eBooks@Cardiff
Steve RatcliffeAberconway Library, Cardiff
University
Background Library Review findings 2005
Shortage of reading list items most common student complaint
Pressures on space
eBooks a solution in terms of: Relieving pressure on short loan print collections Added value in supporting distance learners Added value in supporting 24/7 access
Our view: eBooks supplement but don’t replace core texts
Starting out We had some eBooks already but needed to
expand the collection Bid for and received £50k from HEFCEW Researched the market Made a list of requirements Concentrated on core texts/high usage titles Outright purchase model
Starting out – Cont’d
Concentrated on NetLibrary and Myilibrary, Dawsonera came later
Total of 449 titles from the two aggregators, 500 titles in total purchased
Liaised with Subject Librarians to produce titles lists
Awareness and Promotion
Catalogue difficulties – results pageWider lack of awareness of ebooks Marketing:Posters, guide, stickers on printed
copiesVery small budget for materials
Evaluation
No print circulation vs ebook dataUsage -MyILibary vs NetlibraryMyILibrary titles used moreMyiLibrary 9412 accesses, 30 average
accesses per titleNetlibrary 1543 accesses, 10 average
accesses per title
MyiLibrary usageRange of title usage
138
59
38
1711 9 6 6 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 2 2 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
No of accesses (ranges)
Freq
uenc
y
Netlibrary usageAccess per title (range)
107
19
9 9
2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 10
20
40
60
80
100
120
0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100 101-110 111-120 121-130 131-140
number of accesses
freq
uenc
y (ti
tles)
Usage over the year (MyILibrary)Total accesses
0200400600800
10001200140016001800
Apr
-08
May
-08
Jun-
08
Jul-0
8
Aug
-08
Sep
-08
Oct
-08
Nov
-08
Dec
-08
Jan-
09
Feb-
09
Mar
-09
Months
Total accesses
On-Campus vs Off-Campus
48% of access were on-campus – unexpected!
Cost
The average cost of a single-user title was £80 on Myilibrary, The average cost of a NetLibrary eBook was £89.23
The overall average cost per access per MyiLibrary eBook was £3.18 NetLibrary average cost per access of £8.42.
Cost per access (MyiLibrary)Distribution of cost and number of accesses
£0.01
£0.10
£1.00
£10.00
£100.00
£1,000.00
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
number of accesses per title
Cos
t per
acc
ess
per t
itle
Cost per access (Netlibrary)Netlibrary: Distibution of cost and number of accesses
£0.10
£1.00
£10.00
£100.00
£1,000.00
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
number of accesses per title
cost
per
acc
ess
per t
itle
Turnaways
MyiLibrary – Virtual turnaways. 470 in total across 45 titles
Netlibrary – 164 actual turnaways across 20 titles
DRM induced lockouts more of an issue
Qualitative data
Convenience of useWant more core texts availableLack of awareness on access routesConcerned about comfort issue – reading
large amounts of text on a screen
Conclusions
Appropriate title selection is key (evidence based)
Most cost-effective with larger cohorts and textbook based teaching
Access models are changing but need to remain flexible
Technology will change the landscape
And finally…the hardest bit
Deciding on how to refer to eBooks:e-booksE-BooksElectronic bookseBooks (the one we decided on)