eBooks purchasing: Consortia Models Carolyn Alderson & Hazel Woodward

1. eBooks purchasing: Consortia Models Carolyn Alderson & Hazel Woodward

2. Welcome and Overview Agenda • eBook Context & Models to build on • Pilots: • Knowledge Unlatched - making titles openly available • Jisc eBooks Consortium Pilot – subject focus • eBass25 Pilot – exploring the EBA model • Key Challenges of eBook consortia models • Publishers, aggregators, libraries • Libraries harnessing shared eBook interests • Q&A

3. eBook Context & Models to Build on • A market full of complexities • A market with a wide variety of demands and increasing expectations • A market with emerging technologies • A market with plenty of history • Monographs, eTextbooks • Models • Full Collections • Subject Collections • Patron Drive Acquisition • Title Selection • Evidence Based Acquisition

4. Knowledge Unlatched • “Knowledge Unlatched: enabling open access for scholarly books in the arts and humanities” • Essentially, the KU model depends on many libraries around the world sharing the payment of a single Title Fee to the publisher, in return for a book being made available on a Creative Commons licence via OAPEN and HathiTrust as a fully downloadable PDF • As more libraries participate in KU, the per-library cost of ‘unlatching’ each title declines

5. Knowledge Unlatched: how it works • Publishers • Offer titles & set Title Fee • Post open book • Sell premium version • KU • Negotiates with publishers • Collates titles • Handles payments & preservation • Libraries • Select & order titles • Pay Title Fee

6. Knowledge Unlatched: the Pilot • The Pilot aims to secure pledges from at least 200 libraries worldwide, in order to unlatch a collection of 28 titles from 13 scholarly publishers • In January 2014 over 170 libraries from 12 countries had signed up • Moreover, in December KU received backing from HEFCE who agreed to make a grant of up to £550 to all universities in England that participate in the pilot • This reduces the participation fee paid by English university libraries by 50% • The deadline is 28th February 2014

7. http://www.slideshare.net/sconul/jisc-e-books-consortia-projecthttp://www.slideshare.net/sconul/jisc-e-books-consortia-project

8. Ebook consortia pilot project • The pilot project had a very simple business model which was based on a model trialled by Max Planck Institute (Germany) and CBUC (Spain) • Consortium of 6 UK academic libraries with large Engineering Faculties • 6 publishers of engineering books (some large engineering publishers excluded as libraries had existing big deals) • Whenever one of the libraries purchased an ebook, all libraries had access • ‘Price multiplier’ negotiated with each publisher. In the pilot this was paid by Jisc Collections. In a ‘real life’ consortium it would be split among the libraries • Usage data (COUNTER BR1 & BR2) collected and analysed by Information Power Ltd.

9. Ebook consortia pilot: participants • Libraries • Cranfield University; Loughborough University; Newcastle University; Brunel University; University of Southampton; University of Liverpool • Publishers • Artech House; Cambridge University Press (CUP); Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET); Taylor & Francis (T&F); Wiley; World Scientific Publishing (WSP) • Hosting service • Dawson Books - Dawsonera

10. Ebook consortia pilot: implementation • It had been hoped to run the pilot from August 2013 through to July 2014 • However, negotiations with publishers and hosting services took longer than expected and libraries were slow to start ordering title • There were workflow issues for both libraries and the Dawson • Delay in the provision of MARC records (which research has demonstrated are vital to discovery) may have had a bearing on usage • First orders were placed in December 2012 • The pilot was up and running!

11. Ebook consortia pilot: findings • Very high usage of ebooks • All libraries got more value than they purchased • 98.6% of ebooks were used by at least 1 library • Percentage of ebooks purchased and not used by an individual library averaged 7%. (This is a very low figure compared to recent PDA studies in Germany and the USA)

12. Ebook consortia pilot: overall analysis

13. Ebook consortia pilot: purchase analysis

14. Ebook consortia pilot: usage analysis

15. What did librarians think of the pilot? • 5 out of the 6 libraries said they would be interested in pursuing consortial ebook purchasing using this business model • In the light of the data they were pleased with both the level of use of titles they had purchased, and their use of titles purchased by other institutions • They would be happy to put money into a consortial ‘pot’ to widen their access to ebook titles (funds permitting) • One librarian commented: “Increased access is the real benefit and saving money is a bonus”

16. Ebook consortia pilot: types of consortia • Librarians commented that the important factor in a consortia is having synergy between the libraries (e.g. research/ teaching focused) • The majority favoured subject-based ebook consortium • The portfolio of publishers participating in the consortia was very important • Most favoured a minimum level of financial commitment from participating libraries

17. What did the publishers think? • The majority of publishers were disappointed with the sales figures but, on the whole, were pleased and very interested in the usage data • In general, the smaller publishers were most enthusiastic…”our role as a publisher is to get our content out there…. we need to get our brand noticed” • All publishers commented that they needed to protect the value of their titles • Of the 3 larger publishers only one was positive about the business model. However, they felt that a variable price multiplier would be necessary to enable them to offer both back list and current high demand titles • One publisher said they were very interested in evidence based purchasing and would like Jisc Collections to pursue that model • Another publishers said “we are keen to work with library consortia but we don’t like shared ownership/collections… we would rather give a discount”

18. E-BASS25, funded by Jisc as part of their Digital Infrastructure Programme in 2012/13, was led by Royal Holloway University of London on behalf of the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries. Specific named partners were: Kingston University Science Museum (on behalf of the Museum Librarians and Archivists Group) JISC Collections and SERO Consulting Limited.

19. Some points to note from the eBASS25 Pilot • Role of Jisc Collections in the pilot • Publishers • EBASS 25, Work Package 5 - Procurement Guidelines • Books Tender Agreement – designed for suppliers who are either aggregators or booksellers • The Evidence Based Acquisition Model is only available directly from publishers. • Research carried out in EBASS 25 Workshop with libraries suggested this model was the preferred model for consortial purchasing of E-Books. • Less DRM issues http://digirep.rhul.ac.uk/file/5b85dab5-7bf4-7c7b-7731-b552f029e4ae/1/EBASS%2025%20Work%20Package%205%20Procurement%20Guidelines.pdf

20. Example: Cambridge University Press EBA eBooks Opt in • Institutions opt for 12 months or 6 months access to either all monographs or to specified subject collections. (The total list price of the complete monographs collection is over £1,250,000). • Prepayment uses Jisc Banded pricing • 12 month access option: • At the mid-point of the agreement (end of 6 months) institutions must use 33% of their upfront payment by selecting books up to that value to keep in perpetuity by the end of the 7th month. At the end of the 12 month period the institution decides the remainder of the selection of books to keep in perpetuity based on usage (or other criteria). This decision is made by the end of the 13th month. • 6 month access option: • At the end of the 6 month period the institution shall decide the selection of books to keep in perpetuity based on usage (or other criteria). This decision is made by the end of the 7th month • Humanities, Social Sciences, or STM • How to convert to a closed consortium agreement?

21. EBA as a consortium model In advance: • What content to access? Years / subjects / All • Each institution has to contribute an amount upfront • How is that decided? What amount is relevant for each institution? • How much will the combined deposit buy at the end? • Will it buy shared content? • What will be the cost of a title in that case? Multiplier? • Usage analysis • What if more content is required than the prepayment covers?

22. Assessing the EBA Model

23. Usage cost allocation v original EBA contribution

24. Key Challenges • Publishers • Knowing who is in the consortium and requirements • Protecting revenue • Aggregators • Workflows • Appropriate usage to publishers and libraries • Reporting • Libraries • Gaining commitment and consensus • Organisation, workflows • Negotiating the deal (price, DRM etc)

25. Libraries: Harnessing Shared eBooks purchasing • Planning • Leading the consortium / co-ordinating the activity day to day • Committing budget at the outset • Which content and which model? • Sharing the cost • Publishers / Aggregators • Licensing • Setting objectives / Expectations/ Negotiating the deal • Reporting, Communication • Assessing the deal; Decision-making • The AGREEMENT; Invoicing and Payment • Usage analysis/ Assessment of the model How to go about all this?

26. Q & A Contact details: Carolyn Alderson, Acting Head of Licensing, Jisc Collections and UKSG Education Officer - c.alderson@jisc-collections.ac.uk Hazel Woodward, Director, Information Power Ltd. - hazel.woodward73@gmail.com