Issues in Collection Development: Electronic Books and the Public Library Melissa Hisel Emporia State University

E-books Abstract The recent surge in the popularity of e-readers has presented public libraries with a whole new set of challenges for collection development. Acquiring and accessing electronic books involves issues surrounding content licensing, proprietary platforms and their long-term support, discoverability, technological requirements, accessibility and the digital divide, content availability, higher per-title costs, and digital preservationall these in a rapidly evolving digital marketplace.

E-books ISSUES IN COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT: Electronic Books and the Public Library Introduction In 1991 Sony released the Data Discman, a portable electronic device capable of reading proprietary cartridges embedded with compact discs containing encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference materials. The device weighed two pounds, had a three-hour battery life and cost around $550. Twenty-three titles were available with prices starting at $39 for a dictionary and going as high as $400 for an encyclopedia. While the Data Discman hinted at the possibilities of the future of books, the high cost prevented the device from seeing widespread adoption (Shapiro, 1991). Since thenthanks to the evolution of the wireless internet, the prevalence of smartphones and tablet computers with e-reader capabilities, and dedicated electronic readers with price points below $200electronic resources have found their place, and usage is expected to increase. In 1999, a handful of libraries began offering books in electronic format; little more than a decade later, in 2011, a Library Journal survey revealed that 82 percent of public libraries now offer e-books, and 66 percent reported a steep increase in the number of requests for ebooks (Miller, 2011). So it came as no real surprise when in April 2011, online retail giant Amazon announced that digital book sales now exceeded sales of all print titles, both hardcover and paperback combined (Stevens, 2011). Book buying and lending have historically been fairly straightforward enterprises, and while librarians have frequently worked with various new mediaincluding microform, record albums, cassette tapes, compact discs, CD-ROMs, VHS tapes, and DVDsthese varied media have not created much variation in operations. But electronic content is different. The challenges

E-books to offering electronic resources are many and complex. This research report attempts to summarize them. Ownership: Licensing V. Purchasing Content Libraries can acquire eBooks directly from publishers, but more commonly, public libraries purchase access to eBooks from aggregatorsvendors that distribute content from a variety of publishers. The primary aggregators in public libraries are Overdrive and Netlibrary, but there is also 3M, Ingram Digital, Ebrary and Follet. Aggregators offer the benefit of having a large list of titles to select from, and often provide patron access to all digital content through a single online portal. There are different models for purchasing access to eBooks; most libraries license econtent through a one book, one borrower type of agreement. This type of license allows only one patron at a time to download and access a title for a predetermined loan period. Other licensing variations may include multi (but not unlimited) users or unlimited simultaneous use. Libraries may subscribe to content, allow patron-driven purchases, or permit short term loans for which the library pays for content only when it is accessed by patrons (Polanka, 2011). Concerning to librarians is the question of ownership of digital titles. When a librarian selects a print title, the library purchases it from a vendor, and owns the title until it falls apart, is lost or is withdrawn from the collection. When librarians seek to purchase an eBook, they may not be actually purchasing the book, but rather negotiating terms of access to a digital book. When purchasing directly from a publisher, a collection development librarian must now be prepared to evaluate and understand the terms of the license agreement and business model offered. Purchasing content through an aggregator has the benefit of offering a single license agreement and a single business model for all eBooks purchased.

E-books E-book licensing agreements with publisher HarperCollins expire after a title has circulated 26 times, after which the library is required to pay to license the title again. Some titles may be available to purchase with perpetual use, but access to the content is still dependent upon fees paid to the vendor for storage of the content, unless the library has server space and staff qualified to host the digital content themselves. Budgeting & Title Availability Collection Development librarians now have to evaluate which format to purchase a title for: options include hard cover, paperback, large print, audio CD, digital audio file, EPUB, Kindle, etc. These additional formats are appearing at a time when materials budgets are tight. In a recent post on Library Renewal, a blog that describes itself as a grassroots non-profit founded to further the mission of libraries, primarily as it relates to electronic content, an unidentified blogger described a test conducted by sampling prices for 70 books from recent New York Times best-seller lists, both fiction and nonfiction. Only half of the titles were available for purchase by public libraries in a digital format. Those available cost $12.10 on average when purchased in print from Baker & Taylor, while the digital copies cost on average $24.25 each. This informal research was conducted before Random House announced it was raising prices for library eBooks up to 300 percent. A digital Random House title that once cost $40 now costs $120. The same title when purchased in print cost a little over $20 (Kelley, 2012). Publishers argue that eBooks must cost more than print books because they never wear out. It may be true that a digital file may not wear out or be lost in the same ways a print book can, but the formats of todays digital files are very likely to become obsolete. Further, libraries can sell withdrawn print titles and recoup some of their costs. Licensing agreements do not permit the transfer of ownership of digital titles. Moreover, digital books have the added expense

E-books of hosting fees paid to aggregators to allow patrons to access the titles. This sort of pricing model is unsustainable for public libraries, and it appears as though the publishing industry is making a concerted effort to make it as difficult as possible for libraries to offer and for library patrons to use eBooks ($2 Billion, 2012). Beyond prohibitive pricing strategies, several major publishers (HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin, Hachette, MacMillan and Simon & Schuster) all refuse to sell new e-titles to libraries. On average, these publishers make up 30 percent of the New York Times best-selling book lists (Platt, 2011). Most patrons have no understanding of the complicated price structures and license agreements required for library eBooks purchases, and simply see the public librarys electronic resources as inadequate. As a result, some libraries have even crossed into the territory of political activism as they post the details of what they believe to be unfair licensing practices and the contact information for offending publishers, urging patrons to protest on behalf of their libraries (Library Head Urges Readers, 2012).

Digital Preservation Frequently, the formats of electronic books are tied to a particular type of software or hardware (proprietary devices like the Nook, Kindle, Sony eReader, Kobo and others), and as such cannot be migrated from one platform to another as technologies change. Just like your cousins thesis saved on a 5 floppy dische may hold it, but he cannot access it. File formats for eBooks become obsolete and libraries that have purchased that content will not be able to access it in the future. These eBooks are not going onto the shelves of thousands of libraries and individuals; rather they are residing in files encumbered with digital rights management (DRM)

E-books software on proprietary appliances and on vendor-held and maintained computersthe digital nature of those books still makes them fragileand the risk of losing content is high for individuals, libraries, and society (Kirchhoff, 2011, p.71). Preserving digital content for future use is costly, complicated and fraught with technical and legal complexities, and until libraries and publishers work together, electronic collections started today may not be accessible or usable in the future.

Issues of Discoverability & Accessibility When eContent is purchased through an aggregator, the content often has to be accessed via the vendors platform. Libraries with an ILS that lacks the capacity for federated searching must have their patrons search their collection of eBooks via the vendors portal. If electronic resources are coming from multiple vendors, this can require the patron to authenticate or login with their library card number multiple times in the course of a single search process. This is time-consuming and can be frustrating enough to deter a patron from searching the library at all. In other cases, patrons who are searching the online library catalog and are unaware of the second catalog may never encounter these eResources at all (Platt, 2011). Electronic content also lacks the browse-ability inherent in a collection of physical books on a shelf. There is much to be said for stumbling upon a useful or interesting title while browsing in a library. This applies to collection development librarians as well, for whom evaluating the digital collection requires a more determined effort; librarians must take additional actions to examine data related to eBook usage, as they do not physically observe or hear from staff which items are frequently circulating and may require additional copies. Furthermore, patrons who are using and searching for eBooks and do not find what they are looking for may

E-books not bother to call, email or visit the library to request that which they do not find while searching online (Braun, 2011). Library eBooks are of no use to those patrons who do not have the financial means to purchase an eReader, a home computer, and a high speed internet connection. The American Library Associations Intellectual Freedom Manual chapter on Economic Barriers to Information Access says: Library services that involve the provision of information, regardless of format, technology, or method of delivery, should be made available to all library users on an equal and equitable basis. (ALA, 2002, p. 117) Some libraries have attempted to make eBooks more accessible to all patrons by circulating eReaders pre-loaded with popular content. As with other decisions related to eBooks, this has been controversial as questions of legality and terms of device and content licensing do not clearly indicate whether libraries may circulate these materials. (Twill, 2011) Tech Support & Customer Service Due to the numerous formats and ever-changing licensing rules, there is a steep learning curve for staff and patrons learning to access and use eBooks. Librarian blogger and ALA Councilor-at-Large Bobbi Newman (2012) recently described the eBook problem as a hot mess, and went on to write:
If you have the fortune to be the person at your library who is responsible for helping patrons with eBooks and troubleshooting problems, you know the process is a nightmare. In order to borrow library eBooks, patrons must have a compatible device, a home computer capable of running Adobe Digital Editions, a high-speed internet connection, and enough tech savvy to set everything up and get it to work correctly. If it all goes well, wonderful! But

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if one thing goes wrong, woe to the librarian providing support over the phone.

Woe indeed. I am often that staff member trying her very best to provide remote assistance to patrons downloading materials from Overdrive. The variety of devices and formats is frustrating enough for people who have basic tech skills; for those who dont, the process can be highly bewildering and discouraging. It is not uncommon for a patron to plunk themselves down at the desk and need 20 minutes (or longer) assistance using their device. Further confusion arises with licensing rules that only allow a patron to check out a certain number of eBooks at a time, with circulation periods that are different from those of print books. Some eBooks cannot be returned early, and so the patron must wait for the loan period to expire before they may download another title. This is the cause of great aggravation for patrons who have eBooks on holdeBook holds must be accessed within 24 hours of notification of the items availability, or the patron is removed from the queue. If the patron already has the maximum number of eBooks checked out and a hold becomes available for additional eBooks, they may not be able to access them, because they cannot divest of the eBooks already checked out to their account. For patrons who are accustomed to downloading books via Amazons effortless Whispernet wireless service, the complexity of the procedures and rules for checking out library eBooks is maddening. For a brief moment in time, library book lending for Kindles was almost easy, until the publisher Penguin decided it did not want library patrons accessing its titles wirelessly via the website of a discount retailer such as Amazon. Now, patrons may download some Kindle titles wirelessly, yet other titles must first be transferred to a computer and then transferred to the Kindle via a USB cord. The

E-books changes to rules governing library eBook lending seem to be endless and intended to frustrate patrons and drive them to eBook retailers instead of libraries. Conclusion Its easy to see why the future of libraries lies in digital content. From a consumer perspective, the conveniences and advantages of eBooks and other electronic resources are many. The potential transformations for library professionals are equally palpable: more efficient and user-centered offerings. As libraries embark on this shift toward the digital, growing pains are to be expected. We should strive to adapt to and even lead the evolutions that possess the potential to improve users ability to affordably access the widest possible range of content. The mission of public libraries is to serve patrons of economic stratum, and they should continue to do so. This will require working toward more cohesive publisher/library relationships, and fighting to ensure a sustainable economic model for libraries. In so doing, we will reinforce the enduring value that library professionals provideno matter the medium.

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References AEGIS Staff. (2012).Harford library head urges readers to protest in e-books dispute: Publishers dispute with e-books distributor likely to cut availability of new titles. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://bsun.md/A3FXg0

$2 billion for $1 billion of Books: The Arithmetic of Library eBook Lending [Blog Post] Retrieved from libraryrenewal.org American Library Association. (2002). Intellectual freedom manual. Chicago: American Library Association. Braun, L. (2011). Now Is the Time E-books, Teens, and Libraries. Young Adult Library Services, 9(4), 27-30 Kelley, M. (2012) Librarians Feel Sticker Shock as Price for Random House eBooks Rises as Much as 300 Percent. Retrieved from www.thedigitalshift.com Kirchhoff, A. (2011) E-book preservation: Business and Content Challenges. In S. Polanka (Ed.), No Shelf Required 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books (pp. 71-91). Chicago, IL: American Library Association Miller, R. (2011). Dramatic Growth. Library Journal, 136(17), 32-34. Newman, B. (2012). Should Libraries Get out of the eBook Business? [Blog Post] Retrieved from librarianbyday.net Platt, C. (2011). Popular E-Content at The New York Public Library: Seven Years of Success. Bibliothek Forschung Und Praxis, 35(2), 178-782. doi:10.1515/bfup.2011.024 Polanka, S. (2011). Chapter 1: Purchasing E-books in Libraries. Library Technology Reports, 47(8), 4-7. Shapiro, E. (1991). The Media Business; Holding a Library in Your Hands. The New York Times, pp. D1, D4 Stevens, T. (2011). Kindle Books Officially Take Over Print Sales at Amazon, Pulp Starts Making Retirement Plans. Engadet, May 19, www.engadget.com/2011/05/19/Kindle-books-officiallytake-over-print-sales-at-amazonpulp-st/. Stross, R. (2011) Publishers vs. Libraries: an eBook Tug of War. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/HLJQ6b Twill, S. (2011) Do E-books Bridge the Digital Divide?. In S. Polanka (Ed.), No Shelf Required 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books (pp. 71-91). Chicago, IL: American Library Association

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