American Libraries: Dispatches from the Field

Coming to TERMS

George Eberhart — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:10:01 +0000

May 2013

By Jill Emery and Graham Stone

Sharing expertise in electronic resources management

Two decades after the advent of electronic journals and databases, librarians are still grappling with ways to best manage e-resources. These times of economic austerity are also creating budgetary pressures at many institutions of higher education, with the result that librarians must continually justify their spending on collections and resource management.

Techniques for Electronic Resource Management (TERMS) began in 2008 after we began discussing electronic resource management (ERM), current ERM tools, the lack of consistency in practices, and missing features in the available systems. As a set of guidelines, TERMS seeks to become a reference point for those who are new to ERM, those who have suddenly shifted job functions to oversee ERM, and those who are looking for recommendations.

After swapping ideas between library organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom on what ERM actually means, we came up with six TERMS, started working on a draft document, and created a plan for a crowdsourcing review. During 2012, the latest draft was migrated to a wiki in order to be shared, monitored, and updated by librarians throughout the world. With input from the field, we wrote the Library Technology Report titled “Techniques for Electronic Resource Management.”

The wiki received positive feedback from librarians in the United States, Brazil, India, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, and as a result, several librarians have offered to work on six segments of future versions of the wiki as open peer reviewers:

TERMS 1: Investigating new content for purchase or addition. Assigned to Ann Kucera, Baker College, Flint, Michigan.
TERMS 2: Acquiring new content. Assigned to Nathan Hosburgh, Montana State University, Bozeman.
TERMS 3: Implementation. Assigned to Stephen Buck, Dublin City University, Ireland.
TERMS 4: Ongoing evaluation and access. Assigned to Anita Wilcox, University College Cork, Ireland.
TERMS 5: Annual review. Assigned to Anna Franca, King’s College, London, United Kingdom.
TERMS 6: Cancellation and replacement review. Assigned to Eugenia Beh, Texas A&M University, College Station.

In 2012, TERMS was endorsed by the Knowledge Base+ project in the United Kingdom, a project of JISC Collections made up of a set of “workflow management tools related to the selection, review, renewal, and cancellation of publications.” It has also received interest in the United States from GOKb (Global Open Knowledgebase) managed by Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment), a community of nine research libraries working together to build an open-source system designed by and for academic and research libraries that will manage and deliver intellectual information.

TERMS was used in 2011 as a teaching aid by Galadriel Chilton at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to establish a key framework for its ERM class. The library community at large has been interested in the development of in-person presentations on TERMS, and so the authors have sought feedback at such library events as the Electronic Resources and Libraries conference in the US and the LIBER conference in Europe.

The wiki entries will develop as new formats evolve and next-generation web-scale management systems become more widely adopted. TERMS is already showing that the content in each of the six wiki pages is useful for preparing electronic resources managers to map and understand the e-resources cycle, enabling seamless access for patrons and creating efficiencies in the e-resources workflow.

JILL EMERY is collection development librarian at Portland (Oreg.) State University. GRAHAM STONE is information resources manager at the University of Huddersfield, UK. This article is excerpted from the February/March 2013 issue of Library Technology Reports.

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The Tao of Tablets

George Eberhart — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:38:32 +0000

March/April 2013

By Rebecca K. Miller, Carolyn Meier, and Heather Moorefield-Lang

Mobile phones, personal electronic devices, and tablet computers have infiltrated most corners of the academic library. Although many institutions are interested in exploring these new technologies, some are focusing on tablet computers in particular to enhance and even reimagine their services to better support their communities. Library and information professionals who are finding ways to integrate tablets into their workflow include those working in access services, reference, instruction, collection management, information technologies, technical services, assessment, development, administration, and other departments.

The late Melvin Kranzberg, a historian at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, famously developed “Kranzberg’s six laws of technology,” which summarize the roles technology has played in society throughout history. Kranzberg’s first law states: “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” He essentially suggests it will always have an impact. Gathering information about library projects with tablets, we’ve seen that they have become an essential technology for keeping reference and instructional services fresh and relevant.

Furthermore, it is critical that we view the tablet computer not as a shiny new toy but as a component in the evolution of our services and in the continuing value we provide to our communities. We use them for a wide range of projects underway in our libraries. Whether enhancing research instruction or allowing librarians to roam around campus or make rounds with physicians, tablets have delivered a solution that no other technological tool has been able to rival.

We are barely two years into the tablet revolution and the “post-PC era,” as Steve Jobs dubbed this new age of personal computing devices. The convergent evolution of both tablets and academic library services is happening quickly, with innovations in the two areas emerging on a regular basis.

Yet we are only at the beginning. Mobile devices are changing the way consumers access information and the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly connected and digital world. Through the ongoing evolution of reference and instructional services, libraries are helping their users cope with and thrive in the mobile world.

Dave Parry wrote in the March/April 2011 Educause Review, “The mobile internet changes not only how we teach, but what it means to be knowledgeable and educated in our culture.” Academic and school librarians have long sensed this and are rising to this set of challenges by investing in new technologies, integrating them into library services and classrooms, and supporting their faculty and students as they work through what it means to be information literate in a mobile society. The following studies are included in full in the December 2012 Library Technology Report on tablets:

Librarians at McGill University held workshops to help faculty and students use their tablets and other mobile devices effectively and innovatively.
At San Diego State University, a tablet community that developed across library departments to foster creativity and collaboration is planning new services.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign deployed tablets for curricular use in a first-year undergraduate learning community during the fall 2011 semester.

These experiments and others underway at other institutions (perhaps including yours) pave the way for greater changes to come.

REBECCA K. MILLER, CAROLYN MEIER, and HEATHER MOOREFIELD-LANG are librarians at Virginia Tech and editors of the December 2012 Library Technology Report, “Rethinking Reference and Instruction with Tablets.”

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Social Media?

George Eberhart — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:04:20 +0000

November / December 2012

By David Lee King

Using online tools to improve service

Are efforts to use social media worth it? Indeed, they are. I see many reasons for libraries—or practically any other organization—to use these tools.

Listening

Listening comes first. Before your library starts “talking back” online, set up listening tools to see and hear what customers are saying about you, your services, and your community. Listening tools are easy to establish. For starters, create a search in Twitter for your library’s name (for example, “topekalibrary” and “topeka library” for the Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library). Save that search. Now, whenever someone uses those keywords in a tweet, you’ll see it (assuming you revisit that search in your Twitter reader of choice). Next, set up and save an advanced Twitter search for the word “library” and the name of your town or city. When someone uses the word “library” in your vicinity, they may be talking about you. You can set up similar searches in Google Alerts and subscribe to those alerts via email or RSS. When a new search result appears, you will be notified.

Using Twitter and Google Alerts helps you learn what customers are saying and how they interact with your library. Use this information as an informal focus group. Once you’re comfortable with social media, start answering questions that pop up.

Communicating

Social media is called “social” for a reason. It enables communication. Using social media tools through the acts of friending and following gives your organization direct access to customers. This is huge. If people choose to follow you, it’s because they like your organization and want to stay updated. Your library needs to follow through by providing interesting information.

Answering

Answer questions as they arise. You’ll see two types of questions: direct and indirect. Direct questions are asked by a customer via social media. Your role, obviously, is to answer the question. You’ll also want to exceed customer expectations by answering their indirect questions. These are questions your customers directed to their friends via social media. You may see them through your listening tools or because you also follow their friend.

Sharing new stuff

Have a new service at the library? Have a fun event coming up? Share it via social media. Tweet it, make a short YouTube video about it. Add it to Facebook Events. Share photos of the event on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. After seeing the posts, people who missed the event may come next time. If it’s a service, share what you’re doing and why—and invite people to use it.

Sharing staff and personality

It takes real people to answer questions. When real people talk to customers, their personalities come out, quirks and all. This holds true with social media. And that’s okay, because sharing a little personality here and there makes you seem real, and people like that. The other side of this idea is training. Some staff will be comfortable being themselves online in an organizational setting, while others will need some training on how to interact in a positive, purposeful manner when using an organizational social media account.

Being “alive” online

When an organization actively participates in social networks, it shows that someone is interacting with customers. Everyone would agree that asking a question and receiving no response does not encourage someone to ask another question. Why bother? Responses make your social media account seem alive and worth following. Assuming you do a good job at it, it also makes the library seem active and worth following.

DAVID LEE KING is digital services director for the Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library. He cowrites the American Libraries column Outside/In and is author of Face2Face. This article is excerpted from the Aug./Sept. 2012 issue of Library Technology Reports.

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The RFID Opportunity

George Eberhart — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:28:54 +0000

September/October 2012

By Lori Bowen Ayre

In March, the National Information Standards Organization adopted RFID in US Libraries (RP-6-2012), establishing ISO 28560-2 as the recommended practices for coding data on the RFID tags used in libraries for shelving, circulation, sorting, inventory, security, and interlibrary loans. The final adoption of this data model is a big step toward standardization and interoperability among RFID suppliers.

These guidelines recommend installing the RFID tag early in the life cycle of the book. The tag could then be used by publishers, distributors, and libraries alike, as well as secondary markets (used-book stores, for example).

As more libraries and vendors adopt the standard, tags from one library could be used in other libraries for both identification and security. Libraries could also buy components from any compliant vendor and everything would work together. Gradually, additional functionality will be supported as adoption spreads and library system (ILS) vendors develop interfaces that support the new capabilities.

Realizing these expanded opportunities in RFID technology, however, requires three additional steps.

Removing legacy barriers

Vendors may seek ways to differentiate their products, now that the new standard has rendered their proprietary solutions obsolete. The following are examples of seemingly attractive enhancements that in fact undermine interoperability:

Vendor-specific encrypting and encoding of the data;
Proprietary security functions;
Software or firmware that is system dependent and can be used only with specific tags.

When designing your library’s RFID system, recognize that moving backward from interoperable to proprietary puts you in a potentially dangerous and costly situation. These so-called enhancements are not worth that risk.

Verifying compliance

Libraries need to identify an affordable service to verify that they are purchasing compliant tags, that their implementation of the data model is compliant, and that each vendor’s encoding is compliant. Such a service provider must be an objective third party (not an RFID vendor). The service must be available to libraries for testing a vendor’s tags both before and after encoding and for developing a compliant implementation plan. A discussion on how US libraries can verify compliance is now essential.

Envisioning new uses

Most library RFID tags contain the barcode number and not much more, even though there is room for additional data. Prior to the new model, it was understandable that libraries were reluctant to extend the use of RFID. But now it’s time to think creatively about how to use tags to optimize workflows and deliver such new services as eliminating routing slips, developing new library apps, sorting books without an ILS connection, and optimizing interlibrary loan and acquisition transactions.

Extending RFID functions will require new communication protocols with the ILS. Partnering with libraries in the United Kingdom may be the quickest way to make progress in this area. There, Book Industry Communication (BIC) has been leading an effort to establish the BIC Library Communications Framework (BLCF) to improve communication between ILS and RFID systems. The BLCF is an excellent way to provide all libraries worldwide with a roadmap for developing the new protocols and interfaces that will take us even further down Interoperability Road.

LORI BOWEN AYRE is a library technology consultant and head of the Galecia Group. This article is excerpted from the July 2012 issue of Library Technology Reports.

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A New World of Data

Beverly Goldberg — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:00:00 +0000

July/August 2012

By Karen Coyle

Populating the Semantic Web

The world today is clearly not that of our library predecessors, of Melvil Dewey and Charles Ammi Cutter, not even of Seymour Lubetzky or Michael Gorman. The changes that have taken place since the introduction of the personal computer and the globalization of communication over the World Wide Web are huge, and they affect in particular anyone involved in knowledge research and creation.

With the visible speed-up of all forms of information resources, even those that are ostensibly in traditional offline formats, doubts are growing about the ability of libraries to afford the costs of hand-hewn bibliographic control today and in the future.

Linking and federating

What if you extrapolate from developments within library systems, such as federated searching, enhanced catalogs, and OpenURL, to the idea of libraries on the web? Through federated searching, we have learned how to create displays that combine different types of data, which our users navigate without great difficulty. Next, we know that we can enhance the user experience by linking out to select web-based resources. These resources may not be 100% reliable, but the risk is manageable. Libraries have formed trust relationships with information providers—proof that linking does not have to be entirely uncontrolled or open. And finally, we are already seeing the advantages of moving discovery beyond the library catalog to other environments where the user is searching and interacting.

This evolution of library catalogs is like a dress rehearsal for moving library data from its storage silo in library systems and databases to the web of linked data. Through the Semantic Web, library data will link to select other data sources in order to provide more value and services for users. Conversely, other users and resources will be able to link to library data, thus making library data discoverable from a variety of points in web space. As information creation moves to the cloud, so will library services, not because libraries create their own cloud but because there will be no separation between libraries and the web.

The Semantic Web

Like the World Wide Web, the Semantic Web is about linking, but it adds the linking of data, not just documents. It also changes the nature of the link: Whereas the link between documents has no meaning other than “link,” in the Semantic Web, the links themselves have a specific meaning. Consider this citation example: In a standard document, a citation is simply a number in the text and a bibliographic citation at the end of the page. You don’t know why the author is citing that work other than what you can glean from the surrounding text. Using the richly semantic links of the Semantic Web, you could characterize each citation with a meaning such as “cites as evidence,” “disagrees with,” or “extends.” (Those examples are from an actual Semantic Web vocabulary, CiTO, or Citation Typing Ontology.)

The Semantic Web will develop in two ways: First, by linking information that exists within documents, and second, by making the data itself accessible on the web. The ability to mark up information in documents could allow smarter access to that information than we get with keyword searching. For example, markup could identify the author of a document so that an author search could be done, something search engines do not provide today.

The second method of populating the Semantic Web is that of adding actual data sets to the web, as represented by the growing linked data cloud (see linkeddata.org). It is of most interest at the moment to libraries because the library catalog itself qualifies as data that can become part of the linked data cloud.

KAREN COYLE, library technology consultant, wrote “Linked Data Tools: Connecting on the Web” in the May/June issue of Library Technology Reports.

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Apple Product News: The Spin for Libraries

Greg Landgraf — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:44:14 +0000

May/June 2012

By Jason Griffey

Recent announcements from Apple have library implications

In March, Apple announced the latest product in the evolution of what it calls the post-PC computing world, and called it simply “the new iPad.” While almost exactly the same shape, the new iPad is heavier because of a battery with a far larger capacity. The extra capacity was needed because of two key differences that distinguish it from previous versions: a Retina Display and LTE.

Retina Display is Apple’s name for a screen that is so dense that individual pixels aren’t visible—giving the screen the illusion of solid colors, crisp text, and incredible picture quality. It debuted on the iPhone 4, but the new iPad’s resolution is 2048 by 1536, higher than most computer monitors but at a much smaller size. With a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch, the screen appears very much like a printed page.

LTE is short for Long Term Evolution, the next generation of cellular connectivity beyond 3G. LTE is shockingly fast where it is available, often as fast or faster than standard Wi-Fi. (In tests with my iPad in two different LTE cities, I was showing download speeds of more than 20 Mbps.)

Apple Configurator

An announcement made the same day will likely help libraries deal with Apple devices. Using the Apple Configurator for OS X Lion, users can configure and deploy iOS devices in three ways:

Create a standard installation for devices, including the version of iOS to install, the apps installed, and the data synced.
Manage existing devices to be “cleaned” after each use by reinstalling to a default setting every time they are plugged in; perfect for libraries that wish to circulate iOS devices.
Assign devices to specific users and manage that user’s interactions with the device, applicable to staff use of iOS devices.

For more information, see the Configurator documentation.

Apple and Textbooks

In January 2012, Apple announced its entry into the world of electronic textbooks.

The company is providing tools for making electronic textbooks with embedded rich media and selling them in the iBooks store for the iPad. It has also partnered with three of the largest producers of textbooks in the United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson.

Apple announced three different software products as well: iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U for iPad. IBooks 2 gives you access to the textbook store and has such features as highlighting and note taking, built-in definitions, lesson reviews, and study cards. The iTunes U app is a shortcut into the iTunes U portal for free curricular content from a number of colleges and universities across the world. But iBooks Author is perhaps the most interesting of the products, allowing users to create media-rich ebooks for the iBooks store or exportable to PDF or TXT files without the fancy media embeds. Unfortunately for everyone, Apple chose not to support the emerging ePub3 standard for import and export.

This is an Apple-only playground for the time being, with no import facilities at all. You start from a template and build out an ebook using tools similar to Apple’s Keynote presentation software: It’s by far the best interface I’ve seen for creating complicated ebooks.

IBooks Author has also generated controversy because of its End-User Licensing Agreement. The EULA stipulates that any fee-based work must be distributed through Apple, subject to its approval and a separate written agreement.

The EULA locks authors into distribution via the iBooks store, which means that libraries and librarians are going to be cut out of purchasing them for collections in any real way. On the other hand, it means that if libraries themselves want to produce tools to help users and distribute them for free, they can easily and quickly do so with iBooks Author.

JASON GRIFFEY is associate professor and head of library information technology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This article is excerpted from the April 2012 issue of Library Technology Reports.

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Bridging the Digital Divide with Mobile Services

Greg Landgraf — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:26:54 +0000

January/February 2012

By Andromeda Yelton

This piece is excerpted from the January 2012 issue of Library Technology Reports. You can purchase the full issue on the ALA Store.

Google “smartphone user.” Click on Images. What do you see?

When I tried this, I saw some graphs, pictures of devices (many of them BlackBerrys), and a bunch of white people, mostly men, using smartphones, often to do business. The problem: This is a lie. It doesn’t represent the devices people use nor who’s using them or how.

As I did research for my Library Technology Report, I discovered that many of the assumptions I had about smartphone use—based on media images (like the ones on Google) and the usage patterns of my social and professional circles—were wrong. I believe these assumptions are wrong in ways that have civic and moral significance for the provision of library services. In this article, I’ll walk you through the current state of smartphone ownership and use; discuss a variety of mobile services that can be implemented to serve diverse populations; and address why it is important that libraries do so.

According to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than 80% of American adults own a cellphone of some sort (either smartphone or feature phone), and 40% of adults (that is, around half of cell owners) access the internet, email, or instant messaging from their phone.

Of these, a substantial and growing number are smartphone users. According to comScore, as of July 2011 there were 82.2 million smartphone subscribers in the United States. ComScore tracks users 13 and up, whereas Pew surveys people 18 and older, so the data is not directly comparable. Nonetheless, as there are 308.7 million people in the United States as of the 2010 Census, 234.6 million of them over the age of 18, a sizable fraction of adults are smartphone owners. And this fraction is growing explosively—comScore’s June data showed 78.5 million smartphone subscribers. That’s almost 4 million additional smartphone owners in one month.

What’s driving this? As someone who held out on purchasing a smartphone until April 2011, in part because I was intimidated by the iPhone’s cost, I have a hypothesis. My Android phone, after a rebate, was around $50—nowhere near that scary iPhone price point. In fact, as of August 2011, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T were all advertising free smartphones. Like mine, these are Android phones (iPhones are still expensive); they may be free only after a rebate and therefore require some up-front expense, and the deal may be available only to new data subscribers. And for people who have been accustomed to voice-only phone plans, a data plan is a significant added expense. Nonetheless, even with these caveats, the cost of a smartphone is no barrier to device ownership, because the phone is free.

Tapping mobile power

The most obvious way to leverage patrons’ mobile devices is to put content on the web.

One of the compelling strengths of libraries, in our age of information ubiquity, is their hyperlocal knowledge: their ability to collect, preserve, and showcase the unique experience of a community. In other words, they can collect knowledge of local relevance, create conversations around it, and contextualize it in ways that make the experience of information especially rich for their communities.

I believe there’s something powerful about taking that ability into diverse populations. One of the truisms of minority experiences is that they are not reflected in mainstream media. Our Google Images smartphone users are white businessmen and hipsters, even though that doesn’t reflect the statistics. My local paper has a lot of interviews with old-guard Irish and Italian Americans—a traditional political force in greater Boston—but I’m much less likely to see the Brazilian and Central American immigrants who make up so much of my town’s more recent population. Not long before this writing, the hashtag #YesGayYA swept across Twitter as authors, publishers, and agents argued over why gay characters are so rarely protagonists in YA fiction. And just last week, I heard a story on NPR about how the “black best friend” character is so often used to dispense wisdom to white protagonists and highlight their racial tolerance but so rarely allowed to have his or her own story.

I believe libraries are unusually well-positioned to surface and showcase the unheard stories in their communities. I believe librarians’ experience with outreach and technology training are valuable tools toward this end. And I believe that by taking advantage of four tools and ideas that already exist, we could have a uniquely powerful way to create community experiences, develop local collections, and honor patrons’ voices.

I’ve come to believe that we can, and should, be doing more than we are to take advantage of technology. Many things are easier and cheaper to implement than they seem. The opportunities we can create by being able to write only a few dozen lines of code—or even adapt someone else’s—are enormous. The services that make sense vary by population, and only your local knowledge can address that, particularly as many statistics are collected solely on a national level. But those national statistics tell a more nuanced tale than the one that stereotypes and media images paint. They show that there is potential for widespread, intriguing, and audacious use of mobile technology in library services.

Andromeda Yelton is a member of the founding team at Gluejar. She is a 2010 Simmons GSLIS graduate interested in the intersection of people, technology, and information. Yelton is a 2011 ALA Emerging Leader and a 2010 winner of the LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award.

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A Guide to Ebook Purchasing

Beverly Goldberg — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:12:04 +0000

November / December 2011

By Sue Polanka

Advice from the author of No Shelf Required on how to flex your library’s purchasing muscle

For those libraries looking to purchase e-books, you are not alone. According to the Library Journal 2011 survey of ebook penetration and use in libraries, 95% of academic, 82% of public, and 44% of school libraries are already offering ebooks, and many more are considering it. For anyone contemplating purchasing ebooks, asking why is the most important question. What are the primary goals of purchasing ebooks in your library or your consortium? Is it to expand the collection or to increase the buying power of a group of libraries? Is it to replace existing print collections, offer new services, or experiment with new business models in the hope of saving money? Whatever the reason, it is imperative to keep one’s goals in mind throughout the process. Buying ebooks is a complicated process. To do it effectively is an even greater challenge due to the many ways to procure ebooks.

Print to digital

Buying a print book is relatively easy. With the introduction of library ebooks in 1999, however, the once-straightforward process of buying books took on many complexities. First, for purchasing and accessing ebook content, vendors require license agreements. These agreements contain terms of use and restrictions on access. Second, ebooks are priced differently from print. Instead of the traditional print list price (or list price with a discount), the price of an ebook is generally the list price plus a percentage. The final price is determined by the business model selected, the number of people who will use the book, or the size of a library’s user group. Third, new business models were developed—and continue to be developed—to fit the diverse needs of libraries and vendors. Many of these models are very different from traditional print purchase models. Fourth, the notion of ownership has come into question with ebooks. Do libraries actually own the content, or is it leased? Libraries must circle back to the license agreement to determine the answer to this question.

Business models

There are a variety of business models available for purchasing ebooks. Several options are one book/one user, multiuser, unlimited simultaneous use, subscription, patron-driven acquisition, and short-term loan (aka pay per use). Depending on the model selected, a library may own the title in perpetuity (perpetual access) or use the content for a designated period of time (lease). Many vendors also require libraries to pay ongoing access fees. Fees may be waived if a negotiated purchase amount is spent with the vendor annually. However, some vendors, such as OverDrive, calculate annual fees based on existing collection use data. Libraries that choose not to pay the access fees could lose the content. Therefore, it is imperative that librarians carefully read the license agreement to determine if ebook content can be used when access fees are withheld.

Publishers, aggregators, and wholesalers

Ebooks can be purchased directly from publishers, through aggregators (vendors that distribute content from multiple publishers), or wholesalers (vendors that distribute print and electronic content from publishers and aggregators). Keeping their prime directive in mind, libraries should investigate the opportunities and challenges of purchasing ebooks from all vendor types. When buying directly from publishers, libraries have more room for price negotiation since there is no intermediary. Publishers may be the only vendor for top-producing or backlist titles, providing a larger title list from which to choose content. Furthermore, publishers that offer book, journal, or multimedia content may provide access to all formats through a single interface. Because the interface concentrates on one publisher, unique features may be available to augment the content.

The greatest challenge of purchasing directly from publishers is that some publishers will not negotiate with libraries. Institutions that choose to work with publishers will find themselves negotiating business models and license agreements multiple times. This process will require significant library staff time, particularly for licensing and electronic records management. Moreover, each publisher supplies a unique interface for ebook content. Purchasing from 10 publishers will require libraries to learn, teach, and troubleshoot 10 different interfaces.

Buying through consortia

Libraries that are members of consortia will discover many benefits in operating as a group when purchasing ebooks. First, libraries can increase their buying power and access larger collections by negotiating as a group. In other words, 20 libraries with $5,000 each will acquire far more content than a single library with a $5,000 budget. Second, the ebooks can be shared across a consortium. This loosens the limitations of interlibrary loan—a primary library service that is excluded in most ebook license agreements. Third, libraries in the consortium have equal and consistent access to content. For example, a liberal arts college with fewer than 2,000 students can access the same content as a state university with 25,000 students. Finally, the licensing and technical work can be centralized, saving individual libraries staff time and money.

Despite all these advantages, there are some drawbacks to buying ebooks through a consortium. Determining the content, vendors, business models, and level of access is difficult for one library. Within a consortium, however, this problem is exacerbated by the number of libraries involved. As a result, the unique needs of libraries may not be met by group purchases. Once the best mix of content is finalized, the consortium must negotiate with vendors to determine the price of the ebook collections. The purchasing history of member libraries comes into play in negotiations. Vendors determine how many consortium members have already purchased their titles, and from this they determine a multiplier. The multiplier is the number of times the list price will be paid to provide unlimited simultaneous access to the consortium members. For instance, a consortium with 34 members may negotiate a multiplier of six times the list price. A title with a $100 list price will cost the consortium $600. Some consortia say that negotiations among members take as much effort as negotiations with vendors.

Evaluating vendors

No ebook should be selected, no money exchanged, and no license signed without properly evaluating vendors. Libraries should again visit their prime directive and determine the criteria most important to their purchase decision. Once criteria or questions are determined, the easiest way to conduct the evaluation is by tracking data through a matrix or spreadsheet. There are several good examples online that can be adapted by libraries. Equally as important, ebook publishers and aggregators have existing clients. Find them. Ask them questions. Solicit their advice.

Transitioning to ebook purchases in libraries offers many opportunities and challenges. These challenges, however, are not insurmountable. New business models continue to emerge. Changes and improvements are occurring in the industry every day. These changes will continue as publishers, libraries, and vendors experiment with the growing market of ebooks. The most important thing that librarians must do in this changing environment is to articulate clear ebook purchasing goals. With these goals in mind, libraries need to find the content they desire, seek the best price possible, determine sustainable business models, analyze license agreements, and evaluate vendors to effectively purchase ebooks.

It’s a complex labyrinth. But one day, it will be easy.

SUE POLANKA is head of reference/instruction at Wright State University Libraries and editor of No Shelf Required: 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books (ALA Editions, 2012). She is the moderator of No Shelf Required, the popular blog on E-books and Libraries. This article is taken from the introduction to the November/December issue of Library Technology Reports.

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Using Web Analytics Well

Beverly Goldberg — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:21:40 +0000

September/October 2011

By Kate Marek

Are your website visitors doing what you expect them to do or what you want them to do? Are they following the path you thought they would follow when you designed your menu system? Are visitors to your digital-library page finding the link to historical photos of your city or the university’s archival images? These are some of the questions you should be able to answer by using a web analytics program.

As libraries deliver an increasing proportion of their services through the web, the need to accurately and comprehensively track the use of library websites, online resources, and services is more important than ever. Web analytics is a process through which statistics about website use are gathered and compiled electronically. An analytics program can be used as a tool to help you get to know your users—who they are, where they are coming from, and how they use your site. Having access to information about your users helps you to make appropriate decisions about your site—whether those decisions apply to major redesigns or to ongoing tweaks and minor changes reflecting shifts in customer usage or in your own current programs and services.

When you get started, concentrate on a few effective metrics for your own site and follow those statistics. As you build experience and confidence with those metrics, you will add more dimension to your analysis. Start small, as the amount of data can be overwhelming unless approached with planning. Web analytics need not become an in-house example of information overload.

The web analytics field has seen an exponential growth in the last decade. Google launched its free tool, Google Analytics, in 2006, and the field has been booming ever since. Google Analytics is an extremely popular tool among libraries, due not only to its tremendous power but also to its free availability, ease of use, flexibility, and clear reporting mechanisms. Many commercial tools also exist, including Coremetrics, Adobe’s Omniture, and WebTrends. Open source tools are also available, including Piwik, which is billed as an open source alternative to Google Analytics.

As you begin to learn more about the capabilities of web analytics, you will see that a tremendous amount of data can be collected about your end users. This behind-the-scenes data collection may make many librarians uncomfortable. However, the reality is that virtually all websites collect some user data through the operation of server logs. While completely eliminating data capture is an unrealistic goal, intentionally adding a tracking tool such as Google Analytics to collect personal information about the library’s website visitors may seem to be the antithesis of our service philosophy. How can we reconcile the priority of personal privacy with the organizational need to examine website usage and statistics?

Essentially, what is important to libraries is that our users operate with complete anonymity at all times and that they also maintain ultimate control of their data. The ability to opt out of any data collection is key and should be clearly offered as an option to our website visitors. In addition, we must be thoughtful about what data to collect and how it will be used. Libraries must strike a balance between user privacy and organizational effectiveness, with the scales always tipped in favor of user choice.

KATE MAREK is a library educator, trainer, and consultant who serves as a professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science of Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. This article is an excerpt from the July 2011 issue of Library Technology Reports.

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Librarians’ Assessments of Automation Systems

Greg Landgraf — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:02:14 +0000

July/August 2011

By Marshall Breeding and Andromeda Yelton

Cost pressures and moderate satisfaction may lead to system turnover

For the last four years, Marshall Breeding has conducted an online survey to measure the satisfaction rate with multiple aspects of the automation products used by libraries. The results of four editions of survey data, along with brief interpretive narratives, have been published on Library Technology Guides. The May/June 2011 issue of Library Technology Reports takes a deeper look at the survey data, including an expansion of findings based on the 2010 iteration, an examination of trends seen across the four years, and additional analysis not previously published. The survey data has been extended with additional fields that provide the opportunity to separate the findings into categories that show some interesting trends not otherwise apparent.

The data represented across the four years of the Perceptions survey provides considerable insight into the dynamics of the library automation industry. Only within the ranks of small libraries do we find superlative satisfaction with their automation scenario. Once we excavate below the surface layer of highly satisfied libraries, we find strata of trends that run in different directions. In this report we have explored some of the differences that arise as we look at public versus academic libraries among those with differing collection sizes.

The survey instrument included six numeric ratings, three yes/no responses, three short response fields, and a text field for general comments. The numeric rating fields allow responses from 0–9. Each scale was labeled to indicate the meaning of the numeric selection.

While some companies and products perform better than others, none provide a resoundingly satisfactory solution for most libraries of substantial size and complexity. The survey seems to reinforce the idea that the costs of the current systems press the limits of what libraries can bear. Of the comments dealing with cost issues, almost all reflected concern; some state that current costs already exceed what they can tolerate. Hardly any comments reflected a sense that libraries feel they receive excellent value for their investments.

Analysis of the results fails to confirm open source library automation as a panacea. While those already involved with open source continue to support the concept strongly, the survey does not validate the open source ILS as the key to satisfaction. Outside the ranks of those already involved, we detected no evidence of libraries being poised to abandon proprietary systems in droves. We saw combinations of open source ILS products and support companies that produced widely varying levels of support and product satisfaction. Companies providing services surrounding an open source ILS face the same kinds of challenges in satisfying their clients as those faced by their counterparts involved in proprietary software.

The survey data shows that, on average, libraries are moderately—sometimes extremely—satisfied with their software, and fairly loyal to their vendors. However, cost pressures, troubled relationships with vendors, and alternate models such as discovery layers and open source software drive widespread reevaluation; 21% of libraries surveyed in 2010 are shopping for a new ILS. While this benchmark stands a bit lower than in the economically stronger years of 2007 and 2008, it predicts that we may be in store for new rounds of churn in the turnover of automation systems.

In broadest strokes the survey results do not paint a picture of libraries in turmoil against their automation systems and vendor. Rather, it reflects levels of disconnect between expectation and performance that may drive libraries out of their patterns of inertia and lead vendors toward new models of technology and service with the potential to narrow the gaps of discontent.

MARSHALL BREEDING, director for innovative technology and research for the Vanderbilt University Library, is also a speaker, writer, and consultant. He is the creator and editor of Library Technology Guides, a columnist for Computers in Libraries, editor of Smart Libraries, and has authored the annual “Automation Marketplace” published by Library Journal since 2002. He has authored nine issues of ALA’s Library Technology Reports, and written many other articles and book chapters. Marshall has edited or authored six books. He regularly teaches workshops and gives presentations internationally at library conferences.

ANDROMEDA YELTON is a member of the founding team at Gluejar. She is a 2010 Simmons University GSLIS graduate interested in the intersection of people, technology, and information; a 2011 ALA Emerging Leader; and a 2010 winner of the Library and Information Technology Association/Ex Libris Student Writing Award.

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