A Place at the Table: Health Sciences Librarians and Consortial E-Book DDA Selection, Purchasing, and Management

Abstract

Objectives: The University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) Library Consortium consists of the 16 libraries from Maryland’s diverse public universities and colleges, including a research university, a distance education university, a liberal arts college, professional schools in law and the health sciences, HBCU institutions, and two system centers. A pilot was implemented to explore the feasibility of a joint demand driven acquisition (DDA) e-book model. Methods: A committee of ten—including the collection manager from the health sciences library and a health sciences librarian from one of the system centers—convened to design and manage the pilot. The consortium leadership provided a budget of $100,000, and the committee selected a broad profile, focusing on the subject areas offered at the system centers, which offer several interdisciplinary and inter-institutional courses. One goal was to provide greater equity in access to resources across institutions. The committee decided to pilot a novel consortial DDA model that limited the lending of each purchased book rather than providing a price multiplier. A simple questionnaire was devised to measure participation by campus. Results: The pilot went live in August 2013 with an initial load of 6560 titles into USMAI’s shared catalog. The original model was to pay for 6 short term loans and purchase the book at print list price on the 7th. A purchase entitled the consortium to 14 short term loans per year with an additional copy being purchased at print list price on the 15th. Over the course of the year the committee removed certain titles from publishers who demanded exorbitant increases in the cost of short term loans and added others. Currently the shared DDA collection contains 25,077 titles. An analysis of usage shows that the users of all libraries in the system have benefited from the program, and funding for the pilot was approved for a second year. Conclusions: A consortial e-book DDA program can be a cost-effective way of equitably increasing access to a greater number of resources for library users. As e-book models for libraries continue to evolve it is vital that libraries work with publishers to design systems that are mutually beneficial. It is our hope that other consortia will adopt this type of model so that it will continue to be viable in the marketplace.