Title: eBook Loans an etwist on a classic interlending service Bronwen Woods
1eBook Loans an e-twist on a classic
interlending serviceBronwen Woods Michael
Ireland, NRC-CISTI
- Presented by Michael Ireland to
- The 10th Interlending and Document Supply
Conference, - Singapore, October 30, 2007
2The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- eBook Loan Service project from the CISTI
perspective - Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
3About CISTI
4The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
5Books at the beginning
6Wild times in lending history
King Ptolemy III of Egypt borrows books for the
Library of Alexandria
7Electronic books
8Why eBook Loans?
- Current scholarly book access models are limited
- Purchase books or eBook
- License eBook collections
- Interlibrary loan
- eBook loans are more accessible and economic
- Cheaper than purchase or licensing eBooks
- More efficient than print interlibrary loans
9Current state of print book loans
End user-initiated orders
End user delivery
10The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
11Project Goals
12Challenges of the eBook Loan Project
- Solve the problem of how to loan e-books to
external clients - Barriers faced restrictive e-book licences and
publisher locks prevent affordable access for
temporary needs -
13Partnership to achieve a common goal
- CISTI out-of-the-box solution to the achieve
project goals by forming a collaborative
partnership with an e-book aggregator,
MyiLibrary. - MIL had the rights to disseminate e-books through
publisher agreement and could obtain ILL rights
and wanted to increase its reach.
14Collaborative project management across the world
-
- The project management process was unprecedented
for CISTI because it was partnering with a
commercial entity located on another continent.
15Project Risks
- Main risks and complexities associated with the
project from the CISTI perspective were - The co-development of a new library service model
with an external, commercial partner - The geographical and organizational distances
between the two parties - The loading of the publisher metadata onto the
CISTI Catalogue platform - Client acceptance of the new business model
- Internal service procurement issues
16The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
17Critical tasks
- In August 2006, a joint project team was
assembled at CISTI and MyiLibrary to produce a
new service model for lending e-books. - To embark on this joint venture, two tasks
critical to project success were completed - A client survey (summer 2006 )
- 59 of respondents said yes they were
interested in this service, sight unseen - An agreement was signed between CISTI and
MyiLibrary to implement the new service and share
in the investment
18Division of responsibility
- MyiLibrary was responsible for
- Negotiating with the publishers to offer this
loan service - Making necessary changes to their system
- Providing the publisher e-book metadata
- Marketing and client support (shared with CISTI)
- CISTI was responsible for
- Technology architecture planning and business
analysis - Metadata loading and management
- Website interface design input and translation
- Marketing and client support (shared with
MyiLibrary)
19Workflow
20The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
21Lessons learned Communications
- Problem At times, the distances and
preoccupations with other tasks resulted in slow
communications and delays. - Mitigation strategy The project steering
committee, which included executives from both
organizations provided support on decisions to
allow the project to move forward. - Learned Timely communications led to the
resolution of key project road-blocks.
22Lessons learnedLoading problems
- Problem Some diacritics and table of contents
publisher metadata provided by MyiLibrary was of
poor quality delaying Catalogue record loading. - Mitigation strategy MyiLibrary pinpointed the
problem as occurring in the source metadata
records. Some data was corrected on the spot
with more corrections promised in future loads. - Learned Given the relatively small number (6)
of records involved affecting findability and
with the promise of future metadata updates, the
project team decided to accept the status quo and
move ahead with project launch.
23Lessons learned Getting Publisher sign-on
- Problem Delays in signing publishers created
complications because the publisher e-book
records could not be displayed and offered to
clients until the publisher had signed. - Mitigation strategy CISTI loaded all of the
records but had to keep unsigned publisher
records suppressed from public view if they
were not signed. - Learned Because of the hard work of the
negotiators, MyiLibrary signed on some of the
worlds largest e-book publishers Springer,
Elsevier and Taylor and Francis before the
official launch.
24Lessons learned Authorizing users
- Problem CISTI and MyiLibrary had a
disagreement over authorizing end-users accessing
the eBooks. MyiLibrary wanted to create an
additional end user password login. CISTI
preferred not, wishing to put the emphasis on
client usability and the minimization of
barriers. MyiLibrary had a legitimate business
concern about unauthorized use and also wanted to
offer additional features to end-users - only
possible if they had their own password. - Mitigation strategy At the end, an agreement
was reached on having no additional login with an
understanding to re-visit the issue if there was
proven abuse. Currently all eBook loans expire
after four weeks and terms conditions state
they are for personal use only. - Lessons Partnership is about collaboration and
compromise.
25Best practices
- Creating use cases at the outset of the project
- Maintaining a shared project task list
- Keeping an issues log
- Incorporating client feedback for future updates
26Findings
- The project was a success because
- Produced a new eBook loan service where all the
stakeholders (CISTI, MyiLibrary, publishers,
clients, users) reached a common goal to improve
e-book accessibility. - CISTI, as a public sector organization, and
MyiLibrary, as a commercial enterprise, shared a
vision and carried it through to a successful
conclusion. - A project conducted virtually over two
continents succeeded in its goals and was
completed on time.
27The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
28Value Proposition for users
- eBook Loan Service allows the user to
- Find and obtain relevant scientific, technical,
medical, business and social science eBooks from
major e-book publishers - No mailing wait, download immediately from
email link to
web browser interface - Search and read eBook on line for 30 days
- Copy, paste and print a certain number of pages
29Value Propositions for libraries
- eBook loans allow libraries to
- Have immediate access
- Avoid mailing wait / no unfilled
- Borrow unlimited books
- Reduce loan processing costs
- Renew loans
- Forward eBooks to end users wherever they are
- Avoid recalls / late returns / lost books
- No annual eBook license or subscription required
30Advantage eBook Loans
NRC employees
31The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
32Conclusions
- The eBook Loan Service project and the
implementation of the service break the barriers
of time, distance and cost. - CISTI took a practical approach to increasing
access to e-books through a collaboration with an
aggregator and publishers. - Fair use / dealing issues for e-books are not
resolved by this service. The primary goal is to
improve client access to e-books beyond the
existing licensing and purchase models available.
33Next Steps
- Promote the service world-wide
- Facilitate other forms of payment beyond credit
cards, working with other organizations such as
OCLC - Expand the service to include more publishers and
other providers world-wide to ensure that users
have the fullest range of choice - Look for other opportunities to partner to
achieve our goals
34The CISTI eBook Loan Project Overview
- From opportunity to launch
- Why eBook Loans
- Project goals, challenges, risks
- Project tasks and workflow
- Project lessons learned, best practices and
findings - Benefits to users and libraries
- Conclusions Next steps
- How it works
35Open Shopping Cart Payment Server
36Select an eBook and put in shopping cart
37View Shopping Cart
38(No Transcript)
39Enter Payment Details
40Send Email to enduser
41Email to Payer
42Email to enduser
43Et Voila! eBook Loan display features
44Take away thought
- What technology often does is help us re-invent
situations which have already existed but are now
ready for modernisation - or moderation
- Graham Cornish, 2002
45Questions?
46Thank you
- Bronwen Woods
- Phone 613-990-9140
- Fax 613-952-8239
- bronwen.woods_at_nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
- Michael Ireland
- Phone 613-991-9988
- Fax613-993-0747
- michael.ireland_at_nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
- NRC-Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical
Information (CISTI)