“eBook Loans – an e-twist on a
classic interlending service”
Bronwen Woods & Michael Ireland, NRC-CISTI
Presented by Michael Ireland to
The 10
thInterlending and Document Supply Conference,
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
eBook Loan Service project from the CISTI perspective:
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Wild times in lending
history …
Why eBook
Loans
?
Current scholarly book access models are limited:
Purchase books or eBook
License eBook collections
Interlibrary loan
eBook loans are more accessible and economic:
Current state of
print book loans
End user-initiated orders
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Challenges of the
eBook Loan Project
Solve the problem of how to
loan e-books to external clients
Barriers faced = restrictive
e-book licences and publisher
locks prevent affordable
access for temporary needs
Partnership to achieve
a common goal
CISTI out-of-the-box
solution to the achieve
project goals by forming a
collaborative partnership
with an e-book aggregator,
MyiLibrary.
MIL had the rights to
disseminate e-books through
publisher agreement and
Collaborative project
management across the
world
The project management process was unprecedented for
CISTI because it was partnering with a commercial
Project Risks
Main risks and complexities associated with the project
from the CISTI perspective were:
The co-development of a new library service model with an
external, commercial partner
The geographical and organizational distances between the two
parties
The loading of the publisher metadata onto the CISTI Catalogue
platform
Client acceptance of the new business model
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Critical tasks
In August 2006, a joint project team was assembled at CISTI
and MyiLibrary to produce a new service model for lending
e-books.
To embark on this joint venture, two tasks critical to project
success were completed:
A client survey (summer 2006
)
• 59% of respondents said “yes” they were interested in this service,
sight unseen
Division of
responsibility
MyiLibrary was responsible for:
Negotiating with the publishers to
offer this loan service
Making necessary changes to their
system
Providing the publisher e-book metadata
Marketing and client support
(shared with CISTI)
CISTI was responsible for:
Technology architecture planning
and business analysis
Metadata loading and management Website interface design input and
translation
Marketing and client support
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Conclusions & Next steps
Lessons learned:
Communications
Problem
: At times, the distances
and preoccupations with other
tasks resulted in slow
communications and delays.
Mitigation strategy
: The project
steering committee, which included
executives from both organizations
provided support on decisions to
allow the project to move forward.
Lessons learned:
Loading problems
Problem: Some diacritics and table of contents publisher metadata provided by MyiLibrary was of poor quality – delaying Catalogue record loading.
Mitigation strategy: MyiLibrary
pinpointed the problem as occurring in the source metadata records. Some data was corrected on the spot with more corrections promised in future loads.
Learned: Given the relatively small number (6%) of records involved affecting findability and with the promise of future metadata updates, the project team decided to accept the status quo and move ahead with
Lessons learned:
Getting Publisher
sign-on
Problem: Delays in signing
publishers created complications because the publisher e-book
records could not be displayed and offered to clients until the publisher had signed.
Mitigation strategy: CISTI loaded all of the records but had to keep unsigned publisher records
“suppressed” from public view if they were not signed.
Lessons learned:
Authorizing users
Problem: CISTI and MyiLibrary had a disagreement over authorizing end-users accessing the eBooks. MyiLibrary wanted to create an additional end user password login. CISTI preferred not, wishing to put the emphasis on client usability and the
minimization of barriers. MyiLibrary had a legitimate business concern about unauthorized use and also wanted to offer additional features to end-users - only possible if they had their own password.
Mitigation strategy: At the end, an agreement was reached on having no additional login with an
understanding to re-visit the issue if there was
proven abuse. Currently all eBook loans expire after four weeks and terms & conditions state they are for personal use only.
Best practices
Creating use cases at the outset
of the project
Maintaining a shared project
task list
Keeping an issues log
Findings
The project was a success because:
Produced a new eBook loan service where all the stakeholders
(CISTI, MyiLibrary, publishers, clients, users) reached a
common goal to improve e-book accessibility.
CISTI, as a public sector organization, and MyiLibrary, as a
commercial enterprise, shared a vision and carried it through to
a successful conclusion.
A project conducted “virtually” over two continents succeeded in
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Value Proposition for
users
eBook Loan Service allows the user to:
Find and obtain relevant scientific, technical, medical, business
and social science eBooks from major e-book publishers
No mailing wait, download immediately from
email link to web browser
interface
Search and read eBook on line for 30 days
Value Propositions
for libraries
eBook loans allow libraries to …
Have immediate access
Avoid mailing wait / no unfilled
Borrow unlimited books
Reduce loan processing costs
Renew loans
Forward eBooks to end users wherever they are
Avoid recalls / late returns / lost books
Advantage eBook Loans
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Conclusions & Next steps
Conclusions
The eBook Loan Service project and the implementation of
the service break the barriers of time, distance and cost.
CISTI took a practical approach to increasing access to
e-books through a collaboration with an aggregator and
publishers.
Next Steps
Promote the service world-wide
Facilitate other forms of payment
beyond credit cards, working with
other organizations such as OCLC
Expand the service to include more
publishers and other providers
world-wide to ensure that users
have the fullest range of choice
Look for other opportunities to
The CISTI eBook
Loan Project
Overview
From opportunity to launch
Why eBook Loans
Project goals, challenges, risks
Project tasks and workflow
Project lessons learned, best practices and findings
Benefits to users and libraries
Conclusions & Next steps
Take away thought
“What technology often does is help us re-invent
situations which have already existed but are now
ready for modernisation
or moderation”
Thank you
Bronwen Woods
Phone 613-990-9140
Fax:
613-952-8239
Michael Ireland
Phone 613-991-9988
Fax:613-993-0747
