Report on USTLG Summer
Meeting on E-Books, The Edward Boyle Library Conference Room, University of
Leeds
Thursday 19th
June 2003
Maree Green, University of
Salford
E-Books – Issues and
Challenges
Jill
Lambert, Aston University
Jill
began with a general paper on e-books based on the experiences at Aston since
e-books were introduced in 2001.
She
identified that there are currently 3 ways to read e-books but the most popular
way is via a desktop or laptop PC. In fact the JISC definition of an e-book is
an “online version of printed books, accessed via the Internet”.
Benefits to the libraries:
·
Saving on space (Aston like many libraries is already full)
·
Less clerical administration and no shelving
·
E-books cannot be lost, damaged or stolen. Aston have found there have
been less security incidents and vandalism of journals over the last 5 years
which they could attribute to the increase in e-journals, for there have been
the same incidence of damage to books.
Benefits to the users:
·
E-books provide convenient and instant access from the desktop for
distance learners, but it is important that they integrate with other
electronic resources.
·
There is a potential for improved searching facilities but they do need
to be designed appropriately. e.g. They can provide aids for additional needs
such as enlarged fonts
Problems:
·
Not every student is wired up. According to a recent survey many
students use institutional PCs.
· Although they may be more accessible to the distance learning student, the physical books may be more accessible on campus.
· E-books are costly and when asked at Aston many users replied that they didn’t think they are worth the money, although hardware costs are decreasing. VAT is payable and thus 17.5% is added onto everything, a cost that Aston finds substantial.
·
Users dislike reading extensive text on a screen and tend to print
quite frequently.
Issues in e-book development:
·
The University of Strathclyde has produced the EBONI (Electronic Books
ON-screen Interface) guidelines on e-book design. The two most significant
factors affecting design are the appearance of information on-screen and the
“look and feel” of e-book hardware. Users said that they lose orientation very
easily with an e-book so the project recommended a closed environment when leaving
so people would know where they are. The EBONI guidelines included items to
avoid a busy screen, hypertext links to improve navigation and cross
referencing, and other features such as book marking, highlighting and
annotating which students are not encouraged to do with physical books.
·
Content. There is a lack of availability in electronic format as
e-books are not yet at the same stage as the physical book. The market is
currently dominated by the US, although this is changing. Few textbooks are currently
available electronically so we must match the needs of the curriculum and
reading lists.
·
Often e-books include older editions of textbooks.
·
Books are not currently designed to be read on screen but this should
change in the long term.
Publisher’s economics issues:
·
Libraries often fear the instability of e-books e.g. When Aston were
just about to launch netLibrary in September 2001 it went into receivership and
was rescued by OCLC.
·
Publishers fear that students will stop buying books and use e-books
instead and then they would lose income. The aggregators may have to pay costs
of conversion.
·
There are lots of pricing models for e-books and Jill mentioned a range
of them, commenting that it was like “e-journals all over again”. There are
annual subscriptions with a site licence, “purchase” plus and annual access
fee, an annual subscription based on the number of titles, free titles, and a
three year subscription to the collection e.g. the new JISC e-books deal.
·
Publishers are controlling access to content with a number of different
models e.g. the complex “slot system” used by Safari, or the one book, one
reader model where a reader can borrow for a length of time used by netLibrary.
Challenges:
·
Identification of available e-books. There is no central repository for
e-books so the only way of finding out availability via contacts in other
institutions, promotional information, attending exhibitions and web-sites
listing e-books.
·
Selection. Academics need to support selection and promote its use.
·
Instigation with a receptive clientele, e.g. computer science students
as a target group.
·
Meeting publishers criteria e.g. there is no point subscribing if only
50 relevant titles are available out of a core number of 100.
·
Choosing appropriate collections which are core to the subject areas.
·
Considering free titles, although these titles may later disappear.
Service delivery issues:
·
Cataloguing
·
Ongoing publicity methods
·
Technical maintenance of the collection such as access and password
administration.
There are currently several JISC initiatives happening. The E-Books Working Group with representatives from both Higher and Further Education are looking at advice on collection priorities. JISC have launched their Electronic books collection which looks very encouraging, and there are four separate JISC studies of e-books going on.
Jill
concluded with a picture of empty shelves in a library. Although she believes
e-books have a good future in the library, it is unlikely they will completely
replace conventional books.
Electronic books at Aston
University
Amanda
Poulton and Frances Hall, Aston University
Amanda
and Frances followed on from Jill Lambert with their own experiences of e-books
at Aston.
Aston
is a comparatively small university with approximately 6,000 students and the
subject areas are focused. The positive response to the e-journals collection
encouraged them to expand into e-books.
Budgets
at Aston are calculated according to a formula taking into account student
numbers, etc and in close consultation with academic staff. Some subject areas
have enough left in budgets to fund new services whilst others do not.
Therefore, Engineering and Applied Science have used a Development Fund to fund
new services. This is only a temporary solution as the funding has to be found
for recurrent years.
Aston
currently has access to netLibrary, CRC Press Handbooks, and three Wiley
chemistry encyclopaedias. They decided to purchase these e-books for a number
of reasons:
netLibrary,
which they have had 2 years, is their oldest e-book service. A big factor in
its acquisition was the large book budget available in Computer Science. The
information specialist chose the initial 82 individual book titles for
inclusion (which with some duplicate copies totaled 100 books) and extra books
have been purchased since.
Access
is by Athens username and password and there are facilities to search within a
book, have bookmarks, print and save. netLibrary monitor for suspicious usage
and expect users to keep within copyright.
Usage
monitoring shows that a third of the books bought in 2001/2 have been accessed
10 or more times. However there is no way of distinguishing how effectively
items are being used. The most popular titles have been well used compared to
print stock.
The
peak time for usage seems to be around October and November when information
skills classes are being held, but it is promising that the next highest usage
is in January to March when classes are not taking place and students have used
them alone.
Last
summer Aston took out a year subscription to CRC Press from their Development
Fund when they were offering price discounts. Through this deal they took a
package of titles for which they had no choice. This meant some titles were
already in print stock at Aston but they also gained a huge amount. There are
however different deals available from CRC.
They
had difficulty with off campus access as it is an IP authenticated service.
However they found out later that it is possible to apply for a password.
ENGnetBASE
is available within Engineering Village 2 and hence searchable via Compendex.
They
are concerned that, unlike netLibrary, usage of CRC Press has tailed off outside
information skills classes.
The
three year subscription to Wiley encyclopaedias was again taken from their
Development Fund. The titles are very specific focused titles and each
encyclopaedia must be searched individually on its own website. There were no
problems with access off campus as it is an Athens/IP authenticated service.
Usage
has been more encouraging, for despite being lower than CRC and netLibrary it
has been sustained and it is a very specific focused area.
The
following free e-book services have been promoted by Aston as they are relevant
to their service:
PubMed bookshelf. This service has been very
well received at Aston as it seems to be quite stable and has approximately
doubled in size. However the most current editions of textbooks are not always
available.
FreeBooks4Doctors. This provides a gateway to
other sites.
netLibrary's free
collection. This
has some use for the Languages department at Aston but is not as useful as the
main netLibrary collection.
Promotion of e-books:
·
E-books have been included as a major part of information skills
sessions at Aston this year.
·
Most of the services have been included on the catalogue, except for
CRC Press due to the length of the contract.
·
netLibrary has been integrated into a first year module as a case
study, as requested by a member of academic staff.
·
Emails have been sent to staff and students as new titles are added, a
library newsletter is sent to academic staff
·
All the services, both free and paid, can be accessed from the list on
the library website.
Reactions
to e-books at Aston have generally been favourable, though on the whole
students prefer to read print versions. Students ask mainly for reading list
items. Academic staff often perceive that money goes further with print.
Aston's concerns about
e-books:
1. They may be unable to
sustain provision e.g. they need to find a long term budget solution in order
to keep CRC Press.
2. It is not always possible to
buy what is being requested or is on reading lists, only what is available.
3. The e-books may be old
editions, and each title must be checked individually as it is not easy to
tell.
4. In peak usage periods some
users may lose patience as they are turned away, whilst the service may be
unused during other periods.
5. If services are cancelled
there may be no archives available.
6. There are also some
restrictions and additional costs on downloading and printing on some services.
However,
e-books are popular with students and staff and have many benefits that balance
the concerns and Aston intend to expand their e-book collection in the future.
Promoting the uptake of
e-books in further and higher education
Linda
Bennett, Independent Researcher
Linda
is working on one of four JISC e-book projects currently running. She is looking
at promoting the update of e-books in UK further and higher education and would
like feedback from academic institutions to help with this research.
The
objectives of the project are:
1. To ensure that e-books are
taken up and exploited as fully and as soon as possible in HE and FE. A manual
is being developed on this as it is quite disparate in HE and FE.
2. To define the role of all
stakeholders in ensuring that e-books can be readily discovered and assessed.
The supply chain is quite difficult and imperfect and academics don’t often
appear in it, yet they are the most powerful. In recent interviews only one
academic out of 68 had used an e-book. Others were interested but had had no
communication from publishers. Hence they find it difficult to recommend
e-books.
JISC have now widened the scope of the project
allowing academics to complete questionnaires in order to receive first hand
information.
3. To recommend means by which
e-books can be promoted effectively across HE and FE sectors. Publishers have been
very slow to promote e-books and some universities promote e-books well whilst
others have poor or indifferent practices.
The
focus of the project is on short term practical measures and the output will be
a formal written report and a practical guide. Case studies will be included.
The
terms of reference of the project are:
1. To assess the demand for
e-books within the sector and at institutional level.
2. An assessment of e-book
distribution.
3. Promotion of e-books within
the sector.
The
situation is rather confusing as no one has a complete overview of e-books.
The
major problem is that publishers are generally not interested in providing
e-textbooks. Even Safari, who are 6 months old, provide computing books which
are half way through their life.
The
project will be addressed by four team panels. These cover:
·
E-book technology and applications – led by Andrew Weinstein.
·
Publishing, marketing and distribution of e-books and related issues –
led by Michael Holdsworth
·
Supply chain, metadata and related issues – led by Brian Green
·
E-books from a teaching and learning perspective: current views and
future requirements – led by Huw Morris. They are looking at Blackboard and
WebCT and the long term learning effects on students.
Linda
requested the following help:
·
Contacts from organisations
·
User statistics. These are difficult to produce as many e-book
suppliers’ statistics are not very good. netLibrary provides some of the best.
·
User feedback. She has received some interesting anecdotal customer
feedback details and found that different students use e-books in different
ways. e.g. at UWE mature students did not remember an e-books session they were
given, at the University of Huddersfield students were dubious about using
e-books and 20 students had no internet access. Some students did not like the
idea of an article in a VLE regarding this as for lazy students and preferring
a full book, whilst some disabled students would find it entirely impossible to
do a course without e-books.
·
Details of your existing or intended approaches to promoting e-books.
e.g. at the University of Strathclyde students are looking at making e-books
more visible which will feed into this project.
She
was to forward copies of the academic questionnaires to attendees.
Knovel: beyond e-books
Chris
Gibson, John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Chris
is a Science Subject Specialist at John Rylands with a year and a half
experience of working with Knovel.
He
ended the day with a very enthusiastic demonstration of Knovel showing that
Knovel:
·
Provides increasing functionality and added value in an e-book.
·
Is a web interface to full text contents of reference works in
approximately 15 different subject areas in science and engineering.
·
Provides current editions, and intends to retain information from
superseded editions.
·
Provides approximately 35% of its content as interactive titles
including interactive tables, graphs and equations which can be retrieved,
manipulated and exported to a variety of standard packages e.g. Excel and Word.
·
Can take graphs that occur in different parts of a publication and
superimpose onto the same graph.
·
Is appropriate for scientists, engineers, technicians, students,
information professionals or anyone who is interested in hard data and full text
information.
·
Includes 140 different categories for searching. Searches retrieve
variations in spellings including plurals and Knovel indexes every single part
of a publication including the indexes. It automatically searches for synonyms
enhancing retrieval.
·
Provides content in standard PDF and HTML formats with links within
records and tables, and full text searching.
·
Has introduced a unit converter which is a useful time saver.
·
Has chemical structures available in some tables, giving huge time
saving benefits
·
Authorizes an unlimited number of concurrent users so there is no
problem with users being turned away.
Chris
used the example of a molecular weight query to demonstrate how its interactive
features add value to the content and save time for end users. Tables can be
modified and customized and column orders changed and sorted. Equation
plotters, graph digitizers or graph plotters can be used for graphical
representation of the query.
He
used the example of the vapour pressure of phenol to demonstrate a keyword
search. The results are in relevance order by number of hits. He was able to
click on an equation plotter symbol and automatically calculate the formula for
vapour pressure as a graph. The values on the graph could be resized or the
graph could be changed to linear plot, grid lines added, or it could be output
to a standard format such as Excel.
Subscriptions
are based on the number of full time equivalents in an institution. Chris
expressed his concern as he feels this seems unfair on institutions with, for
example, a large arts faculty. It would be more sensible if it were based on
Science and Engineering student numbers.
Benefits of Knovel:
1. Saves time.
Quality answers to science and engineering questions
can be retrieved in seconds rather than hours. Thus users can reinvest hours
into research and learning.
The interactive features support data analysis and
enable output to standard packages. Knovel say that 75% of usage is on research
and analysis.
Particularly useful is the availability of both
on-campus and 24/7 remote access
It provides a better return on its investment
compared to the book due to its user friendly interface.
2. Enables better decisions
It provides access to a critically selected
collection of high quality publications such as the International Critical
Tables and Perry’ s Handbook from recognized publishers such as Elsevier and
McGraw Hill. These include conference proceedings, key texts, databases,
solvent properties databases, etc.
The unique capacity to cross-search aggregated
content from multiple publishers and by multiple access routes such as browsing
by subject, title or book type, retrieves more concise and comprehensive
answers to solve problems.
3. Effective customer support
The comprehensive monthly usage reporting helps
management decide which packages to cancel, promote or new packages to take.
When identifying new titles Knovel listen carefully to the user base.
The dedicated technical support and training by both
phone and web is very good. Demonstrations are frequent and free of charge and
monthly newsletters provided.
4. Increases efficiency
Money can be saved by rationalizing the acquisition
of multiple copies of print publications and new editions across satellite
libraries and offices around the university.
Staff time can be saved through ordering and
processing print equivalents and answering reference enquiries.
Knovel
is highly regarded by major subscribers. 25% of subscriptions to Knovel are
currently from academia (mainly USA), 75% from many important commercial
companies and 5% from government customers.
There
is a wealth of free information available from Knovel.
Chris
ended by encouraging us to promote and make use of this free access and a free
trial.