Barrier |
CULC Statement of Problem |
The Canadian Electronic Library Solution |
Lending & multi-week holds are less acceptable with ebooks. |
Downloadable ebooks are purchased in the same way as print; the library much decide on popularity and regulate its purchasing to minimize wait times. |
 With a CEL subscription, all books in the collection are available to all users all the time. There is no waiting period. This also applies to downloaded books. There are no checkouts or holds.
|
Existing Investment is
threatened by license non-renewal and lack of local archiving |
If a library chooses to move to another product for eBook lending and stops paying their annual access fee to OverDrive, they risk losing access to all previously “purchased” titles.
Libraries make a significant investment in titles through OverDrive. Access to these titles would be lost if a library chose to cancel their subscription. |
This problem does not exist with CEL. A CEL Perpetual Access purchase is not platform-dependent. Publishers have authorized CEL to support local hosting in a platform-neutral environment. For academic libraries in Canada, this is now provided by Scholars Portal. If public libraries were able to nominate Scholars Portal or a similar escrow agent, this perceived problem would be resolved. |
Budget
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Libraries’ relatively fixed collection budgets mean that eBook purchases will often come at the expense of purchases in other categories. |
CULC Public Library Trends 2009 reports that the average annual materials spending for a member is $4.37 per-capita. The cost of a CEL subscription to 13,000+ books is $.05/cardholder/year, or less than 2% of this amount. |
Device Proliferation
|
The release of new devices every few months is placing high demands on library staff. Libraries have begun providing training and support for eBooks, but are not able to keep up with the frequent release of new devices or the pace of adoption. |
This is not an issue with online books, which can be read on any internet-connected portable device. Also, most readers consult reference materials on an online computer. So for most non-fiction book material, devices are irrelevant. |
Lack of Availability of Titles |
Canadian libraries cannot purchase the same range of titles that are available to them in print. Consumers are confused and complain about the lack of titles available from the library. |
A CEL subscription exponentially increases library buying power with Canadian titles. Over 65 Canadian publishers are actively releasing current titles on the Canadian Electronic Library. |
Downloading Complexity |
Borrowing a library ebook takes several steps. The process presents a significant barrier for less technical library customers and is the greatest source of frustration for librarians and their customers at present. |
Borrowing by download can be done with one click. And if downloading complexity is an issue, an individual always has the choice of accessing the book online. |
Consortia Purchasing |
For publishers and authors, a shift to an alternative pricing model based on population or use would alleviate issues with consortia, since pricing would scale based on the population represented. |
CEL licensing and pricing are system-specific. But consortium purchasing is available. And pricing can include access by secondary schools in the library district. |
