From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 18:08:21 -0700 Chuck, thank you for posting this. I'm delighted to see this initiative, particularly when I see who's involved. Please mark myself and ASU as interested parties. At the very least, I will look forward to the conference a year from now. The issues you are focusing on are exactly the ones where we need movement. I'll underscore just one of your points: when the publisher deposits an ebook with Portico or CLOCKSS, an assurance of perpetuity is achieved. But if my library has "bought" the book not from the publisher but from a third-party aggregator/vendor, who has mashed it up into a proprietary format, the steps by which access will be secured from the archived version after the aggregator goes belly-up are far from clear. I would even say that if we are required to do *anything* in such a circumstance to secure continued access, we're being ill-served. Our stacks are full of books from publishers who have gone out of business, but we continue to use them uninterruptedly as before. That should be a standard. I've been having a conversation since last week with a serious academic publisher about the issues I raised and we're making good progress coming to a shared understanding of the issues. I hope to share a resulting message that will go into the ways library/publisher interests both align and misalign sometime in the next week or so. With thanks and congratulations, Jim O'Donnell ASU On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 5:40 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 13:05:45 -0500 > > Charlotte Initiative: Principles for Permanent Acquisition of eBooks > for Academic Libraries > > We’re glad to see the thoughtful email chain Jim O’Donnell introduced > about some of the issues that limit the effectiveness of scholarly > ebooks for academic library users. While we have more questions than > answers at this stage, I’d like to describe a Mellon funded research > grant “Charlotte Initiative: Principles for Permanent Acquisition of > eBooks for Academic Libraries” which dovetails with some of these > concerns. > > At UNC Charlotte, we determined from faculty and student feedback that > we would only purchase ebooks that met these three key criteria: > > · Provision of irrevocable perpetual access and archival rights. > > · Allowance for unlimited simultaneous users. > > · Freedom from any Digital Rights Management (DRM), including (but > not limited to) use of proprietary formats, restricted access to > content, or time-limited access terms. > > We presented a preconference at Charleston in November 2014 and have > now secured a Mellon grant to explore these issues. As you are well > aware, many providers will not or cannot sell ebooks to libraries > under these conditions, but there are growing numbers of publishers > who will and do. We want to understand what purchasers need to do to > take advantage of the hundreds of thousands of ebooks available under > these conditions and to identify practices that will make this a > sustainable enterprise for publishers. > > We have recruited a group of 20 “like minded“ professionals to use the > terms of the Mellon invitation: university press publishers, consortia > representatives, and librarians from a wide range of academic > libraries. The working group met in September 2015 and will convene > again in Charlotte in September 2016, and is meeting virtually > throughout the year to discuss these issues. Near the conclusion of > the project, we’ll host an Open Conference to share our research > findings in March/April 2017. > > There are several potential options for libraries that want to control > and make long-term provisions for the ebooks they purchase. We > initially planned for three research teams with membership from among > our participants, their nominees and other invited representatives. > > The Licensing Principles Team will first explore the fundamental > issues in ebook licensing keeping libraries from achieving a > collection that meets the core principles of the grant and then > develop possible solutions. It is led by Steve Cohn, Duke University > Press, and Theresa Liedtka, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. > > Liz Siler, UNC Charlotte, leads the Course Use Research Team. It will > focus on the opportunities libraries have to work with publishers on > providing ebooks for course use including different compensation > models and creating open educational resources. The group includes > participants from both university presses and libraries. > > Led by Alison Bradley, UNC Charlotte, the User Experience Research > Team will address the ways that libraries assess user satisfaction > with using ebooks that have restrictive conditions like proprietary > formats, web-only readers, or limited simultaneous users. The team > leader and research assistant completed a literature review to > evaluate the existing research published on user satisfaction with > academic library ebooks, and plans to conduct further research to > develop consistent guidelines for libraries to assess patron > satisfaction with the various formats and platforms of eBooks in their > collections. > > We have enormous respect for Portico and LOCKSS/CLOCKSS and the > efforts of various commercial systems for ebook access. But we > believe there is room for more variety and direct library involvement > in solutions to these issues that align with long term library > perspectives while meeting the needs of our partners in the publishing > information chain. During the September face-to-face meeting in 2015 > we realized that we needed an investigation of platform and > preservation issues including long term archiving and preservation to > meet the interests and expressed concerns of the assembled > participants. The Platforms and Preservation Team is led by Kate > Davis, OCUL/Scholars Portal, and Will Wakeling, Northeastern > University. > > Our consultant is undertaking a comprehensive environmental scan of > the academic library ebook market, focusing on business models, > pricing, and publisher and vendor receptivity to the three principles. > This iterative effort will include original research conducted using > surveys and interviews. > > Our topics are broader in some ways than your concerns, and narrower > at the same time. Your illustrations and the responses they have > generated have reinforced our belief that the time is right to > investigate these concerns and influence the environment and the > marketplace. > > We hope that our investigations will lead to further developments in > progress towards reliable means of permanent acquisition, creative use > and archiving of ebooks. > > For more information on the Charlotte Initiative please see our > website. It is rudimentary at this point but we will post > announcements as new content is added. We have planned an iterative > research process and will welcome feedback as we have more information > to share. Please feel free to contact us for more information. > > http://guides.library.uncc.edu/c.php?g=415902&p=2834242 > > Sincerely, > > Chuck Hamaker, Principal Investigator, UNC Charlotte, [log in to unmask] > > October Ivins, Charlotte Initiative Consultant, [log in to unmask] > > Alison Bradley, Head of Research and Instructional Services UNC > Charlotte, [log in to unmask] > > Liz Siler, Collection Development Librarian UNC Charlotte, [log in to unmask]