Making eBooks Work for Libraries

Michael Levine-ClarkCollections LibrarianUniversity of Denvermiclark@du.edu

eBook Acquisition So Far

A hodge-podge eBook vendors Publishers Subscription and purchase

Assumptions

We want eBooks We want a mix of formats We want fair pricing

Barriers

Publisher reluctance Preponderance of backlist titles Delay in release of frontlist in eBook

format Lists split between vendors Limitations (printing)

Communication Pricing

Solutions

Treat ebooks like print Full frontlist to all eBook vendors at time

of publication Notification process No limits built into interface

Treat eBooks like ejournals Bundle print and electronic

Subscription or purchase

Approval Vendors

Coutts/MyiLibrary Blackwell - echo YBP

Levine-Clark, Michael, “Electronic Books and the Approval Plan: Can They Work Together?” Against the Grain 19, no. 2 (2007): 20, 22.

We’re not there yet.