More Licenses, More Problems: How to Talk to Your Users About Why eBooks are Terrible

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 2:05 PM–2:55 PM CDT

Room 301

Conference Track

Keywords

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to consider the implementation of this eBook licensing model in an academic context. What were the major technical, vendor, and licensing hurdles faced in implementing this project? What are the implications of this new ownership model for collections costs and access?,

Participants will gain concrete insights regarding user take-up of borrowable eBooks through discussion of user perceptions, as well as usage statistics and patterns across the consortium during the first 6 months of the project’s implementation.

Abstract

In 2013, the OCUL consortium purchased scholarly eBook collections with much stricter DRM. This session will explore the implications of this new model on technological support and infrastructure within the consortium, and will examine usage data and user feedback to illustrate how library users are accessing (or not accessing) borrowable eBooks.