1. E-Books and Echidnas Looking Beyond the Spines
Andrew Wells
University Librarian 1

2. Outline Personal reflections E-books at UNSW – institutional context
Consortial activity in Australia 2

5. E-books – what are they? More than digital versions of print books
Compare Harrison’s Online and Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine
Different experience!
E-books part of spectrum of e-content
Reference
Monographs
Journals
Textbooks 5

6. E-book challenges How are they used? Matching content to user needs
Delivery – reading, printing, downloading
Access – who can use them?
Making content more useable
Buying them for the sake of buying them 6

8. Tipping points
Journals may tip from print/online to online only in 5-10 years
Conceivable for e-books?
How many years left for the era of the ‘hybrid library’ 8

9. Inhibitors Multiple delivery platforms Licensing and purchasing models
Lack of current content
These problems will be resolved … when? 9

11. UNSW Library and e-books
75% of budget spent on e-content
90% on research content
Content first; format second
No target for e-book acquisition
No strong demand for e-books
But strong demand for e-journals 11

12. No textbooks purchased No of readings purchased Up to 50 2 Up to 100 3
Enrolled students
No textbooks purchased
No of readings purchased
Up to 50 2
Up to 100 3
Up to 200 4
Up to 300 5
Up to 400 6
Up to 500 7
Over 500 8 12

13. Textbooks and course support
Quotas for library provision
Electronic reserve
Statutory licences in copyright law
Students satisfied with current provision 13

14. Research Most acquisition for research Well used
Research repository for UNSW research -- UNSWorks 14

16. Areas for improvement Intend buying more Discovery services
Statistics for decision making
Delivery
Readers?
Print on demand? 16

17. Collaboration CEIRC = C= EIRC
C = Council of Australian University Librarians
EIRC = Electronic Information Resources Committee
CEIRC Program = consortium for datasets purchasing 17

19. CEIRC membership 39 CAUL member
8 from New Zealand (CONZUL = Council of New Zealand University Librarians)
>25 ‘external’ – government and research libraries 19

20. CEIRC activity 150 products 10 vendors
Fees for staffing, meetings and travel
Member of ICOLC 20

21. CEIRC success factors Opt in /opt out Light governance
Flexibility – one size does not fit all 21

22. CEIRC e-book survey 2007, 39 responses 57 products identified
Textbooks a gap
Old stuff!
Some looking at pay per view or user driven selection 22

23. Market leaders These products used by >20 libraries
Wiley Interscience
NetLibrary
Elsevier
Safari
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Informit
James Bennett eTitle 23