E-books in St. Patrick’s College A leap in a year Liam O’Dwyer SLA (Systems)

Context / Background College of Education College of DCU since 1993 Two faculties – Humanities and Education Over 2,500 students 1,800 undergraduates approx. (1,200 B.Ed.) Increasing number of in-service students

Library & Acquisitions Library Staff = 10.5 FTE (+ shelving staff) Acquisitions & Cataloguing = 1.5 FTE Summer 2009 – review of acquisitions policies & procedures Librarian AL (FT)AL (HT) SLA ( FT) LA x 8 ( FT)

Acquisitions Review 2009 Some outcomes: Supplier review & selection Dept funds EVERYTHING THROUGH LMS A work in progress... A BIG issue was undergraduate core texts…

Core Texts Problem: Requested in very high numbers but unable to meet demand (quality review) ‘There are 400 in my year and sometimes we all need the same book…there just aren’t half enough.’ So… Limited multiple copy orders to 10 copies Committed to explore ebook option…

DCU initiative helped awareness of format but… core text issue gave particular priorities Initial task - to decide which option in marketplace best met our needs. Ebooks CORE TITLE ACCESS

Ebooks – assessing the marketplace

Took longer than expected! Various suppliers/aggregators/access models Looked at other libraries (DCU) Eventually decided on Dawsonera

Why Dawsonera? Most suitable purchase & access model (for us) Single-title purchase One-off paymentDRM approach Simultaneous users Stock Comparison Service – about 10% of our short loan collection available (125 titles)

Show me the Money – Stage 1 Single-title purchase model gave problem of how to establish collection. Applied to Quality Promotion Unit awards for ‘start-up’ fund.

“Preference will be given to projects that potentially have a college-wide application. “ (QPU Application Guidelines) Quality Promotion Awards Annual awards to value of €5,000. Typically shared between 3/4 applications. Library a good fit for awards brief Previous successful Library applications include funding for accessibility software & hardware, training equipment, DVD collection.

Fund Application Ranked titles from stock comparison according to usage and stock levels Applied for funding for ‘top 40’ titles Stressed increased availability & access (an ‘add-on’ rather than ‘instead of’) Target audience of undergraduates.

Fund Application “Many of our online resources (journal databases, literary archives) are geared towards post-graduate and research students. As the proposed texts are books and ‘core’ materials, they will encourage a broader use of our online resources by including the College’s large undergraduate student body. In this way it would enable a greater utilisation of existing IT infrastructures”

April 2010 – Purchase & Launch 40+ titles ordered, accessioned, catalogued Ordered via EDI MARC records added Print books labelled Posters, s, blog, Catalogue icon shortcut

April We have lift off

After the Goldrush…stage 2 Ebooks in acquisitions processes: Multiple copy orders (>2) checked for availability If available, requester ‘offered’ ebook option (with reduced print copies) Now also checking Swets for other availability

User Response - Staff Initial purchase positive Almost all availed of ebook option Liked ability to link from Moodle Requests for off-campus students Negative? Some apprehension re: reasons for going ‘e’ Confusion about availability (Google Books)

User Response - Students Positive overall – want more Awareness dependent on lecturer/dept Some confusion re: how to access & use But they are being used…

Time-intensive Low ‘hit’ rate = invisible work & lost time Delay for new titles/editions Some technical problems – adobe, IP DRM limitations ◦ clunky interface ◦ not for ‘front to back reading’ ◦ not compatible with e-readers (yet) Some Issues / Concerns

Concern about perpetuity & new formats Did I mention DRM? Publisher developments Useful site - No Shelf Required Blog Issues / Concerns

Overall Showed Library in a positive light Offered solution to a particular problem Having a clear ‘why’ helps Support of academics important Not ‘the’ way – just ‘another’ way…

Thank You