Abstract
During the 2009-10 academic year, eight textbook publishers, three aggregators and ten UK higher education institutions came together in a series of trials to help inform future pricing models for library-delivered e-textbooks to students. Funded by JISC Collections and co-ordinated by Content Complete Ltd, the trials were designed to help identify the drivers and resistors to making core and adopted e-textbooks available to higher education libraries. For publishers, access to their content via libraries is a risk given that the dominant business model is one of student purchase. For libraries, finding funds to purchase this content has always been difficult, given the protection afforded the serials budget.What sort of compromises might be possible to meet the needs of both parties?This paper reports on the trials themselves and the key issues that emerged for the principal stakeholders.
Highlights
Since 2006, JISC Collections has sought to take a leadership role in the discussions about licensing e-books in UK higher education (HE)
Part of this report outlined the feasibility of undertaking a series of trials involving a selection of textbook publishers, aggregators and UK higher education institutions (HEIs), using, wherever possible, ‘adopted’ or core e-textbooks
■ to make recommendations about business models for e-textbooks following the trials, that are sustainable both in terms of profitability for publishers and value for money for libraries. Lurking beneath these issues and objectives is the fact that the dominant business model for content of this kind in UK HE is based on student purchase, and publishers need to think carefully about how offering e-access via the library can co-exist or complement the traditional student-purchase model
Summary
Since 2006, JISC Collections has sought to take a leadership role in the discussions about licensing e-books in UK higher education (HE). In autumn 2008, JISC Collections engaged Content Complete Ltd and OnlyConnect Consultancy to prepare a landscape report on the current status of the HE textbook market in the UK.[2] Part of this report outlined the feasibility of undertaking a series of trials involving a selection of textbook publishers, aggregators and UK higher education institutions (HEIs), using, wherever possible, ‘adopted’ or core e-textbooks. ■ to make recommendations about business models for e-textbooks following the trials, that are sustainable both in terms of profitability for publishers and value for money for libraries. Lurking beneath these issues and objectives is the fact that the dominant business model for content of this kind in UK HE is based on student purchase, and publishers need to think carefully about how offering e-access via the library can co-exist or complement the traditional student-purchase model. A total of 17 e-textbooks were made available by the participating publishers
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