From: "Swindler, Luke" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:34:22 +0000 OUP’s Very Short Introductions series is indeed worthy, representing a prime example of the utility and value of short-form monographs. (In fact, UNC Chapel Hill Libraries have all titles in OUP’s Very Short Introductions series as print books, either as locally purchased or acquired consortially as a matter of policy via its Triangle Research Libraries Network program with Oxford University Press to own all monographs from OUP and University Press Scholarship Online partner presses). Based on non-scientific samplings for short periods, UNC’s usage ranges from significant to nil. Given their overall potential utility and low cost, UNC considers the VSI titles not only to represent a good investment but also a comprehensive/complete acquisition appropriate for a major research library that supports programs across nearly the entire academic spectrum. (UNC, of course, represents an upper limit of appropriateness; other libraries supporting different and/or fewer programs would not need to acquire VSI titles so broadly—and typically could not justify subscribing to the entire e-books database.) Beyond cataloging each title individually—as is done for long-form monographs—I do not see a cost-effective model for promoting these circa 500 short-form monographs within a research library collections universe of millions of print and e-books. More specifically, such promotions strike me as quaint and quixotic for other large libraries—even in the case of institutions such as UNC that continue to have undergraduate library branches. In my view, vending options for the VSI series represent the major problem: that is, institutions must either purchase and own print or subscribe to all the titles as leased e-books. While recognizing the economic publishing model would not allow OUP to offer these titles as e-books with no DRM restrictions without jeopardizing the large number of sales to individuals the VSI titles generate, I do think that OUP also should offer e-book single simultaneous user purchasing options on either its own or an aggregator platform as an additional choice. Such an option would achieve four important goals:; 1) satisfy those libraries that want own these titles as e-books rather than lease them; 2) address the fact that library subscriptions budgets typically are much more constrained than their ability to purchase resources on a one-time/ad hoc basis, especially if the institution cannot justify acquiring all the titles; 3) take advantage of the inherent acceptability of short-form monographs as e-books (which could promote readership and use); and 4) with availability as e-books solve the readability problem of small font size in the print versions, since viewing these titles online would allow the text display to be increased. The challenge for both libraries and OUP comes down to developing an equitable and sustainable pricing model for title-by-title e-book vending of VSI short-form monographs. What both OUP and library customers want is a vending environment that maximizes options and promotes the availability of VSI titles—and by extension other short-form monographs—qua e-books when this format makes the most sense while also allowing OUP the realize profit margins that allow it continue to publish this series. As an initial recommendation, the price for single simultaneous user access would have to higher than but nowhere near list for long-form scholarly monographs. Additionally, for libraries to have more options in acquiring e-books, librarians will need to live with the basic economic realities. As a rule, inexpensive e-books (when they represent titles with high-volume print sales to individuals that publishers need to stay in business) require simultaneous user restrictions—unless libraries are willing to pay a significantly higher price, as is the case with e-textbooks and course-adoption titles. Ideally, publishers and vendors would provide both options! In conclusion, while we all realize that publishers and libraries need to move in the direction of offering more e-books to readers, we also need to experiment doing so within a matrix of bounded and calculated risk. Perhaps OUP could experiment with offering new VSI titles for a year at a cost that would be both sustainable economically but also encourage greater sales (and hence revenue) and in result in subsequent greater e-book availability to readers of these short-form monographs? Luke Swindler ******************************* Luke Swindler Collections Management Officer Davis Library CB #3918 University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27514 USA [log in to unmask] TEL (919-962-1095) FAX (919-962-4450) *******************************