From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 17:25:18 +0000

Hi, Chuck —

This sounds like a fascinating project, and I’ll be very interested to
see what results from it.

I have one clarifying question. In the message below, you said that
you guys had “determined from faculty and student feedback” that you
should not purchase ebooks unless they provide for perpetual
access/archiving rights, unlimited simultaneous users, and no DRM
restrictions of any kind. My question is this: was the message you got
from faculty and students that they agreed these are _desirable_
criteria of ebook acquisition, or that they agreed they are
_essential_ criteria?

The reason I ask is that I can easily imagine a patron saying “I’d
prefer to have unlimited and perpetual access with no DRM, but if the
only way I can have access to Book X is under conditions less ideal
than those, I would rather you buy the book under those
less-than-ideal conditions than refrain from buying it.” If, however,
your patrons are telling you clearly and specifically that they will
_only_ find ebook access acceptable under the terms you’ve described
(as opposed to simply agreeing that those terms are preferable), then
that would be a very interesting finding.

---
Rick Anderson
Assoc. Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication
Marriott Library, University of Utah
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