ConnectNY

Patron-Driven Acquisitions E-Book Project

Background Information about the Project

ConnectNY has contracted with EBL to provide a collection of e-books for a consortium-wide patron (demand-driven) acquisition program.

The ConnectNY board has set a broad parameter of building a permanent e-book collection while also allowing for loans for lower demand titles.

Why EBL?

• Competitive pricing.
• Maturity of the product. EBL has been offering its demand-driven acquisitions program (DDL) since 2003, significantly longer than any of their competitors; they also pioneered the short-term-loan business model and have the most established STL service.
• Flexibility in setting the purchase trigger. This flexibility will allow ConnectNY to get the greatest return on investment for its funds and obtain our preferred balance between access and purchase of e-books.
• Unlimited simultaneous use.
• Perpetual access to the purchased books without the requirement of an annual maintenance fee.

Profile and Publishers

The profile includes academic titles across all disciplines. The project will initially load records with imprint dates of 2010 onward from the publishers listed below. The database will be updated monthly. Currently ConnectNY has set the price ceiling of an individual title at $300.00.

EBL has negotiated on our behalf with these publishers who were selected for a willingness to work in a consortial, demand-driven environment, and who have a significant history of print purchases by CNY libraries. We expect additional publishers to join at a later date.

• Berghahn Books
• Cambridge University Press
• Continuum International Publishing
• Edinburgh University Press
• Florida, University Press of
• McGraw Hill Companies (UK only, not US)
• ME Sharpe
• Minnesota Press, University of
• New York University Press
• North Carolina Press, University of
• Oxford University Press
• Policy Press
• Princeton University Press
• SAGE Publications (SAGE UK and India)
• Stanford University Press
• Wiley (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

Records

Record updates are expected to be made weekly. This frequency will allow for the addition of new content as well as the profiling and loading of any new publishers that are added. Libraries will also be notified of any un-purchased content that has been withdrawn from the e-book program.

Records will be loaded into the INN-Reach union catalog (and also in each library’s local catalog, as desired.)

E-book Access & Use

Access

Access to the titles is possible through the catalog record link or through direct access to the site, available at http://connectny.eblib.com. In either case the user selects his or her institution from the drop down list and will be redirected to the appropriate campus authentication service and prompted for the usual campus username and ID.

5-minute use

No fees are incurred when a book is opened and closed within 5 minutes of time. (EBL notes that the average browsing period is 3.5 minutes, with 50% of browses turning into a short-term loan.)

Short-term loans

• EBL will generate a short-term loan (STL) of 7 days when a patron has the book open for more than 5 minutes. The 5-minute browse limit is cumulative, over 24-hours, should the patron open and close the book quickly numerous times (the limit refreshes after 24 hours). 7-day renewals for loaned titles are available; a renewal will count as a new short-term loan.
• A short-term loan will also occur whenever a patron either prints a portion of the book or downloads the book.
• Short-term loan fees vary by publisher and run from 5% to 20% of the price of the hardcover list price.
• There is a loan limit per patron of 15 books per day.

Purchases

• The consortium is charged automatically for purchases and STLs. No invoices will come to the member library for any charges resulting from this program.
• Purchase price is 3 times the list hardcover price (“multiplier of 3”)
• Purchased titles in our consortium have a limit of 3 x 325 (975) uses per year (EBL’s “non-linear” lending model). The number of uses renews annually and may be increased, if needed.
• Purchased titles are available in perpetuity for patrons at all CNY libraries, with a limit of 975 uses annually.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long will I be able to use a downloaded book?

   The book is available to you for 7 days. At that time, if you need additional time, you will have to download the book again.

2. How do I close an EBL E-Book?

   If you are actively browsing the contents of a title and decide the book is not of interest, click on the “EBL” icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. You will land outside of the EBL platform on the direct link’s log-in screen or back to the ConnectNY catalog depending where you came from (from within the EBL platform or from within your library catalog or ConnectNY’s union catalog.)

   After 5 minutes of browsing within, or inactive use of, an open book, a pop-up window stating that 5 minutes has passed prompting you initiate a short-term loan (STL) or exit.

3. Can an EBL e-book be placed on electronic reserve?

   Yes. Simply place that book’s link from within your library’s catalog into a Moodle page, a Blackboard course page, or a library’s course reserves system. It would be helpful if you contact us at ConnectNY Feedback" to let us know you plan on doing this. With advanced notice we can reduce charges to CNY.

4. Why don’t I get back to my library catalog when I leave EBL?

   The “referring URL” in EBL’s platform must be the ConnectNY catalog because only one link can be entered by EBL. (This is similar to when a patron clicks the ConnectNY icon within a member library catalog for print titles. The user remains in the ConnectNY union catalog when selecting “New Search” or “Start over.”)

5. When I click on a URL for a book, I get the error message of “This book is not available. Meanwhile, you can View Full Catalogue to view all available titles.”  Why can’t I get to the book?

   Occasionally EBL loses the rights to a particular book and has to withdraw the title from the EBL collection. We will be deleting such a title from the catalog, but there may be a delay between the time the book is no longer available and when the catalog record is deleted.

6. Do I need additional software on my computer to read an EBL e-books?

   If you are reading the e-book on the EBL platform, no additional software is required.

7. Do I need additional software on my computer to download an EBL e-book?

   Yes, you will need a copy of Adobe Digital Editions Software. This freely available software is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

8. Can I use a handheld device to read the e-books?

   Yes. Handheld devices/e-book readers that are compatible with EBL e-books include Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, SONY Reader, KindleFire (not the other Kindle models), Android devices, and hundreds of e-book readers. A list of compatible e-book readers for Adobe Digital Editions is available at: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/supported-devices

9. Do I need additional software to use a handheld device to read the e-books?

   If you are reading the e-book on the EBL platform, no additional software is required. If you want to download the e-book to your device two pieces of software are required. You need a copy of Adobe Digital Editions installed on your PC and you need compatible software such as Blue Fire Reader installed on your device.

Troubleshooting: Contacts

Authentication or off-campus access: If patron is getting an error message contact your library’s systems administrator first. Adam Traub (adam.traub@rit.edu) from RIT is the contact that your systems person can e-mail regarding overall authentication issues.

Notifying CNY Project Team that an item is on reserve: send an email to the E-Book Project Committee via ConnectNY Feedback.

New publishers to suggest: send an email to the E-Book Project Committee via ConnectNY Feedback.

Problem with a record: Contact your library’s cataloger first. If still unresolved, send an email to the E-Book Project Committee via ConnectNY Feedback.

Updates to this FAQ Document

For the most up to date version of this FAQ document, see the FAQ section of the ConnectNY web site. Direct link is http://connectny.org/index.php?q=node/67

To make suggestions for edits to this FAQ document, send an e-mail to ConnectNY Feedback.

Revised 7/19/2012