October 16, 2008

Project Team Membership:
Mary Ellen Wilson (chair)
Zora Breeding
Jared Ingersoll
Julie Loder
Monica Sanchez
Roberta Winjum

Project Summary/Abstract:

As Vanderbilt Library’s e-book collections grow and as we delve into the realm of individual e-book ordering while continuing to also buy large e-book collections, some procedures are unclear, redundant, or missing entirely. This project team will clarify the necessary steps for adding e-books to the collection, including selection, licensing, ordering, determining and disseminating access information, payment, cataloging, preservation, and maintenance. Some considerations include:

• Vendor/publisher variations in how e-books are ordered or supplied; preferred platforms
• When and where each step of the procedures occurs, variations, and who is responsible
• Procedural variations for purchase of individual e-books versus packages
• What information to keep in Acorn, Verde, the e-books public list, or elsewhere
• How the e-version relates to the print version for collecting
• How the e-version relates to the print version for record keeping, particularly for DiscoverLibrary
• Bibliographic record availability and how Marc records are handled
• How to mark e-book collections for later retrieval within the catalog
• Databases that include e-book-like content
• Trial products and patron selected e-books
• E-book readers: Kindles and playaways
• Maintenance payments
• How to identify the stable URL
• Preservation issues—archived by supplier or locally

Other workflow considerations may come up in discussions that are not listed here. The project team’s work would consist of the following steps:

• Review current workflow, identify confusing, redundant, and missing parts
• Create a list of requirements for e-book processing
• Describe a workflow to meet these requirements, with variations
• Identify those responsible for each part of the workflow
• Disseminate the new procedures; communicate to all involved

It is possible that various procedures will be required for different types of e-books, e.g. individual purchases versus packages. It will also be necessary to build in flexibility so that the unique ways that publishers currently sell e-books can be accommodated without our missing important procedural steps.

Timeline:

It is likely that some procedures can be put in place as they are determined.

Statement of need:
The Library has a collection of over 400,000 electronic books of various types, and the collection continues to grow as interest in e-books grows. Some of our e-books have been acquired as large collections of older texts that have been digitized. Others are specially negotiated packages of titles with no item by item selection process involved. Now we are beginning to see more current imprints that can be chosen in digital form as individual titles. Patron selection of e-books is a new area we are also exploring. With each of these types of e-books, our suppliers are also exploring new models for how to sell them. We have learned that bibliographic access through our catalog greatly increases the use of these items, yet each supplier is different in how or whether they supply bibliographic records and their quality.

This project team allows staff with in-depth knowledge of acquisitions, e-resource management, cataloging, and collection development to determine how to improve the management of our growing e-book collection, and how our procedures can be adapted to fit this new format into our routines efficiently.

Project champion/owner:
TechForce and Collections Committee

Project leader/coordinator:
Mary Ellen Wilson, Team Leader, Order Services

Documentation and reporting:
By Mar. 1, the Project Team will have draft procedures ready to present to the Collections Committee for approval. If other procedures are finalized in the interim, they can be approved by the Collections Committee and implemented as appropriate.

Other personnel involved/required:
The team will consult widely with acquisitions, LITS, and collection development staff throughout the libraries.

Related projects:
As it will be desirable to include license information in the ERMS, the Verde Implementation team will have an interest.

Budget:
There are no budget implications.

Assessment:
The team will deliver its report and recommendations by March 2009. A statement of self-evaluation should be included in this report.

Active participation in project teams is critical to the success of the library’s strategic plan. All project team leaders will be asked to complete an assessment form for project team members at the completion of the project. This will be given to the project team members’ supervisor for use in annual performance evaluation. The form will rate several facets of team member participation in the project.