The Buck Stops Here: Assessing the Value of E-Book Subscriptions at the Columbia University Libraries

Over the past four years Columbia University Libraries (CUL) has seen exponential growth in electronic book (e-book) purchasing. These purchases have not only increased the depth and breadth of the collection, but they have also created new opportunities for remote learning and instant information access. In turn, this new push for purchasing electronic has created new demands in assessment to understand the true benefit of these resources, most notably in regards to annual e-book subscriptions. In 2013, a new position aimed at developing an e-book strategy for CUL was devised. Shortly thereafter, a position was created in the Science and Engineering Library Division (SEL) that focused on assessment. These two positions fall in line with CUL’s mission to support research and learning through evidence based decision making. This paper explains an assessment methodology used within the library system at CUL to evaluate the cost-benefit of e-book subscriptions. By appraising several databases, we were able to analyze cost and usage to determine the actual value of these resources. The findings yielded a savings of approximately $60,000 for the 2015 fiscal year. This is an ongoing initiative that will help us document the e-book landscape and build data sets that will inform collection development decisions. Part 1: Introduction The dawning of the Digital Age revolutionized the way information and knowledge are created, produced, and disseminated in the academic community. The rapid integration of technologies with research, teaching, and learning activities has changed both information and access needs of user communities. A new reliance on electronic content coupled with the pressure of reduced stack space for print collections are factors that contributed to a new focus on electronic book (ebooks) acquisition initiatives in academic libraries. Librarians now face the challenge of assessing and evaluating this new format in regards to the value it offers to users. Columbia University Libraries (CUL) is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America and serves a community of over 3,750 faculty members and 26,000 full-time students at the Morningside Campus and Medical Center. The collections are housed across twenty-one campus libraries and include over twelve million volumes, 160,000 current journals and serials, and an extensive collection of manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and audiovisual materials. In 2004, CUL began purchasing e-books in an experimental capacity. Due to positive reception by faculty and students, CUL began expanding e-book collections to support research, teaching, and learning activities across campus. Currently, CUL provides access to more than two million e-book titles and expenditures comprise 25 per cent of the total book budget. As the e-book collection continues to grow, CUL is developing a unique strategy and vision for e-book collection development, programs, and initiatives. To achieve this goal, the Collection Development Department launched the E-Book Program Development Study in 2013. This assessment project centers on the collection of essential data to drive the development of policies related to e-book acquisition, discovery, and access. In 2014, the Science and Engineering Library Division (SEL) created the position of Collection Assessment and Analysis Librarian in order to promote regular and standardized assessment of existing collections. In 2014, 96 active e-book subscriptions were identified at CUL. The objective of this paper is to describe an assessment methodology used to evaluated the cost-benefit of these e-book subscriptions across the entire library system, and then within SEL. By appraising several databases, we were able to analyze the cost, usage, and value of these resources. This work involved conducting cost analysis, examining usage trends, and conducting title overlap analysis. The study was guided by the following four principles outlined in the CUL/IS Strategic Plan 2010 – 2013: 1. User-focused design; 2. Data-driven decision making; 3. Continuous assessment of results; 4. Flexible and adaptive response to user needs (Columbia University Libraries, 2010, p. 8). The assessment method described in this paper was applied on two separate occasions in the Collection Development Department and SEL between November 2013 May 2014. In both cases, the method provided actionable results and contributed to the standardization of e-book assessment and negotiation strategies across campus. The findings yielded a savings of approximately $60,000 for the 2015 fiscal year. Since savings are tied to subscription packages, they will carry forward into coming years. In addition, both studies resulted in discussions with vendors regarding price negotiation and platform performance. Finally, we gained a deeper understanding of how resources can be allocated to best support the needs of user communities. The ongoing evaluation of e-book subscriptions will allow for evidence based decision making and assist in the continued documentation of the e-book landscape at CUL. Part 2: E-Book Program Development Study The E-Book Program Development Study is an ambitious, two year assessment project aimed at gathering essential data to drive the development of policies related to e-book development programs. It aligns with CUL’s mission to support the development and delivery of high-quality services that facilitate research, teaching, and learning across campus and within the wider scholarly community. The results will provide a set of recommendations and policies for internal and external stakeholders as they collaborate on the development and implementation of e-book projects and programs. The objective at the heart of the E-Book Program Development Study is to develop a strategy and vision for e-book programs and collections at CUL. Essentially, the set of recommendations that result from study findings will create a bridge between the current landscape and CUL’s vision for future e-book initiatives on campus. A large part of this work involves the development of methodologies that examine how e-book resources are allocated, evaluate current subscriptions and packages, examine usage trends, and build collaborative relationships with vendors. The data that was gathered while developing these methodologies will be used to inform recommendations and policy statements regarding e-book collection development and management on campus. The reality that the e-book landscape is constantly evolving was factored into decisions regarding the overarching assessment framework guiding this study. The research design was created so that it can be replicated regardless of how e-books evolve in the coming years. Because the design is flexible and adaptive in nature, it promotes continued assessment, evaluation, and strategic planning as a regular component of e-book programs. As part of this study, a large-scale cost analysis project was completed between November 2013 – March 2014. The goal of the project was to collect quantitative data that will inform e-book collection development policies in regards to fund allocation and preferred business models. While the study examined both e-book subscriptions and purchases, for the purposes of this paper, the discussion will be limited in scope to e-book subscriptions. After discussions with the Director of Collection Development, and the Head of Electronic Resources Management, it was determined that e-books are most often purchased on the EO fund code. To collect financial data for all e-book subscriptions, a Voyager (CUL’s integrated library system) query was run for all library funds ending in EO. After running the cumulative query, we created a base list of all e-book subscriptions at CUL. Given the enormous size of this data set and the time restrictions placed in the study, data collection was limited to subscriptions that had fund activity during the 2013 fiscal year (FY2013). This limited the base list to 96 ebook subscriptions. Next, subscription fees in FY2013 were totaled, and calculations were made to identify the top 70 per cent (bulk) and bottom 30 per cent (tail) of purchases within the budget. Statistical analysis was also conducted to determine the total, average, median, high, and low costs. To examine usage trends, the top four subscriptions (ranked by cost) were selected and corresponding title lists were collected from the Continuing & Electronic Resources Management (CERM) Division. At the same time, the corresponding BR2 COUNTER report was pulled from the vendor website. At this point, we encountered an unexpected challenge; in several cases, multiple collections from the same vendor are purchased as separate items on the EO fund code. However, there is no apparent way to filter COUNTER reports by collection. At this point, we considered analyzing the data by vendor instead of by collection, but decided that this method would skew results because of the discrepancies in cost, size, and use. Instead, we filtered the data for a second time by matching the 2013 title lists with COUNTER report data. Based on these results, we calculated the number of titles loaned, number of loans, percentage of titles without use after purchase, the average cost of an e-book, and cost per use (see Table 1). Please note that the results were calculated using confidential data. For the purposes of this paper, the numbers were changed and percentages are not exact, but they reflect the trends discovered in the actual study findings. Subscription A Subscription B Subscription C Subscription D 2013 Cost $50,000.00 $20,000.00 $15,000.00 $60,000.00 No. of titles 80,000 6,000 125 11,000 No. of titles loaned 34,000 2,100 90 1,600 No. of loans 2,500,00 11,900 22,00 6,500 % of titles without use after purchase 62% 65% 25% 85%