E-Reference on a Mission
Whether big or small, reference publishers are getting savvier as producers of electronic content
By Mirela Roncevic -- Library Journal, 11/15/2006
While it remains uncertain what the future holds for the reference industry, one thing is clear: electronic resources continue to permeate its every pore. E-strategies differ greatly, but most reference publishers agree that to acquire a print product without devising an e-strategy for it from the start is rare. They disagree, of course, on which route to take when creating electronic products or how to digitize their backlists.
Some publishers continue to take a more conservative approach, investing primarily in their print lines while letting vendors like Thomson Gale distribute their content online; others take the initiative to digitize their content, creating their own web platforms from scratch; still others mix and match, making their content available through their own sites as well as numerous other venues.
This diversity of e-strategies has led in recent years to a proliferation of web products. In many cases, this boom has allowed librarians to access content they may not have been able to collect in print. However, it has also left librarians with the difficult task of figuring out how best to select and then organize the sources they purchase. But first, it's important to understand why so many models exist.
Making room for diversity
Is there room for electronic models to coexist in an already saturated market or is standardization inevitable? “If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” says Paul Gazzolo, president of World Book. “Information problems are diverse—they aren't all nails—and they require a collection of discrete tools suited to each problem's peculiar characteristics.” Rolf Janke, VP and president of SAGE Reference, agrees: “There is an excellent argument for platform standardization, but there are too many issues to sort through to make publishers comfortable with such an idea.”
There are also those who believe that standardization works in some settings better than in others. Mike Noerr, marketing director at Marquis's Who's Who, explains, “Standardization can work well in a library environment with a diverse patronage, such as that of a public library. A basic, standard interface shared by all users gives a good reference point and makes user instruction easier. Customization would be useful, however, for those users going well beyond a cursory search or basic research.”
Pricing it right
No matter what the product model, it goes without saying, quality comes at a price. Even if librarians are comfortable with all this diversity, are they willing to pay for it? The issue of affordable pricing remains at the forefront of database publishing, not only because librarians gripe about the steep cost of web products but also because publishers remain vocal about how expensive it is for them to produce and maintain them.
Many in the industry believe that to address pricing, one must look at the product being purchased and ask the following: Are librarians looking for constant updating? Is the subject covered fast-changing? Are bells and whistles expected? Many also believe that it's all an issue of communication between the two sides: publishers need to understand libraries' shrinking budgets while librarians need to understand the cost and risk associated with developing an e-product. ABC-CLIO CEO Ron Boehm sets the record straight: “If publishers are being asked if they can afford wholesale price cuts or discounts, the answer is, 'No,' if we want to stay in business.”
Taking responsibility
It wasn't long ago that reference publishers were happily competing with each other in their niche world. Now, the competition stretches far beyond that world and includes such formidable names as Google and newcomers like Wikipedia. Nicole Bowen, director of electronic publishing at Facts On File, says, “Our challenge remains to convince customers that our products provide a value that warrants a price high enough to offset decline in print sales.” Eileen Sutter, director of marketing at H.W. Wilson, says, “It remains a challenge for publishers and librarians alike to convince students and end users that free web sites can give hit-or-miss results and that specialized databases should be the first choice for any serious research.”
In the end, librarians remain the force driving the course of the reference industry and influencing how online content is developed, distributed, and priced. “We involve librarians in every[thing] we build from the earliest stages through to the delivery of the finished product,” says Rebecca Seger, reference marketing and sales director at Oxford University Press. “That is absolutely a priority.”
As librarians continue educating patrons about the difference between editorially monitored content and unverified information floating around in cyberspace, they also continue educating themselves about the reference industry and its challenges. To help them make sense of the jungle that is e-reference, we here offer a sampling of the most common approaches to online publishing, as described through the models and strategies of various publishers.
ABC-CLIO
Medium impartial
“We have neither an electronic nor a print mission,” says ABC-CLIO CEO Ron Boehm. “It is really one combined media mission to provide our customers with a variety of choices when different media offer different benefits, features, and capabilities.” Over the last 35 years, the publisher of history, military, and political science books has migrated to several electronic media (e.g., online with Dialog, CD-ROM, and ebook) but continues to see great value in its print line.
“On the business side, we try not to be unique,” adds Boehm. “We want librarians to be comfortable and familiar with the purchase and subscription models we use. We try to be in line with the pricing and policies they already utilize.”
ABC-CLIO e-content is available in two formats: through its own subscription databases and ebooks. The eight social studies databases—which include American Government; World History; Understanding Conflict and Society; and the forthcoming Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society—go beyond providing A–Z content to encompass breaking news, feature stories, audio clips, and other extras. Ebooks, which are electronic versions of the print volumes, may be purchased not only through ABC-CLIO but also via netLibrary, myiLibrary, and e-books.com's EBL.
The publisher has recently launched History Reference Online (HRO), a collection of ABC-CLIO ebooks covering history, geography, and current affairs. Over 85 percent of the initial 340 encyclopedias in HRO were published after January 2000. The collection will grow quarterly, with over 150 titles added in the next 24 months; it is offered as an annual subscription at a variety of pricing levels. Access options include deep linking to articles, MARC records for OPACs for individual books, and searching across the entire collection as well as browsing the title list by subject.
Facts On File
Repurposing print
Facts On File's objective is to remain selective, both when it comes to its line of e-products and the audience they serve. “We are not trying to be a free consumer-based product that is all things to all people,” says Laurie Likoff, Facts On File's editorial director. “Our target user is the middle school to high school student and above who wants a content-rich source to research academic-related topics and events, without bias or questionable content.”
Based on the publisher's long line of print products as well as its own electronic bank of graphic holdings such as original maps, charts, and images, Facts On File's databases are thematic rather than title-driven and take pride in their simple interface.
Many databases have been around long enough that they warrant revision and/or redesign at this point, and Facts On File has been busy revamping several of them. Their curriculum-based content is culled from the publisher's numerous history, literature, and science reference volumes appropriate for the academic audience in school and public libraries.
Nicole Bowen, director of electronic publishing, explains Facts On File's mission: “We strive to present a clean, clear look and provide the ability to quickly reach the desired information without sacrificing features that will foster learning and exploration.”
The “history” family comprises six subject-specific databases: American History Online; African American History Online; American Indian History Online; American Women's History Online; Modern World History Online; and Ancient and Medieval History Online. They not only cover people, places, and events of each era but also include image galleries, time lines, primary sources, and numerous search features.
One of Facts On File's most popular databases, Science Online is in the midst of a complete overhaul. The new version will include a great deal of new content, new search and browse features, and special monthly selections. Also noteworthy is Facts On File's recent acquisition of Chelsea House, which has enabled the publisher to add a wealth of Harold Bloom materials to its thriving Literature Online database.
Greenwood
Old dog, new tricks
The best way to beat the competition, as far as Greenwood goes, is to come up with fresh takes on the usual topics. Case in point: the development of its own much-admired Daily Life Online database. “Instead of a plain-vanilla site covering all of world history, this product looks at the past and present through the lens of average people's day-to-day lives,” says Kevin Ohe, editorial director of electronic products. “This is more interesting for students—and for us!” Another case in point: Praeger Security International Online, a recently launched one-stop source of information on terrorism and security, comprising 500-plus Praeger and Greenwood print titles, 1000 research documents, monthly commentaries on current events, and several other web features.
Greenwood products are “not so much repositories of facts as research sites that provide a safe haven for students, teachers, librarians, and general readers,” says Ohre. “Our greatest challenge is treading the fine line between too big and too niche. Making sure we meet curricular needs—especially in this time of No Child Left Behind—without becoming boring.”
Launching this fall is World Folklore and Folklife, based on the publisher's impressive line of folklore volumes here tied to thousands of primary sources. Part of the Daily Life Online family, the database looks at the various traditions passed down among the generations and includes a searchable collection of tales, from ancient myths to urban legends.
Last but not least is The Greenwood Digital Collection, a research platform of about 3000 ebooks bearing the Praeger, Greenwood, and Libraries Unlimited imprints. The platform helps librarians make the most of their budget by allowing them to build their own digital collections with as many titles as they need.
Marquis's Who's Who
Making room for growth
It all started in 1899 when Albert Nelson Marquis selected 8,602 distinguished people for the first edition of Who's Who in America. Since then, the Marquis Who's Who family of print directories has grown to include millions of biographies of famous and influential people from around the world.
In recent times, the publisher has remained competitive in the e-market by starting to digitize its backlist and introducing its own database, Marquis Who's Who on the Web. With over 1.3 million biographies, the database is promoted as the most comprehensive of its kind, owing, in part, to much of the biographical data being provided and verified by the listees themselves.
“By combining content from our family of print directories into a single, online search tool, patrons and staff can go online and access all the information we have available, resulting in more efficient research,” says marketing director Mike Noerr. “With remote access to our database, library patrons have the convenience of researching from home. And with 15 search fields to choose from, the information is more accessible and creates unlimited uses for all researchers.”
The product is massive in size and scope, so keeping it up-to-date can be a challenge, admits Noerr. “In order to address this issue we have shifted our focus from an annual publication cycle to a daily updating schedule and have invested in both staff and technology,” he says.
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Flexibility all around
OUP has been aggressively digitizing its backlist for some time now and introducing a variety of platforms tailored to meet the changing needs of end users. The key to its approach is flexibility while preserving the integrity of authorship.
Oxford Digital Reference Shelf, for example, is a customizable web platform made up of the publisher's print scholarly reference volumes that cover a wide variety of subjects. They include, among others, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, and The International Encyclopedia of Dance. Once incorporated into the platform, all titles are fully searchable remotely, 24/7. Librarians may buy any number of titles depending on their needs and budget. Various purchasing options exist as well.
Also of note is the Oxford Reference Online platform, which exists in two formats: the Core Collection, containing over 100 dictionary, language, and subject reference works, and the Premium Collection, with additional functionality and content.
To offer so much flexibility and purchasing power to librarians, the publisher has had to alter its acquisition and development process. “We are starting to see the results in products like the African American Studies Center, which required us to reshape a planned series of books on African American history to meet the needs of the site we were building,” says Oxford's reference marketing and sales director Rebecca Seger.
In the coming months OUP will launch Oxford Art Online and Oxford Music Online, two new portal sites intended to grow over time. Also on the horizon is the launch of the Oxford Islamic Studies Center, built around a new edition of Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and other titles about Islam that Oxford has licensed from other publishers.
SAGE Reference
One challenge at a time
In its relatively short life as an independent reference publisher, SAGE has built its reputation on producing specialized social science encyclopedias geared mostly toward scholars and academic libraries. When the time came to face the digital challenge several years ago, the publisher took the quick route, making most of its reference sets available through the Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Starting in 2007, however, SAGE will take a more proactive role on the electronic front and launch its own e-platform while continuing its partnership with Thomson Gale. In January, SAGE eReference will make SAGE titles available electronically in what is being touted as an “easy-to-navigate and elegantly designed platform.”
“There are too many generic sites that offer end users little hope of realizing that they are actually in an online encyclopedia that represents an authoritative definition of a topic,” says Rolf Janke, VP and president. “Our aim is to provide them not only with the authoritative content but the ability to easily check other topics as well as to promote greater usage.”
The SAGE platform will provide simple searches as well as advanced Boolean searches with options for displaying results, allow browsing by Reader's Guide, Entries A–Z list, and Index, provide printable pages that can be copied and pasted, and much more. Librarians have the freedom to purchase an entire list or a single title from the collection; either way, they receive unlimited access to the purchased content forever.
“Our e-model may not be unique,” explains Janke, “but it stands for what is really the most important issue that end users face in the world of free sources of information: accuracy and authority.”
H.W. Wilson
Assertive and focused
To list all of Wilson's electronic products would warrant a separate article; that's how prolific this publisher of books, journals, and online products has been in recent years. Its many databases and indexes are available through the WilsonWeb platform, which is designed, in the words of marketing director Eileen Sutter, “to take full advantage of all of the superior indexing metadata created by the Wilson editorial department.”
WilsonWeb may be used by searchers of all levels and experience. A novice gets relevant results by entering a word or a phrase in a single search box with WilsonWeb's All-Smart Search, while an advanced researcher can use the Advanced Search screen to construct a much more sophisticated search.
“We begin by selecting for inclusion the very best sources of content,” explains Sutter. “Frivolous titles are not added simply to enhance full-text title counts or reduce the 'cost-per-full-text-title' numbers.” Sutter adds that the indexing metadata is created in-house by Wilson-trained and -supervised subject specialists using the “uniquely efficient” Wilson subject vocabulary.
“The speed with which the information industry changes remains a never-ending challenge to product development and maintenance,” admits Sutter. Yet, Wilson shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to keeping up.
The publisher just introduced Current Issues: Reference Shelf Plus, a new database inspired by the “Reference Shelf” book series Wilson has been putting out since 1907. This collection of full-text articles on current topics allows users to launch searches for new information on each topic via WilsonWeb or on the World Wide Web.
Wilson's well-regarded image database, Art Museum Image Gallery, is undergoing a substantial revision, to be completed by the end of this year, which includes the addition of over 62,000 images from several international museums.
Brand preservation
How do you go from publishing a top-selling print encyclopedia to developing a smart and lucrative electronic model for it and its print offspring? That's exactly what World Book faced when it became clear that its 22-volume World Book Encyclopedia—well known to and heavily used by reference librarians—would have to find its permanent place on the web.
The publisher's answer: a unique e-platform called the World Book Web, which aims to be anything but a replica of the print line. Its lead product—World Book Online Reference Center (WBORC)—offers everything found in the print encyclopedia, plus 8000 additional articles; more than 100 videos and animations; 60,000 cross reference links; 10,000 sounds, including pronunciations; an interactive dictionary; and much more.
“A few years ago, people marveled at getting hundreds or thousands of results to a search. Now, they value quality over quantity,” says Paul Gazzolo, World Book's president. “The powerful technology we've used for our search capability ensures that when an individual performs a search, it will result in useful information relevant to his or her needs.”
“Our greatest challenge is not to dilute our brand,” maintains Gazzolo. “The web is so large, and we need to resist the temptation to be overly broad. Our focus has to be on creating content that is relevant to long-term understanding.”
The WBORC consists of three unique modules: World Book Kids (based on the Student Discovery Encyclopedia for young adults), Educators' Tools (offering ties to state curriculum standards and student activities), and Research Libraries (a collection showcasing the accomplishments of the greatest minds through history in eight areas of history, science, and literature).
| Author Information |
| Mirela Roncevic is Reference and Arts & Humanities Editor, LJ Book Review |
