Emerging business models: Usage-driven acquisition

Abstract

Gale was founded in 1954 as a publishing company. Our flagship publication, the Encyclopedia of Associations, began a tradition of excellence in reference that has continued for more than sixty years. Gale’s focus on innovation and quality has led to expanded and increasingly/digital products, including online research databases, digital archives, virtual education courses, and, of course, Library Journal’s 2012 Best Overall Database, the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). GVRL, Gale’s proprietary eBook platform, features reference works from a variety of authoritative publishers, including more than one hundred partners. Content from these partners, including ABCCLIO, Sage, Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Encyclopaedia Britannica and DK Publishing, makes up the majority of the more than 13,000 titles available on GVRL, all of which are sold through an unlimited, simultaneous access purchase (perpetual access) model. In 2013, Gale developed an alternative purchase model, Usage-Driven Acquisition (UDA), in response to the challenges expressed by our customers. First, collection development is extremely timeconsuming. Librarians worry about spending large amounts of money on resources that may or may not be used; the risks can be large, and it is difficult to predict what titles or content will be most useful to students. Moreover, with all the options for purchase available in the marketplace – patron-driven acquisition (PDA), demand-driven acquisition (DDA), subject collections, a la carte title selection, single-user, multi-user – making a single simple purchase can be overwhelming. While these existing models are targeted at simplifying the collection development process, none resolve the unique challenges presented by reference materials. “What I like about [Gale’s UDA program] is that . . . you’re not automatically bumped into purchasing it if someone looked at it 12 times if it doesn’t fit your curriculum”, says Robin Bernstein, Senior Director of Library Services at Bellevue University, as opposed to a patron-driven acquisition model (PDA), which does trigger purchase based on a set number of views. DDA, or demand-driven acquisition, features the same trigger model. Instead, UDA offers a simple four-step process. First, libraries select an amount to deposit in their UDA account, with the caveat that increased levels of investment merit increased title bonuses. For example, for $20,000 down, libraries will receive $26,000 in deposited funds. Second, libraries receive unlimited access to a collection of up to 2,000 reference titles for a full six months. This includes all titles from all Gale imprints: Gale, Lucent Books, Charles Scribner’s Sons, UXL, St. James Press, MacMillan Reference USA, Schirmer Reference, Information Plus and Green-