Managing e-content in an academic library

Louise ColeKingston University

Shift from print to e (both journals and books)

E-resources – currency, convenience, reliability

Journals important because of primary research outputs and REF results

Types of journal◦ Print only / Print and e / E-only / Born digital /

Freely available / Open access or hybrid

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‘Electronic Superhighway’

Pricing models of e are changing:◦ Historical print spend◦ Pay per view◦ Patron-driven (or demand-driven)◦ Usage-based◦ FTE based◦ Open access/hybrid open access◦ Chapter or article delivery◦ Rolling archives◦ ‘Seat-based’ pricing

Resource Discovery Systems◦ Goodbye to the A-Z …?

Removing the distinction between the ‘type’ of content – to just ‘content’◦ ‘Published’ – what does this mean?

How to reach the customer who is not physically in front of you

Mobile devices and apps◦ What, where, when, how, who, why

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Budgets often separated into ‘print’ and ‘e’◦ Books and journals?◦ E-books and e-journals?◦ Databases (full-text, A&I)?

Budgets shrinking or not keeping pace with journal inflation and continued full VAT on e-only products

Cost per use: value for money A resource, in whatever format, has to earn

its place

Authentication – proxy, Shibboleth, Athens Browser compatibility Digital Rights Management (DRM)

(Payment models …)

Licence agreements – contract law, complex Ts & Cs, interpretations, systems

Licensee responsibilities

PORTICO, CLOCKSS, etc.◦ “Digital preservation” & “electronic archiving”

Post-cancellation access (PCA) Definition of e-journal – ‘scholarly journal’ or

‘intellectual magazine’ only? Definition of digital content – music, images

and information to be downloaded or distributed electronically◦ Who is preserving all this? Do we have a role?

Usage should not represent the be all and end all, but data must be accessible◦ Think about how customers use the resource and

what that represents in terms of value Consider how best to manage this area

◦ Time, staffing, storage, usability COUNTER project The role of the subscription agent?

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Consortia are there to help – use them!◦ Discounted pricing◦ Central point for management of information◦ Strength in numbers, whether local or national◦ Products and services

Are the consortia negotiators now in competition with the subscription agents?

The Electronic Resource Management system, or ERM◦ Effective management of the e-resources life

cycle◦ One place to assemble all relevant data relating

to e-content (subscribed or not)◦ A home for links out to content, delivered through

RDS or OPAC◦ A commercial alternative to intranets and

spreadsheets to manage e-resources But ‘can they fix it’?

Acquisition (pricing, trials, licensing) Providing access (link resolvers, A-Z lists) Administration (URL maintenance, admin) Evaluation and monitoring (usage, user

feedback, software needs, incident log)

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Mark, on iconbug.com

http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/03/07/e-journal-preservation-and-archiving-whether-how-who-which-where-and-when/