1. Searching for Sustainability: Strategies & Choice in the eBook Supply Chain Rob Kairis Library Director Kent State University at Stark

2. Library Monograph Budgets … Why Do Libraries Have Less $$ to buy Books (p or e)? Less $$ overall (Public Institutions have seen decreased state support) Compounded by inflation Monograph budget is the most expendable/sacrificed to cover other costs (Decreased by 30% over the past 3 years, about $100K per year) More diverse financial needs Consortium costs continue to shift with members carrying more of the burden The consortium has less $$ Consortium deals unsustainable unless members pay more (about 1/3 of Kent State’s budget goes to OhioLINK) Space needs (the changing role of the academic library) Kent State now stores about half its collection (600,000 volumes) off-site at commercial storage facility (at about $150K/year) Textbooks initiative (Kent State now paying about $40,000 a year for materials that were previously excluded from collection development) Less $$ for Books … If publishers are seeing less $$ spent on books (both p & e) how much of the reduction is due to smaller budgets and how much due to ebook models (DDA/STL)?

3. Physics Print books exist physically while … eBooks do not You can own a print book … you sign perpetual licenses for eBooks Print books are bound by space and time (can only be in one place at one time ) … eBooks can be in many places simultaneously http://www.sciencehumor.org/2009/obey-the-laws-of-physics While E=Mc 2, E≠P … Irony … The cost of eBooks is always based on the cost of print Cost = ListPrice X

4. Why $ebooks = $pbooks? Content = Content (format doesn’t/shouldn’t matter) While E=Mc 2, E≠P … Maybe … format does matter … Grapes of Wrath (Amazon costs): Hard Cover Paperback Audiobook (John Steinbeck) $34.99 $13.17 $26.11 DVD Blu-ray (John Ford, Director) $9.85 $19.58 Song (The Ballad of Tom Joad) $.99 (Woody Guthrie) http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AUxPDvlpL._AA160_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514GNJP58EL._AA160_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jdJO%2BimnL._AA160_.jpg Kindle Edition=$11.84

5. The Ideal Solution? Is it sustainable (for publishers)? Seems ideal for libraries: Libraries make accessible what (in the past) they would buy, and, now only buy what gets USED Are usage triggers (that result in a purchase) valid measures of what a library should buy? How do you measure (value) use? Take print usage: Are all checkouts equal? Are renewals the result of not having enough time to read a book, or not getting around to reading it? Students get 6 week loans while faculty/staff get 17 week loans (still counted the same) What about in-house use? It could be argued that usage of ebooks is as equally a bad measure as usage of pbooks For example, sophisticated users may be able to get in, get their information, and get out before a trigger While, unsophisticated users may take much longer to find out the information they seek is not there (but trigger a usage) DDA/STL … Irony … DDA/STL purchasing is solely based on usage

6. Consortium issues (in case it wasn’t obvious) OhioLINK has a long history of sharing books (PCIRC) For my library, the circ vs ILL 60/40 rule is now the 40/60 rule As a result of cooperative collection development efforts (soft caps, GoBetween, etc.), libraries are more conscious of reducing print duplication https://www.ohiolink.edu/ostaff/marketing/logos/ohiolinklogo_Univers.jpg E-Books for Consortia … Problem for consortia … Independent eBook purchasing reverses years of cooperation

7. Consortium issues (in case it wasn’t obvious) As consortium members increase purchases of eBooks … There is less sharing … As consortium members share less … There is more duplication … As duplication increases across the consortium … The level of unique content decreases Kairis, R. (2012). A subject-based shared approval plan for consortia purchasing of U.S. university press books. Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 36(1/2), 30-38. E-Book for Consortia … $25 per copy

8. Consortium issues (in case it wasn’t obvious) Simply put, if consortia can’t forge eBook deals, and Libraries buy them individually, We reverse years of cooperation, and Potentially, dramatically increase E-Book for Consortia … DUPLICATION, and Significantly decrease our buying POWER, and The diversity of our shared collection

9. Since we now know that … 1.Basing the cost of ebooks on the cost of pbooks is not good physics, or good for libraries 2.The DDA/STL may not be sustainable (for publishers), and perhaps not the best way for libraries to select titles (solely by usage) E-Book Solutions? … Maybe it’s time to start over … 1.Like a DDA/STL, give libraries access to all publisher content … 2.For a fee mostly based on prior purchasing history (so that publishers are not disadvantaged) 3.Let libraries choose which ebooks are licensed in perpetuity and (don’t scream) lease the rest

10. Questions E-Book Complications …