24 · Survey Results: Survey Questions And Responses
in 2003. The individual purchase date is a guess.
The vast majority of e-books in our collection have been acquired as collections or large aggregations (NetLibrary
batches offered through consortia, EEBO, etc.)
We mostly bought aggregate groups of e-Books until 2008-09, when individual purchases began more intensively.
We acquired e-books at the same time as e-journals. It seemed like a normal course of action to take to meet user
needs for a 24/7 library. When we did our first formal evaluations in 2000 we discovered that e-book usage was sky
high and it has remained that way ever since — so we never looked back.
We could check or not the 3rd driver since one of our earlier contracts was with NetLlibrary (allowing only one
simultaneous user). Other vendors clearly provide/d multiple simultaneous use. This was and still is an important
feature. This question was difficult to answer the drivers are questionable (though checked above) that is, we don’t
have clear documentation re: our decision-making during the e-book’s nascent stage. We would say that drivers 1–5
and 7 were key in the earliest of stages. Other drivers have been and are increasingly important.
We found we could acquire a large number of titles for a comparatively small price.
We have been proceeding cautiously knowing that e-books will be accepted more readily in some disciplines we
have not been happy that we must employ multiple interfaces and most of them are poor. Also disappointed with
shortcomings in digital content management constraints. We have acquired e-book collections through consortial
purchases at deep discounts, taking us further in this area faster that we might have on our own.
We have numerous issues to resolve—lease versus purchase, collecting in multiple formats (print and electronic),
determining whether we’ll need to have multiple platforms for different e-book packages, integrating free e-books
(Project Gutenberg, Google Books, etc.) into our collection.
We purchased a NetLibrary collection as a pilot project in relevant subject areas.
We started out very early with a large NetLibrary collection. All of the NetLibrary records were loaded into our
catalog, and patrons initiated the purchases. This was highly experimental and quickly went awry. Unfortunately,
the experience caused many of our bibliographers to be resistant to purchasing e-books, though that has faded with
time. We are now enabling title-by-title purchasing through other major aggregators.
We started with some NetLibrary titles and some subscription packages, but there was not widespread acceptance
until we did a patron-initiated purchase project and e-books were chosen across all disciplines, and our allocated
funds were quickly expended.
e-Book Selection
6. Does your library have collection development policies that specifically address e-books? N=73
Yes 13 18%
No 60 82%
in 2003. The individual purchase date is a guess.
The vast majority of e-books in our collection have been acquired as collections or large aggregations (NetLibrary
batches offered through consortia, EEBO, etc.)
We mostly bought aggregate groups of e-Books until 2008-09, when individual purchases began more intensively.
We acquired e-books at the same time as e-journals. It seemed like a normal course of action to take to meet user
needs for a 24/7 library. When we did our first formal evaluations in 2000 we discovered that e-book usage was sky
high and it has remained that way ever since — so we never looked back.
We could check or not the 3rd driver since one of our earlier contracts was with NetLlibrary (allowing only one
simultaneous user). Other vendors clearly provide/d multiple simultaneous use. This was and still is an important
feature. This question was difficult to answer the drivers are questionable (though checked above) that is, we don’t
have clear documentation re: our decision-making during the e-book’s nascent stage. We would say that drivers 1–5
and 7 were key in the earliest of stages. Other drivers have been and are increasingly important.
We found we could acquire a large number of titles for a comparatively small price.
We have been proceeding cautiously knowing that e-books will be accepted more readily in some disciplines we
have not been happy that we must employ multiple interfaces and most of them are poor. Also disappointed with
shortcomings in digital content management constraints. We have acquired e-book collections through consortial
purchases at deep discounts, taking us further in this area faster that we might have on our own.
We have numerous issues to resolve—lease versus purchase, collecting in multiple formats (print and electronic),
determining whether we’ll need to have multiple platforms for different e-book packages, integrating free e-books
(Project Gutenberg, Google Books, etc.) into our collection.
We purchased a NetLibrary collection as a pilot project in relevant subject areas.
We started out very early with a large NetLibrary collection. All of the NetLibrary records were loaded into our
catalog, and patrons initiated the purchases. This was highly experimental and quickly went awry. Unfortunately,
the experience caused many of our bibliographers to be resistant to purchasing e-books, though that has faded with
time. We are now enabling title-by-title purchasing through other major aggregators.
We started with some NetLibrary titles and some subscription packages, but there was not widespread acceptance
until we did a patron-initiated purchase project and e-books were chosen across all disciplines, and our allocated
funds were quickly expended.
e-Book Selection
6. Does your library have collection development policies that specifically address e-books? N=73
Yes 13 18%
No 60 82%
