Peaceful coexistence?

1. Peaceful coexistence? Library –delivered e-textbooks and traditional student purchases Paul Harwood JISC Collections

2. This Briefing Session • Provide some background to the trials currently taking place • Place the trials in the wider context of the development of e-textbooks and associated initiatives • Describe the trials themselves • Describe the next steps • Try and leave some time for discussion at the end

3. Background and Context • The trials follow-on from the well publicised JISC National e-book Observatory work (http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/) • In particular, the Library Collection Management Report produced by Chris Armstrong and Ray Lonsdale, which addressed issues around library access to e-textbooks, pricing models (E-book Collection Management in UK University Libraries, March 2009)

4. Quotes from librarians in the Armstrong/Lonsdale Report: How they use e-versions • “It’s useful to be able to have the e-books, I’m afraid really as a back-up rather than a core” • “…but we find that if they’re desperate and all the copies are out on loan, they’ll soon go to e-books…just sheer force of the situation will do it” • “….providing the extra access for short periods of time, or while the courses are running, so that you are providing supplementary access for things that are on reading lists”

5. Quotes from librarians in the Armstrong/Lonsdale Report: E-books: What’s missing? • “Just the major textbooks. It’s still the major textbooks, whichever platform” • “..the kind of material they probably want is the textbook kind of thing that publishers aren’t yet releasing to the libraries in e-book format” • “with my subject area, I don’t tend to find e-textbooks”

6. Quotes from librarians in the Armstrong/Lonsdale Report: Pricing models • “Yes, they’re complicated, they’re inconsistent, because some give you unlimited user access, some say no you can have five only and other ones will say you can buy individual titles whilst others say you’ve got to buy five or nothing” • “I just feel that their models haven’t been designed in discussion with librarians – I mean normally when you have a product that you are trying to sell to somebody, you go out and talk to them and find out what they want” • “…and then you’ll get other suppliers offering a totally different model, for example, so many credits and they’ll be renewable annually”

7. More recently…… • The RIN report of March 2010 “Challenges for academic libraries in difficult economic times” said: • “The scope for further simple efficiency savings is small, and so librarians are having to think more strategically about the squeeze on book budgets, and how to meet the student demand for core texts. E-books could help ease this problem, but publishers’ policies on pricing and accessibility are inhibiting take-up”

8. In summary • Many librarians want to be involved in providing access to e-textbooks, even if, in some cases, it is simply to provide a back-up for the library print copies • Librarians in the report felt that so-called ‘core’ textbooks are not available for them to purchase in electronic form • Librarians in the report are confused by the various pricing models put forward by publishers and aggregators

9. Landscaping Survey • Ahead of the trials, a brief Landscaping Survey was undertaken to review the current textbook situation in the UK HE • It was designed to see how the market worked, what publishers might already be doing with regard to offering e-versions of textbooks, to find out if libraries, publishers, aggregators might participate in some trials, help formulate ideas for the trials etc • Interviews with librarians, publishers, aggregators • A report was provided to JISC Collections and made public in April last year

10. landscape survey – key findings • Unlike monographs and journals, which are purchased by libraries, a ‘student pay’ model is the established model for textbook sales in print form, accounting for between 70-90% of publisher textbook revenue in the UK • It was very difficult to arrive at UK sales figures because of difficulties in defining a textbook. According to the PA, undergraduate spending on books in the UK was £219.5m in 2006/7. According to Nielsen BookScan, sales of ‘academic specialist nonfiction’ were £197m in 2008 • In contrast to the US, there is a great deal of diversity in the approach to learning in UK universities, making it difficult to define a ‘core’ textbook. A textbook might be required reading / core text at one UK university , but supplementary reading at another • Publishers reported that overall revenue from print sales was either static or increasing but that, in some cases, unit sales are declining

11. landscape survey - key findings • Librarians reported that spending by students on textbooks is declining and that students are increasingly looking to the library to provide access • Around 33% of textbook sales are through Amazon and Amazon Marketplace making it difficult for publishers to track ‘sell through’ (sales) at individual institutions • Demand from UK lecturers and students for access to e-textbooks has not been high • Lecturers themselves are key figures in determining what students read and the format they use • Whilst some publishers are already offering e-access to textbooks, as with print, student-pay models are the norm, including new collaborative services like CourseSmart Landscape report at: www.jiscebooksproject.org/wp-content/e-textbook-phase-1-report-public-version16-4-09.pdf

12. “What’s happening in the the wider world of e-textbooks?”

13. Now includes content from 14 publishers including founding partners: Cengage, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Wiley, Bedford, Freeman & Worth

14. Bookshops? Sales & Marketing? 14

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33. The trials • Designed to test some of the views expressed by librarians re the availability of core e-textbooks and associated pricing and access models • To explore through the trials whether there are potential pricing models for e-textbook provision that could be acceptable /usable to both libraries and publishers • To see whether core e-textbooks made available by a university library can co-exist with /support the current business model of individual purchases made by students; or whether the library could play an increasingly leading role in e-textbook provision • When students have access to e-textbooks, to see what the impact is ( eg on print sales, and the choices of e-access and print that students might go for etc)

34. The trials - process • Seek participation by all the major textbook publishers, a range of UK HEIs and established aggregators for a full academic year • Persuade publishers to commit core textbooks to the trials • Match the participants for each of the four trials that were agreed on following our landscape report, based upon the textbooks that participants agreed to use and the particular interests of the individual organisations taking part • Secure their commitment and participation for the duration of the trial, their agreement to provide certain data and to help with the compilation of the final report

35. Principles underpinning the trials • Existing ‘adopted’ textbooks to be used wherever possible • Access provided by the library at each institution • Unlimited concurrent user model wherever possible and unless otherwise specified by the library • Libraries to continue to order/retain any print copies taken • Publishers to provide a theoretical price for each institution at the outset of the trial, but no actual charges to be applied.

40. The participants • University of Bath • University of Birmingham • University of Greenwich • University of Leicester • University of Newcastle Upon Tyne • University of Northampton • University or St Andrews • University of Surrey • UCL • UWE • Cengage Learning • CUP • McGraw-Hill • OUP • Palgrave Macmillan • Pearson • SAGE • Wiley-Blackwell • Dawson • EBL • MyiLibrary

41. Timeline • June/July 2009 Work with partners to ensure access is available for the start of the academic year. Liaise with partners over progress with activities schedules agreed at kick-off meetings. Obtain theoretical pricing from publishers • September 2009 to June 2010 Commence all trials. Monitor usage, book sales Student questionnaire • July 2010 Workshop to review findings. Round table discussion on mutually acceptable pricing • August 2010 Present final report.

42. Student feedback