From: Scott Stangroom <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 15:25:35 -0400

Hi Jim,



I am not sure I can give any advice or deep insight on this issue. It is
still a bit of a new frontier for most of us.



JSTOR Books seems promising. Pricing seems reasonable. Terms of use
(including no DRM) are reasonable. ILL is permitted, but on the chapter
level, not the entire book). We've just begun a "pilot" DDA program at
UMass Amherst with our Five College consortium partners. The books in JSTOR
Books are not front list, but are from reputable scholarly publishers. Mind
you, I am telling you this prior to our having fully assessed the product -
we've just signed a license in August and we're now in the process of
loading discovery records.



We of course have purchased or licensed many e-books from a variety of
vendors, all of whom have up and down sides. We have a DDA program with
EBL, we subscribe to  ebrary academic complete (and purchase ebrary books
too), we also "purchase" and license Wiley, Springer, Sage, Elsevier,
Cambridge, Oxford books from the respective publishers, etc. I can't say
that I'm ready to wave the flag for any of these vendors/publishers too
wildly, but the books they offer serve their purpose and seem to meet some
of the immediate needs of our users as they fulfill assignments and do
research.



Not sure it this is helpful.



~Scott

______________________

Scott Stangroom

Acquisitions Coordinator

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

W.E.B. Du Bois Library

Amherst, MA 01003-9275

[log in to unmask]




-----Original Message-----



From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2015 13:46:25 -0700



The e-book landscape for libraries is challenging:  business models sharply
different from anything else we know, takeovers and re-alliances among
providers, exogenous forces (not only from Seattle) changing the
perceptions of price in the public market, etc.  I'm not being *only* naive
when I wonder why, when Amazon drives the price of low-use e-books down to
$1.99 and lower, low-use academic e-books cost well over $100.  How can
"perpetual access" be defined meaningfully?


What shall we do when we reasonably wish to borrow a title via ILL?



As we look at these issues at ASU, I'd be glad for advice from list readers
-- what vendors do you think offer the best deals (not just price, but
terms of use), and also in particular the best deals for an institution
committed to patron-driven acquisition?



Jim O'Donnell

Arizona State University