E-Books Summit Preconference

Description:


Until recently college and academic libraries offered E-Books to patrons on a somewhat limited basis. Usually E-Books have been acquired through expensive bundled packages that included many titles with limited use for academic research. If E-Books were selected individually, it meant negotiating complicated license agreements with E-Book publishers or aggregators. For years many library patrons have expressed their frustrations when using E-Books, especially as they navigate non-user friendly platforms and deal with copyright and printing restrictions.

Fortunately, this landscape seems to be changing. E-Book publishers and aggregators are improving the accessibility of platforms, easing printing restrictions, and are offering increasing numbers of academic and university press titles in a timely manner. In turn, if academic libraries want to boost E-Book use they must license more user-friendly platforms, market the E-Books so their patrons will have a better idea of the improved content now available, and provide training to show patrons how to find and use the E-Books.

College and academic libraries in the state of Florida are experiencing cuts in operations and lean materials budgets, thus more than ever are considering sharing content management and license agreements for E-Resources. This collaborative model incorporates E-Books, whether arranged and acquired from publisher, aggregator, or book vendor. If successful, academic libraries collaborating in shared E-Book purchases would expand coverage of content, the number of users with access to the titles, and reduce costs by eliminating duplication.

This two-part program will begin with a series of focused exploratory discussions on the positive and negative aspects of E-Books, with the goal of developing a collaborative E-Book purchasing model that could effectively be employed by the college and academic libraries in the state of Florida. Topics and issues to be covered include E-Book selection, marketing, and discovery, as well as the training needed to create a successful E-Book program. In the second part of our program, we'll meet with an E-Book aggregator, an E-Book publisher, and a Book Services Vendor to discuss how they could work with the model(s) developed in our earlier session.

If you have any questions about the preconference, please contact Claire Dygert

Registration Deadlines: As a general rule, the deadline to register for any workshop is two weeks before the start date. For Lyrasis Workshops, the deadline is three weeks before the start date. After that time, any open slots will be released to those that may be on the waiting list. A determination will also be made to either hold the workshop as scheduled, postpone the workshop, or cancel the workshop based on the number of people currently signed up and approved to attend.

Cancellation Policy: Refunds of points are not guaranteed if cancellations are made less than 3 business days prior to the workshop date. If a staff member cannot attend a workshop, another staff member may be sent in their place without penalty. Remember that points will be assessed for "no-shows."

Staff from non-member libraries may register for PLAN events. They will be placed on the waiting list until the registration deadline. At that time, they will be add to the list of participants based on space available.