the new challenge: trends and issues in acquiring digital publications shirley w. leung hong kong...

The New Challenge:Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital

Publications

Shirley W. LeungHong Kong Baptist University

Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia

Workshop on “E-Publishing Trends and Issues: Implications for Library Collection Development and

Services”Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines

10-11 May 2002

@ Hong Kong Baptist University

The New Challenge: Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital Publication

“ Digital Publications” – has an exceptionally broad scope

Within different e-formats, also different genre of materials

A phenomenally fast changing area

Focus and perspective of talk:

“ Digital publications” synonymous with electronic publications

Trends and issues related to acquisition of commercially available e-publications (i.e. any product or service the libraries spends funds)



E-publications: major trends

Rapid growth: e-journals in the last 5 yrs; e-books in the next 3 yrs.

Increasing acceptance of electronic information resources

Increasing availability of full-text titles

Links from citations in A&I databases to full-text journals and document delivery at the pay-per-article/per-view level

Expanded access to integrated information

Market target expanding to include individual subscribers

Increasing acceptability of access instead of ownership



E-publications: major issues

Pricing models

Licensing agreements and copyright

Authentication and authorization

Archival access

Rise of consortia

Budget issues

Measurement/statistics of use



Commercial e-publications: e-journals

e-abstracts and index databases (A&I databases) going back to the 1980’s; e.g. University of

California MELVYL System with access to Medline, Psychological Abstracts, and other A&I databases

e-journals (full-text) very small number of scholarly titles available

prior to popularization of web – accessible from FTP sites

commercial pilot/experimental projects: e.g. Elsevier’s TULIP; Springer’s Red Sage as precursor of today’s full-text e-journals



Commercial e-publications: e-books/e-texts e-books/e-texts

public-domain titles available prior to web (e.g. Project Gutenberg)

active developments in commercial book publishing in late 1990s with the netLibrary as success story

appeared to be doing well until in late 2001 when declared bankruptcy

Other publishers who folded their electronic imprints including Time Warnert Trade Publishing, Random House, and Princeton University Press

Market not quite ready with library as exception


The New Challenge: Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital PublicationGrowth of e-journals1

lst edition (1991) of the (annual) Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists by the US Association of Research Libraries (ARL) --listed 110 journals and newsletters

4th edition (1994) – included first time serials published on the WWW. Out of 433 journals/newsletter entries – more than 60 titles listed the web as a method of distribution

5th edition (1995) – listing of 675 journal/newsletter entries with referred scholarly titles increasing from 74 in 1994 to 142 in 1995

Nov 1998 – over 6,000 e-journal titles in the ARL e-journal database

____________________1 Dru Mogge, “Seven Years of tracking electronic publishing: the ARL Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists”, Library Hi Tech, vol. 17, number 1, 1999, pp. 17-25



E-journals available in different shapes and sizes (1) Free with print subscriptions directly from

publisher Added surcharge over print subscription (e.g.

Wiley, 5-15%)

Free with print subscription through serials vendor, usually for a limited access period, e.g. 3-years (EBSCO Online, Swetsnet Navigator

Directly from publisher in aggregated manner for a surcharge, e.g. Academic Press’ IDEAL; Elsevier’s Science Direct



E-journals available in different shapes and sizes (2)

Stable aggregated database, e.g. JSTOR, Project Muse, Bio-One

Unstable aggregated database with full-text journals, e.g. Lexis-Nexis, EBSCO Host, ProQuest

Electronic only option with deep discount for print version (e.g. ACM Digital Libraries)



Some Pricing methodologies

student FTE

site license – regardless of number of users

number of concurrent users/logins

some may charge additional technology fee or access fee



Licensing agreements

An avenue by electronic information providers to protect their investment in addition to relying on copyright laws.

May be more restrictive than what copyright law may grant, e.g. lending may be controlled/restricted access may limit to one PC archival access

A new area for librarians 5-6 years ago: various workshops and model licensing agreements to help in negotiation process of e-resources: ARL (Association of Research Libraries), University of California, ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia)



Rise of consortial collaborations (1)

Consortium consortium of consortia (ICOLC) consortial efforts

Many libraries belong to several consortia

May have a much wider geographical boundary

Banding together to leverage negotiation power with service providers and extend mutual support in other areas related to the acquisition/access of electronic information resources



Rise of consortial collaborations (2)

ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia) at http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html has more than sixty library consortia as members across the globe. It aims to:

Facilitates discussion among members on issues of common interest

Keeps members informed about new e-information resources, pricing practices of providers/vendors, and other relevant issues

http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html







Archival access

Major concern with archival access in earlier days

Increasing acceptance of access instead of ownership

Good intentions, but may not be deliverable

Technology and delivery mechanism problems

Implications for collection management



Authentication and authorization

Use of passwords for access too cumbersome

Use of IP address the norm

Traffic pressure on university’s modem pool

Use of commercial ISPs (Internet Service Providers)

How to authenticate a user and if the user is authorized to access a particular electronic resource

Vendor-based web access management control programs



E-books - netLibrary (1) November 1999 -- 111 publishers providing

content for e-books2

June 2001 -- 312 publishers participating; equally divided between academic and commercial publishers

38,000 titles with highest usage in economics, business, computer science, literature, medicine, health and wellness, technology, history, education, sociology, and religion

Employed librarians with collection development expertise to develop e-book collection

Platform independent; accessible online or offline via the netLibrary reader____________________

2 Lynn Silipigni Connaway, A Web-based electronic book (e-book) library: the netLibrary model, Library Hi-Tech, vol. 19, number 4, 2001, pp. 340-349.



E-books - netLibrary (2)

Primary access follows a one-to-one approach for digital rights management

Charges an access fee to cover costs of maintaining a digital library – can be paid as one-time charge or annually

Enhanced features: embed multimedia data; link to other electronic resources; and cross-reference information across multiple resources

Filed bankruptcy in November 2001 Now a partner of OCLC



e-reference collections: a more successful model of packing e-books

Oxford Reference Online -- covers 100 key Oxford dictionaries and reference works with coverage across the subject spectrum: from General Reference and Language to Science and Medicine, and from Humanities and Social Sciences to Business

Xreferplus – a “digital reference library” containing 100 reference titles from 21 publishers on a wide array of subjects (http://www.xrefere.com)



E-books - Pricing methodologies (1)

Print-on-demand

Monthly subscription fees

Free browsing of content with fees for downloading and printing

One-time purchase of content with perpetual access or annual access fees

Subscription fees with or without ownership

Some e-book providers work only with libraries and others market to individual end users



E-books - Pricing methodologies (2)

e-books pricing and access models still going through a trial period

netlibrary -- one-time fee of 155% of print copy cost with single user access for a specified amount of time

Safari Books Online – offers access to hundreds of leading technology books from Addison Wesley Professional, Cisco Press, O’Reilly, Peachpit Press, Prentice and Hall PTR, etc and uses a point system with multiple user access

Ebrary -- offers unlimited access based on an annual fee, but will charge for copying and printing portions of content



California Digital Library’s e-book task force identified eight elements for the evaluation of academic e-book usage:

1. Content2. Software and hardware standards and

protocols3. Digital rights management4. Access5. Archiving6. Privacy7. The market and pricing8. Enhancement and ideal e-book feaures

True success may have to wait till the availability of e-paper; some small scale projects



Budget issues Rapidly growing budgetary commitment to e-resources

with heavy pressure already on print serials budget 95/96 -- 3-5% ; 00/01 -- 12-15 %; 02/03 -- 1-17%+ as is

case with HKBU Libraries have been slow to cancel print subscriptions

as result of e-journal access (Study/findings of survey to 299 US libraries by Marian Shemberg and Cheryl Grossman in 1999 --- 9 had cancelled 26-50 titles, 44 had cancelled 25 titles or fewer, and 163 had not cancelled any

Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of aggregated databases require rethinking of collection budget allocation methods



E-Metrics: measuring use of e-resources (1)

General recognition of need for consistent and comparable statistical data

A number of international/national professional organizations working to improve situation in context of measuring library performance in the networked, electronic environment International Coalition of Library Consortia

(ICOLC) European Commission EQUINOX Project Association of Research Libraries (ARL)



E-Metrics: measuring use of e-resources (2) ICOLC ’s “Guidelines for Statistical Measures of Usage

of Web-Based Information Resources” <http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/2001webstats.htm>

Addresses issues such as minimal requirements, privacy and user confidentiality, institutional or consortia confidentiality, access, etc.

Data elements that must be provided for: no. of sessions (i.e logins) no. of queries/searches (a unique intellectual inquiry) no. of menu selections (if display of data is through

use of menus) no. of full-content units (e.g. journal articles, e-

books, etc.)


The New Challenge: Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital PublicationE-Metrics: measuring use of e-resources (3)

ARL effort: more from performance management and measurement perspective focusing on study of users and uses; cost and benefit analysis study of staff impact and needs; engagement with information providers and their usage data services

“The problems of definition, reliability, and consistency of data provided by the vendor community alone are daunting. But they are matched equally by librarians’ lack of agreement on what is important to collect, how to collect it, and how to use what is collected. Most libraries lack experience with the collection and analysis of data related to their investment in electronic resources.”3

____________________3 Rush Miller and Sherrie Schmidt, “E-Metrics: Measures for Electronic Resources”, Keynote delivered at the 4th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services.


The New Challenge: Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital PublicationModel of Effective Selection and Presentation Practices4

Access for attention

Selection Policies and Strategic Plans Institutional Finance and Organization Internal Procedures for Initial Evaluation and Purchase Licensing Issues and Practices Web Presentation Strategies User Support Ongoing Evaluation and Usage Information Preservation and Archiving Toward Integrated Systems for Managing Electronic

Resources____________________4 Timothy D. Jewell, Selection and Presentation of Commercially Available Electronic Resources: Issues and Practices, Digital Library Federation, Council of Library and Information Resources, Washington, D. C., July 2001.


The New Challenge: Trends and Issues in Acquiring Digital PublicationModel of Effective Selection and Presentation Practices

Topic Area Suggested Practices2.2 Selection Polices and Strategic

Plans Create well-developed selection guidelines and policies Articulate goals and strategic approach for developing e-resources

2.3 Institutional Finance andOrganization

Create broad-based oversight/coordination committee structures Appoint e-resource coordinators Distribute responsibilities for resource stewardship

2.4 Internal Procedures for InitialEvaluation and Purchase

Create systematic, understandable workflows; use appropriateforms to expedite handling

Make it easy to determine the order status of a given e-resource Make standardized information about the library (FTEs, IP ranges,

site definition, licensing policies) available to vendors Establish a clear system of conducting trials that includes

communication of availability and process to staff (and users, ifappropriate)

2.5 Licensing Issues andPractices

Establish process for smooth handling of licenses with clearlystated policies and responsibilities

Systematically inform staff and users about general and specificlicensing terms

2.6 Web Presentation Strategies Make aggregator database periodical holdings visible to users Link abstracting & indexing database citations to e-journal holdings Present resources and services in a way that meets users needs

and that they can personalize ("My Gateway")2.7 User Support Make general support information readily available to users

Create comprehensible problem escalation/triage paths for staff2.8 Ongoing Evaluation and

Usage Information Conduct planned/cyclic reviews prior to renewal Systematically report usage to staff

2.9 Preservation and Archiving Support joint efforts to establish preservation techniques andstandards

Realistically assess the preservation and access risks of relying onelectronic formats, and develop an archive strategy on the basis oflocal circumstances and risk tolerance

2.10 Toward Integrated Systems forManaging Electronic Resources

Put in place plan e-resource support systems

Table 2. Idealized Model of Effective Selection and Presentation Practices



Conclusion:

E-resources have greatly expanded access to information with powerful search engines and retrieval tools

Users have desk-top access to 7x24 access to information from anywhere through the Web

The networked digital information environment is here to stay and will continue to grow

Libraries face technical, financial, and organizational challenges, but the enduring values of libraries remain the same: selection, collection, organization, service, and preservation of information.



The End

the new challenge: trends and issues in acquiring digital publications shirley w. leung hong kong...

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