2. Springer Summit 11/02/11
My background
Education: large universities
Library gig: Hybrid small school environment
7 colleges = Average FTE ≈ 750
Consortium: 102 institutions: 66 under 1000 FTE
Our Executive Director: roots in a college of 250
Raison de‟être: Serve small schools well
Downsizing the big deal
Full Disclosure
Academic library advisory board 2008-2010
Big fan of their flexibility & discounted approach
CEO (Hank) anti- „pick & choose‟ approach still a challenge
4. Springer Summit 11/02/11
(Some) challenges we face
1. Use Restrictions / Digital rights management
2. Access vs Ownership
1. Buying the right books
(Because we can‟t buy them all)
4. Platform/Portability/Perpetuity
6. Springer Summit 11/02/11
1) Use restrictions/Digital Rights
Management
Experiment: NetLibrary now Ebsco Ebooks
Claremont bought 9000 ebooks 2001-2003
Results: Users hated them
1 simultaneous user
Print: Page at a time
User impact
Ebooks = Rolled eyes
Grad students: “I need something I can actually use”
Smaller school impact: the same
7. Springer Summit 11/02/11
2) Access vs Ownership
Experiment: Ebrary Academic „Complete‟
2008- Results:
Plugin approach often failed
Access to 50,000 books: List price: $3,335,000
Claremont annual cost: $12,500
List price per year = 0.375%
Still with single user limit
but major limitation = discovery
Smaller school application
Per fte list cost ≈ $4
Consortial negotiation to address minimum
Implication: Leased collections have a place
8. Springer Summit 11/02/11
3) Buying the right books
Inthe print book world, we were forced to guess
Enter the demand driven approach
EBL Data:
User selected books used 2-5x more often
10. Springer Summit 11/02/11
3) Buying the right books
Inthe print world, we were forced to guess
Enter the demand driven approach
EBL Data:
User selected books used 2-5x* more often
User selected books have 2-3x* broader audience
12. Springer Summit 11/02/11
3) Buying the right books
Inthe print world, we were forced to guess
Enter the demand driven approach
EBL Data:
User selected books used 2-5x* more often
User selected books have 2-3x* broader audience
Result:demand driven approach works
Experiment: Elsevier Evidence-based selection
Result: 1 year of use barely covered commitment
(Broader) Implication: Traditional approval
plans don‟t make sense with ebooks
Smaller school application: implement a
demand driven approach
13. Springer Summit 11/02/11
4) Platform/Portability/Perpetuity(?)
Springer Ebook collections
Experiment: Repurpose engineering blanket order
Purchase 2005-present subject collections
Engineering, Mathematics, Computer science
≈25% of list price
Ongoing annual purchase of 3 collections
Implication:ebook collections can
broaden access and use
Smaller school application:
Attractive pricing for full collection
15. Springer Summit 11/02/11
Summary: Claremont Approach to date
Leased Collection
Ebrary Academic Complete
Discounted Publisher Collections
Springer Engineering, Math & Computer Science
Backfiles too
Title by Title on demand
Elsevier Evidence-based Selection
Aggregator-based demand driven purchasing
Our next step
16. Springer Summit 11/02/11
Ebook (R)evolution
Reduced use restrictions
User driven - Buy only what users want
Or purchases discounted w/ no DRM
$5K/$10K/$15K Springer Model
Discounted Publisher models are attractive
Where core collection is 10% other titles will fill in
One-off ebook purchases
Multi-author volumes
Provides ejournal-like access
19. Springer Summit 11/02/11
4) Platform/Portability/Perpetuity
Ownership / Purchase
60 print books Title by title
$80 each - $4800
Subscription
Leased collection $4.00/fte x 1200 FTE = $4800
>50000 books!
Cant be beat, if consortium waives minimum
Or even if not @ $10,000…
Purchase ebooks at full price
$100/each = 48 books (w/DRM)
Value quite limited
