Big thoughts on electronic resource management and licensing

One of the best things about this course and electronic resource management is that no matter what we are studying, we are learning about something that is happening in the library world right this second. I found it really invigorating to feel like what I was learning in class was extra, super relevant to what is happening around us. Etextbooks and ebooks, preservation, "just-in-time" collection development strategies, ereserves and Georgia State...all of these are examples of things that are happening now. I found that no matter where I looked, I was reading something very current and new--in blogs, The Chronicle of Higher Education, or journal articles to support my papers and presentations.

I find that notion really exciting. I am personally very interested in getting people connected to information--that was my inspiration for going to library school in the first place. Eresources are a great way of doing just that--they are convenient and easily accessed from the patron's perspective. But they come with so many thorny issues, like how to keep track of them, how to you get the right licenses, what can you do with them, how do you preserve them, etc. I see it as a really interesting challenge for libraries. How do we make the best of the advantages and limitations of eresources? I think that I am much better prepared to work with eresources in the future after having taken this course, and am not only familiar with what they are but am able to think critically about what they can and can't do for libraries. Who knows...I just might be an eresource librarian in the making!

Preservation

Our readings for the "Preservation/Perpetual access" week introduced a few key organizations when it comes to preservation, including LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and Portico. While I think LOCKSS is very useful, and CLOCKSS useful under very specific circumstances, I was really interested in the Portico model because the membership model seems like a good fit for libraries that do not have the resources (in staff, money, or time) to implement a "LOCKSS box." This is obviously a more centralized system than LOCKSS, but it might be the best method for smaller institutions. It will be interesting to see what happens with Portico and if their membership model takes off. It might be difficult for them to raise funding through membership fees, but it does seem like a worthy system.

These preservation readings came the same week that I presented on etextbooks. It occurred to me that I was not aware of any model that would preserve ebooks. Our readings discuss these preservation organizations in terms of ejournal content. As it turns out, Portico is introducing new preservation services, including preserving ebooks, starting Jan. 1, 2011. This is great news for libraries that are concerned about their econtent. We are not just working with ejournals--we have these ebooks, etextbooks, datasets, images...the list goes on and on. Each different format could require different preservation strategies, and at the very least, will require working with a larger pool of content suppliers. Librarians had to (and continue to) fight to get perpetual access issues implemented into licenses for full-text databases. They will necessarily have to be ready to negotiate those issues for ebooks, too. Having a centralized system to point to, like Portico, might make publishers more comfortable and make everyone rest a bit more easily.

Playing with my NOOKColor and Overdrive

My fun NOOKcolor is posted to the right. I have been reading Vlad the Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula with it. I have actually never read a graphic novel before in my life, but I wanted to see what the NOOKcolor could do. It was for the most part, a lot of fun reading the Vlad on the Nook. However, sometimes the text would be so incredibly tiny, and for whatever reason, you can't zoom within this pdf. I am not sure why, since I can zoom within a non-DRM pdf that I uploaded. So that was annoying, but overall, I think the Nook did a nice job of displaying the color images in the novel. No other e-ink readers do this, so I can appreciate it.

I downloaded this ebook from the public library. I also wanted to see how well their system works. I searched around for a graphic novel that looked interesting to me. I thought a history of Vlad the Impaler sounded pretty cool, so I put a hold on it. A few days later, I received an email saying my ebook was ready for download. Downloading the book was really easy--all I needed was the name of my library system and my library card number. (The name of the library system is actually not very obvious--South Central Library System, rather than Madison Public Library, which is how I tend to think of my library. The do offer a link to a map to help you determine which system you are in, but I bet this trips more than a few users up.) The image on the left shows what the Vlad the Impaler page looks like on the WPLC Overdrive site.

You also have to download Adobe Digital Editions. I already had this loaded to my computer, so that was not an extra step this time. (And I would say that process is easy, too. You just need your log-in information.) You can see the books that I have downloaded through Adobe Digital Editions--that includes a free ebook from the University of Chicago press, an expired public library ebook, and the still-current public library Vlad the Impaler book. There is a little ribbon across the public library books indicating if they expired or how many days you have left on the book. I have 9 days left on Vlad the Impaler, but I finished last night. If this were a print book, I would just return this to the library so the next person can use it. I know that this book will expire, but sometimes I just like clearing things out and returning them to their "owner." And from a library perspective it would be much better to be able to get the book to the next user. This makes users happy and improves circulation statistics.

I haven't sat down to read a full-length novel with this little gadget just yet. But I did just download a novel while I am writing this. (Henning Mankell's The Man from Beijing, for the curious.) As with the Vlad book, I had the option of keeping the ebook for 7 or 14 days. I never really know when I will have time for fun reading, so I usually choose 14 days to give me more time. That was too long for the graphic novel, and now I wish I had chosen 7 days so someone else can use it. But 14 days is possibly not long enough for a full-length novel (especially during finals week!). (This book was also one that I had put on hold. I clicked the emailed link to access the book, put it in my cart, changed my mind about downloading it today, exited the system, then I lost my access to the book. I thought the book would continue to be reserved for me for the 3 days mentioned in the "your hold is available" email. I guess if you put the book in your cart, then change your mind, the system does not continue to reserve it for you. I quickly went back to download it once I realized this.)

I would say that, overall, this is a pretty good system for public libraries. I think that Overdrive and Adobe Digital Editions are the key parts in making the system work. I prefer this method of ebook delivery over handing out Kindles to patrons. I totally do not understand why you would want to do that--I prefer this system of downloading the book myself and loading it to my own device. (Spoken like someone who owns one of these newfangled devices.) Now I just wish that my public library offered even more books in ebook format. I chose the NookColor over the Kindle because of its ability to handle epub formats--now I would like even greater selection from my public library, please!

Do you have an ereader that you use to access public library books? How do you like the system? Let me know in the comments below.