Buying Ebooks

Since their introduction in the late 1990s, ebooks have evolved from simple digital reproductions of their print counterparts to content that can be purchased and used in a much more flexible manner. Ebooks can be both aggregated into databases as well as disaggregated into freestanding chapters and databases of mixed content. Although the release of ebooks still often lags behind the print, and the array of access and pricing models can be confusing, the good news is that ebooks are being packaged and sold in ways that offer librarians and their users unprecedented flexibility and functionality.

Several ebook vendors and publishers have also partnered with library book jobbers in an attempt to streamline ebook acquisition. For instance, ebrary and EBook Library (EBL) have partnered with Blackwell's Book Services to offer their ebooks via Blackwell's Collection Manager, and NetLibrary has partnered with Baker & Taylor to offer its ebooks via TitleSource 3, B&T Link Online, and YBP Gobi.

NetLibrary has developed two ebook ordering tools, TitleSelect and TitleDirect. TitleSelect is an online ordering interface for NetLibrary's catalog of more than 100,000 ebooks, journal titles, and other materials. Lists of titles can be shared among librarians before submitting an order. TitleDirect, a profiling tool, allows librarians to create ebook profiles based on subject areas, publishers, and publication dates—much like an approval plan. Lists of new content that matches the profile are emailed at desired intervals so librarians can make purchasing decisions.

One of the latest vendors to offer ebook packages is EBSCO Information Services. EBSCO currently provides subscriptions to ebooks from Wiley Interscience and Pan American Health Organization. Later in 2006, EBSCO will also feature ebooks from Springer, Taylor & Francis, and Cambridge University Press.

While some publishers, such as ABC-CLIO and Greenwood, publish ebooks and print books simultaneously, many embargo ebooks sold through distributors, similar to the process of embargoing current issues of e-journals in aggregated databases. Both Blackwell's and EBL have been working with publishers to find ways to release ebooks earlier.

Title by title or by the bundle

NetLibrary, the earliest vendor in the ebook market, now with more than 100,000 titles, has maintained its one book–one user access model. The company offers two primary purchase models based on title-by-title selection: libraries can subscribe to an ebook by paying the list price of the book, plus an annual access fee of 15 percent of the list price, or libraries can “own” an ebook by paying the list price plus a one-time access fee of 55 percent of the list price. NetLibrary has also worked collaboratively with specific publishers to grant simultaneous access by multiple users to subsets of its collection. The vendor now has subscriptions to a collection of “eAudiobooks” as well.

Librarians will also find two different purchasing models at ebrary: subscription-based and perpetual access (ownership). Ebrary puts forth annual subscriptions to its databases that are priced according to libraries' FTE and allow for simultaneous access by multiple users. Librarians can purchase subscriptions to several different preselected databases, including “Academic Complete,” which holds more than 30,000 titles. Librarians can also select specific titles and build their own unique database. Ebrary recently introduced a perpetual access model, with the option to choose single-user access, based on the list price of the book, and simultaneous access by multiple users, based on the list price of the book and the libraries' FTE. Librarians hand-pick titles, and several “selector lists” are available to help jump-start the selection process.

Getting down with EBL

Established in Australia, EBL has worked closely with U.S. librarians, including those at Yale and North Carolina State University, and publishers to create ebook products and services that improve upon the traditional one book–one user access model. The collection currently consists of more than 30,000 academic and scholarly ebook titles in all subject areas. The Non-Linear Lending™ access model allows for simultaneous use by multiple users, title-by-title selection, and perpetual ownership, while still limiting the total number of lending days per year, per title. EBL also offers short-term rental (similar to electronic interlibrary loan or pay per use), free browsing of the entire collection without a platform fee, and chapters for use in e-reserves and coursepacks.

Pricing for EBL ebooks is set by the publishers. The prices are typically comparable to the print list price. The EBL pricing model includes a platform fee and the content price. EBL's platform fee can be paid one time in advance ($5000) or incrementally ($6000), with an additional 15 percent surcharge per title. When platform fees are paid in full, prices revert to the list price only. Following a one-year grace period, libraries that continue to collect new titles from EBL and use the EBL LibCentral librarian management interface will be subject to annual hosting fees—$750 per year if paid up-front, or an additional 15 percent per new title purchased to a maximum of $1000. Prices for the EBL short-term rental program are determined by the length of the rental (between one day and four weeks) and the list price of the ebook. Libraries renting only short-term from EBL still pay a platform fee, which shows up as a 15 percent access fee per purchase.

The specifics of collections

Companies like Knovel (Engineering), Safari (IT), and Books 24x7 (IT and business) have ebook collections with a narrow but deep subject focus. Knovel and Books 24x7 offer annual subscriptions to their databases of ebook content priced according to the collection purchased and the number of simultaneous users.

Safari has a unique title-by-title purchase plan. It assigns each ebook a specific number of slots, and the purchase price is based upon the simultaneous users and the overall number of slots. A key benefit is the ability to discard an ebook and replace it with another title, which has great utility in the IT field. For example, if a library subscribes to ten books and five simultaneous users, the users could switch titles and topics, from Perl to Java to XML, multiple times within a year.

Knovel's product stands out from other current ebook offerings. Its ebook database features innovative search tools and an array of other complementary, interactive tools that facilitate the research process, including spreadsheets for live calculations for customizing data in tables.

Gale offers ebook versions of hundreds of its reference titles via the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). Librarians can purchase Gale ebooks one by one and build a customized collection—GVRL also makes available more than 100 reference titles from other publishers, such as Sage, Cambridge University Press, Wiley, McGraw-Hill, M.E. Sharpe, and Bernan. The GVRL ebook collection is cross-searchable with the Gale InfoTrac periodical databases. Also, GVRL includes a link to Xreferplus titles for libraries that subscribe to Xrefer databases, as well as subscriptions to ebook collections from Greenhaven Press and Lucent Books.

Buying by subscription

Some vendors and publishers have ebook databases with annual subscriptions. This model may be attractive to libraries that need constantly updated collections of content. The utility and convenience of these databases might outweigh some librarians' concerns about duplicating print titles.

An increasing number of publishers, including ABC-CLIO, Greenwood, Springer, Oxford University Press, Ovid, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley, sell and host ebooks directly; some also sell their titles individually and via subscription through vendors such as NetLibrary, ebrary, and EBL. Each offers a slightly different pricing model, but all tend to bundle titles in some way, usually as subject or reference collections.

Publishers such as Gale, Facts On File, and Elsevier are creating mixed-format databases that contain ebooks, e-journals, maps, forms, white papers, and conference proceedings. Their goal is to enable seamless retrieval from a common search interface.

Several notable ebook initiatives have been created to meet the unique research needs of the humanities. These include Early English Books Online, Early American Imprints, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Gutenberg-e, and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) History ebook project. Unlike existing offerings, most contain primary source material that facilitates research and teaching within specific disciplines. Many have complex licensing models.

While the models are still evolving for content, licensing, and purchase, the new generation of ebooks serve both the librarian and the user better than ever before. Vendors are making it easier for librarians to integrate ebooks into their regular selection and acquisition workflow. This gives librarians the ability to see quickly when both ebook and print book versions are available, helping ensure that any duplication is intentional. The flexibility of ebooks gives new life to old and new alike.