Business Models for E-Books A Look into the Future

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Business Models for E-BooksA Look into the
Future

• David Ball
• UKSG Conference 2007

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Summary

• Digital natives
• Current student use of electronic resources
• The new ecology - virtual learning environments
  (VLEs)
• Outcomes of the SUPC tender investigations
• Where do we go from here?

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The Digital Natives

• The average 21-year-old has
• Spent 5,000 hours video-gaming
• Sent 250,000 emails/messages
• Spent 10,000 hours on a mobile phone
• Spent 3,000 hours online
• Their preference is for sharing, staying
  connected, instantaneity, multi-tasking,
  assembling random information into patterns, and
  using technology in new ways. - Marc Prensky

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The Digital Immigrants

• Are less likely to have
• An iPod or equivalent
• Posted material on the web
• Created a blog or profile on MySpace
• Downloaded content such as music, film
• Taken a picture with a mobile phone

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Student Use of E-Resources

• Tenopirs survey of surveys shows drivers
• Young users inhabiting electronic world
• Convenience desk top, speed, save/print
• Health science library usage
• 28,000 full text downloads 1800 uses of print
  (Morse and Clintworth)
• Bournemouth University
• 128 rise in full-text downloads over 4 years
• Heavy undergraduate use of journal articles
• 72 of nursing students last access from home

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Bournemouth E-Journal Statistics
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Bournemouth E-Book StatisticsEbrary Aug 2006
Mar 2007

• Logins 24,121
• Book views 38,611
• Titles viewed 9893
• Pages viewed 476,102
• Pages copied/printed 26,789
• Background Academic Complete Collection of ca.
  38k titles, not in OPAC

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Bournemouth E-Books StatisticsLessons

• 1.6 book views per login probably 2-2.5
  allowing for null searches?
• 20 pages viewed per login probably more
  allowing for null searches
• 1.1 pages copied/printed per login
• Over 10 of book issues
• Killer statistic 26 of titles have been viewed
  not in OPAC, not on reading lists

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Recent US Research on Undergraduate Usage of
E-books

• Students prefer e-journal articles to e-books
  shorter
• Key factor is electronic availability, not
  publication type
• Students read e-books very selectively, not cover
  to cover
• Students are unfamiliar with the OPAC, preferring
  the web
• (Hernon et al.)

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Memo to Publishers

• If your content is not available electronically
  students wont use it, much less buy it. If
  students are not using hard copy, libraries will
  not buy it.
• No reading list should have more than two titles
  on it. Learning is problem/ project/work based.
  new head of business school

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Virtual Learning Environments

• The components in which learners and tutors
  participate in online interactions of various
  kinds, including online learning
• Controlled access to curriculum
• Tracking student activity and achievement
• Support of on-line learning
• Communication between the learner, the tutor and
  others
• Links to other administrative systems

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VLE as a Transformational Technology

• Digital natives
• Digital learning environment
• Interactions with lecturers, other learners and
  administrators will be increasingly by electronic
  means
• Core learning resources created by lecturers will
  be available through VLE
• Students expectation will be for all learning
  resources to be so
• MyBU

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Integrating into the VLE - 1

• Pathways to information
• VLE as one-stop-shop
• Use of library catalogues/portals will decline
• Embed/link to resources at point of need
• Encourage use of wide variety of resources
• Re-engineer information architecture

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Integrating into the VLE - 2

• Interaction with students
• Exploit VLE functionality and structures
• Integrate into courses, units at point of need
• Use quizzes, discussion boards
• Virtual classroom for remote students

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The Position Today

• Existing heavy use of e-journals by
  undergraduates
• Electronic medium the norm for students social
  and leisure pursuits
• Electronic medium becoming primary in HE
• Need for e-book content

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E-Books Problems and Obstacles

• Lack of a clear open standard for operating
  systems
• Fears about the protection of content and the
  rights of the content owner in the context of
  giving users flexibility
• Lack of appropriate content in suitable
  quantities
• Pricing of titles, software and hardware
• Lack of integration into the general market for
  books. (Herther)

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SUPC E-Books Tender

• Developing market place
• Virtual Learning Environments
• Fluid business models
• Mimic hard-copy business models
• Trend towards bundling/Big Deal
• Avoid what happened with e-journals
• Publishers determined business models
• Price tied to historical hard-copy spend

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Preparing the Specification

• Aim to provide agreements that
• Were innovative and flexible
• Exploited the electronic medium fully
• Focused on users needs not libraries
• Encouraged the addition of library-defined
  content
• Two distinct requirements
• Requirement A a hosted e-book service from
  which institutions can purchase or subscribe to
  individual titles
• Requirement B a hosted e-book service of
  content that is specified by the institutions

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List Price?

• The 3 general aggregators offer pricing based on
  publishers list price
• 1190 common titles from 4 publishers were
  compared
• Many titles have no common list price in e-form
• Average e-book price for the common titles varied
  from 99.9 to 102.2, a spread of 2.3

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Prices Hard Copy vs. E

• One aggregator, offering outright purchase and
  only 1 simultaneous user, allowing for discounts
  and VAT
• E-book 155 of list price
• Hard copy 85 of list price
• E-book is 82 more expensive
• Book budget buys 45 less e-books than hard-copy
  books

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Relative Pricing (Requirement A)

• Purchase of 1500 titles
• Least expensive 63 of most expensive
• Subscription over 3 years to 1500 titles
• Least expensive a fraction of most expensive
• Most expensive allows only single-user access
• Other models one concurrent user (hard copy) up
  to ca.320 accesses to title each year

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Bespoke Subject Collections(Requirement B)

• First subject nursing others to be determined
• Core lists of 200 and 600 titles prepared by 4
  universities and the Royal College of Nursing
• Only general aggregators interested
• Maximum of 13 available from any one
• Aggregators have agreements with some of main
  publishers

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E-Textbooks?

• Obvious advantages for libraries no multiple
  copies or SLCs, staff savings
• BUT 80 of publishers textbook revenue is from
  individuals - not available
• How many list titles are textbooks how many are
  recommended reading?
• Malign influence of US textbook-based reaching?

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Contract Award

• Requirement A Ebrary and Proquest Safari
• Offer innovative models, value for money,
  flexibility and academic content of interest to
  members
• Exploit electronic medium in terms of granularity
  and multi-user access
• Requirement B Ebrary
• Flexibility and willingness to work openly
• Disappointing progress

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JISC E-books Observatory Project

• 3-year project 2007-2009
• License collections relevant to courses in
  business, engineering, medicine, media
• Make collections available from Sept 07 to Sept
  09
• Deep log analysis Jan-Dec 2008
• (See http//www.jiscebooksproject.org/)

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Future Business Models

• Publishers and intermediaries (incl. libraries)
  have to provide what the end-user wants
• Electronic, electronic, electronic
• Focused on users perceptions and culture
• Focused on content not publication type
• Enabling personalisation
• Single easy interface for search and retrieval

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Future Business Models/2

• Models must be acceptable to and viable for
  publishers, intermediaries and end-users
• Models must be adjusted to VLEs as the
  predominant means of delivery
• Boundaries will shift e.g. textbooks to course
  cartridges

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Books Were Us

• When simple change becomes transformational
  change, the desire for continuity becomes a
  dysfunctional mirage - The Mirage of Continuity
  (1999) Hawkins Battin
• To remain what it is, the library must change .
  . . if it does not change, it will not remain
  what it is - David Penniman, University at
  Buffalo

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But what do you think?
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References

• R. Everett MLEs and VLEs explained, London,
  JISC, (2002). Available at http//www.jisc.ac.uk
  /index.cfm?namemle_briefings_1
• P. Hernon et al. E-book Use by Students
  undergraduates in economics, literature and
  nurisng, Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33
  (1), pp. 3-13 (2007)
• N.K. Herther. The E-book Industry Today a
  bumpy road becomes an evolutionary path to market
  maturity, The Electronic Library, 23(1), pp.
  45-53, (2005).
• D.H. Morse, W.A. Clintworth. Comparing Patterns
  of Print and Electronic Journal Use in an
  Academic Health Science Library, Issues in
  Science and Technology Librarianship, 28, (2000).
  Available at http//www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/00
  -fall/refereed.html
• C. Tenopir. Use and Users of Electronic Library
  Resources an overview and analysis of recent
  research studies, Washington, Council on Library
  and Information Resources, (2003). Available at
  http//www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub120/pub120.pdf