76 1452 1528

Religions of the Ancient Near East 82 1306 1388

Saddam Hussein's Ba'th Party : Inside an Authoritarian Regime 52 1324 1376

Introduction to Theories of Personality (7th Edition) 64 1220 1284

Supply Chain Strategies : Demand Driven and Customer Focused (2nd Edition)

40 1236 1276

• Watch prices carefully• Deeper usage analysis

• Possible SUNY-wide / SUNYConnect applications?

• Slides: http://tinyurl.com/pdasunyla15

Looking Forward

Image Credits1. https://flic.kr/p/atDq3e by torbakhopper

2. https://flic.kr/p/a4Y7BV by Thomas Hawk

3. https://flic.kr/p/d5XbNW by Thomas Leth-Olsen

4. https://flic.kr/p/xXUXf by Nicole Hanusek

5. https://flic.kr/p/9DhwNs by johnson d

6. https://flic.kr/p/6PiWqn by Gisela Francisco

7. https://flic.kr/p/5j1urX by Steve Jurvetson

8. https://flic.kr/p/aec2jS by Tom Wachtel

9. https://flic.kr/p/dXtxJ8 by That’s Me

10. https://flic.kr/p/qLZjru by Kat R

11. https://flic.kr/p/iULa2A by Christian Holitzko

12. https://flic.kr/p/de5Z8v by Kristina Alexanderson