Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

Lynn Connaway
Vice President Research & Library Services
netLibrary Inc.

What Is an eBook?

• Digital version of a published book
  
• Monograph, reference, edited volume, or multi-volume set
  
• Searchable
  
• Can be enhanced
  

  o Links
  o Multimedia
  

• Cross-referenced
  
• Copy and print capable

The Ideal eBook

• Content (of value)
  
• Viewed online
  
  
• Downloaded to a PC and viewed offline
  
• Viewed on a RocketBook, Softbook, Palm or Windows CE device
  
• Allows for fair use, but still protects copyright

Library Challenges

• Storage-bricks and mortar
  
• Damaged, lost, stolen books
  
• Demand for electronic resources
  
• Resource sharing, interlibrary loans
  
• Supporting distance/distributed learning, remote users
  
• Shrinking budgets

CLICS

(Colorado Library Interactive Costing Spreadsheet )

• Uses current ARL data
  
• Makes a number of simple assumptions
  
• Automatically allocates costs to collections
  
• Easy to change assumptions, view impact

Life-Cycle Costs of Library Collections, by Stephen R. Lawrence and Keith H. Brigham, 1999.

CLICS Allocation Method

• Based on "book equivalents"
  
• BE = amount of space needed relative to books
  
• Assumption - costs directly related to space required
  

  o Facilities and infrastructure
  o Personnel
  o Handling
  o Attention

Implications

• Books drive library costs
  
• Maintenance far more costly than acquisition
  
• Control library costs to reduce lifecycle costs of books
  
• eBooks are one way to reduce the lifecycle costs of books

Distance/Distributed Learning Programs

• 1,370 different institutions
  

  o Offer approximately 157 different disciplines
  

• Over 5 million students enrolled in distance learning classes in academic year 1997-98

Source: Peterson's Distance Learning Programs 2000, 1999

University of Denver Online Education Pilot

• Measure demand for and acceptance of electronic learning materials

Fall 1999

o Undergraduate

• English
  
• Business
  o Graduate
  
• MBA
  
• Library and Information Science

Methodologies

o Focus Group Interviews
o Survey
o Usage Statistics

Survey results:

o 20 respondents

• 75% claim to read online
  
• 25% preferred the online version
  
• 45% would buy the electronic version
  
• 70% would lease the book(s) for the entire semester

Usage statistics:

o 155 students
o Digital course materials and eBooks
o Online usage
o Offline usage (eBook readers)

Online usage statistics:

o 129 user sessions
o 53 distinct users
o 17.3 minutes per session
o Pages viewed:

• Total of 2,726 pages viewed
  
• 21 pages per session

Offline usage statistics:

o 23 user sessions
o 13 distinct users

• 15% used notes
  
• 15% used word search
  
• 30% used annotations
  o 8.8 minutes per session
  o Pages viewed:
  
• Total of 165 pages viewed
  
• 7.2 pages per session

• Measure demand for and acceptance of electronic learning materials

Fall 1999

o One undergraduate business class

Methodologies

o Survey
o Usage statistics

Usage statistics:

o 804 undergraduate students
o 171 distinct users
o 192 user sessions
o 4.9 minutes per session
o Pages viewed

• Total of 2,034 pages viewed
  
• 10.6 pages per session

Survey Results:

o 100% use Internet daily
o 62% use Internet several times a day
o 24% prefer electronic materials
o 28% read between four pages and one chapter per session
o 62% would buy electronic materials if readily available
o 68% would accept advertising to reduce the price of electronic materials

eBook Challenges

• Acquisitions and collection development
  
• Standards and technology
  
• Access

Acquisitions and Collection Development Challenges

• Budget allocations
  
• Simultaneous use, unlimited access, and pay per use
  
• Patron-driven acquisitions
  
• Broad discipline coverage vs. subject-specific
  
• Title-by-title vs. collection purchases

Standards and Technology Challenges

• Standards
  
• New handheld devices
  
• Online delivery
  
• Training needs
  
• Digital Rights Management

Access Challenges

• Copyright and fair use
  
• Effective access
  
• Organization (cataloging and indexing)
  
• Circulation models
  
• Disaggregation and aggregation of the monograph
  
• Preservation and perpetual access

Publisher Challenges

"...most projections of book (printed) consumption in units over the next five years will be flat."

-Al Greco, Fordham University Economist and book industry analyst

• eBook reader devices
  

  o Form factor
  o Ease of use
  o Price
  

• Content availability

• Revenues of 40% of the net electronic price expected

• eBooks should be cheaper than their print counterparts

"Making a book will be no more difficult than making a latte at Starbuck's."

-Henry Topping, CEO, Sprout Inc.

"...to sell to librarians, you have to be one part businessperson, one part friend, and one part therapist."

-Claire Ginn, Vice President, Consortia Services, Publishers Communication Group Inc.

eBook Content Providers

• eBook Readers
  

  o eBook Hardware - RocketBook, Softbook, Everybook
  o PDAs - Palm, Casio, Compaq, Hewlett Packard
  o eBook Software - peanutpress, Adobe, Microsoft, Folio, Glassbook, netLibrary
  

• Electronic Ink - eInk, Xerox PARC
  
• Print on Demand - Xerox, IBM, Sprout, Lightning Source, Hewlett Packard
  
• Online Providers (eBook content)
  o Publishers - some
  o Libraries - a few
  
• Vendors - IT Knowledge, Books 24x7, netLibrary

Role of the eBook Provider

• Aggregation and distribution
  
• Mediation between publishers and librarians
  
• Collection development

eBook Provider Challenges

• Educators and consultants
  
• Understand the markets and the publishing business
  
• Understand the needs of library customers and their users
  
• Master technology for eBook management and distribution

Benefits of eBooks to Librarians and Patrons

• Anytime, anywhere access
  
• Provide searching within a book and across a collection of books
  
• Direct access to content from OPAC
  
• Support remote users, such as distance and distributed learners
  
• Simplify resource sharing
  
• Eliminate the problems associated with the physical properties of books
  

  o No storage or shelving
  o No wear and tear, no lost or stolen books
  

• Less lag time from order to delivery

Benefits of eBooks to Publishers

• More than an alternative to print
  
• Expand customer base
  

  o Increase value of content
  

  • Revive monographs
    
  • Link to primary/secondary sources
    o Cost effective
    
  • Promote midlist and backlist titles
    
  • Launch new titles
    
  • No packing and shipping
    
  • Protect copyright

Conclusion

"If the future brings newspapers without news, journals without pages and libraries without walls- what becomes of the traditional book?...The best case to be made for eBooks concerns scholarly publishing...where conventional monographs have become prohibitively expensive to produce."

-Robert Darnton, The New York Review of Books