Digital Books for Digital Libraries Issues surrounding the collection management of e-books

1. Digital Books for Digital Libraries Issues surrounding the collection management of e-books Ray Lonsdale & Chris Armstrong

2. Introduction Structure of workshop • Define an e-book • Demonstrate types of e-books • Group work • Value and constraints of e-books • Management and use issues • Feedback and general discussion

3. What is an e-book? Does it depend on: • Its origin • How it is distributed For some, e-books mean the hardware • Its format • How it is read • Semantics When is an e-book a database?

4. What is an e-book? “Any piece of electronic text regardless of size or composition (a digital object), but excluding journal publications, made available electronically or optically for any device (handheld or desk-bound) that includes a screen.” Armstrong, Edwards & Lonsdale, 2002 But a public library view might include the need for lending – thus physical portability

5. Types of e-books Free e-books • Aesop’s Fables from Gutenberg • http://www.gutenberg.net/browse/IA_A • International Children’s Digital Library • http://www.icdlbooks.org/ • Shakespeare (MIT) • http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ • Jane Austin (Online-Literature) • http://www.online-literature.com/austen/emma/

6. Types of e-books Academic monographs • City of Bits • http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/ • The Two Cities • http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/citysites/

7. Types of e-books Reference books • Oxford • http://www.oxfordreference.com/ Textbooks • Spartacus • http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWW.htm Study Guides • NetLibrary • http://www.netlibrary.com/

8. Group work • Working in groups, discuss the following issues surrounding the management and use of e-books. • You will have 30 minutes for discussion. • Choose a representative who will speak on behalf of your group in the general discussion session at the end. • We shall lead this general discussion and your representative should take notes and be prepared to respond to each issue as we introduce them.

9. Advantages Disadvantages E-Books in use

10. Issues to discuss • Management implications for library • Discovering the existence of e-books • Selection policy • Acquisition • Licensing • Facilitating access within the library/institution/authority • Hardware and/or networking to accommodate e-books • Evaluating use • Promotion in the institution • Archiving • Other • Use • Teaching and learning/curriculum • Reference use • Recreational use • Need for research into usage

11. Advantages Space Updating Security Remote access Concurrent access Added value features Portability Integration into VLEs Tailoring texts Other Disadvantages Hardware / software Printing and copying Physical use Interface problems Management issues Availability of texts Authentication Information Literacy Technophobia Other E-Books in use

12. Issues: Management • Discovering the existence of e-book titles • Bibliographic control – lack of (for both free and commercial e-books) • Need for legal deposit / national bibliography • Need for bibliographic map • Publishers’ advertising  Library press • Discussion/mailing lists  Publishers’ catalogues • Staff recommendations  Other library Web sites • Publisher web sites  Conferences/Exhibitions • Internet/colleagues  Serendipity • Subject lists  Journals

13. Issues: Management • Selection policy • Need for policy / revision of policy • Need for set of criteria: appropriateness of resource for user group(s) as well as quality issues • Comparison of formats (to buy in paper or electronic form) • Training of staff

14. Issues: Management • Acquisition • Need for approvals / publisher trials • Passwords, etc • Incorporation in library management systems • Cataloguing issues

15. Issues: Management • Licensing • User groups (in library / in institution / remote / distance learners / professional users) • Number of concurrent users • Part-book access • Printing/ e-copying / copying to laptops • Charging mechanisms • Charging models • Consortia / National or regional licences

16. Issues: Management • Facilitating access • OPAC (ability to link from Cataloguing) • Web site • Lending / use of portable readers / loan of readers • Intellectual Property Management: encryption of texts may mean that a book may have to remain on the workstation/reader on which it was downloaded

17. Issues: Management • Hardware and/or Networking • Intranet / LAN • Broadband • Workstation positioning • Disenfranchised users

18. Issues: Management • Evaluating use • Use of publisher’s statistics – whose responsibility? • Library management systems (adequacy) • Qualitative evaluation?

19. Issues: Management • Promotion in the institution • Attitudes to using e-books • Methods for promotion • Information Literacy • Implications for different types of library • Role of publishers

20. Issues: Management • Archiving • Is there a need? • If you never ‘acquire’ but only licence • Role of publisher • Does the licence allow archiving • Long-term archiving – coping with hardware/software obsolescence

21. Issues: Management • Other • Links with publishers to develop a critical mass • Need for national initiatives • Collection Development Policy for e-resources embracing e-books • Special needs / disability access

22. Issues: Use • Teaching and learning / Curriculum • Reference use • Recreational use • Need for research into usage of e-books

23. Issues: Use • Teaching and learning / Curriculum • Appropriateness of format for teaching methods used • Working with academic staff • Availability of relevant materials (subject, language) or does availability drive the curriculum • Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) • Inclusion of commercial / in-house e-books • Licence dictates what you can do

24. Issues: Use • Reference use • Search functionality • Other functionality • Ability to cut-and-paste with citation available • New skills for ILS staff?

25. Issues: Use • Recreational use • Range of e-books made available • e.g. General fiction • Use of portable readers for loan vs. ‘online bookshelf’

26. Issues: Use • Need for research into usage of e-books • In academic, public, school libraries, etc. • Attitudes • Usage patterns • Impact on learning, teaching and reading

27. Digital Books for Digital Libraries Issues surrounding the collection management of e-books http://www.i-a-l.co.uk/