Ebooks, Eaudio, and Other Econtent

1
E-books, E-audio, and Other E-content

• Instructor
• Anthony Costa
• acosta_at_califa.org
• An Infopeople Workshop
• Fall 2006

2
This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople
Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project
supported by the California State Library. It
provides a wide variety of training to California
libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered
around the state and are open registration on a
first-come, first-served basis. For a complete
list of workshops, and for other information
about the project, go to the Infopeople website
at infopeople.org.
3
Introductions

• Name
• Library
• Position
• What e-books or e-audio does your library offer,
  if any?

4
Workshop Overview

• What is e-content?
• e-books
• e-audio
• Planning for e-books
• Implementation
• best practices

5
What is E-Content?

• Electronic versions of books, audio books, music
  recordings, and video recordings.
• In this class we will not cover online reference
  databases that are primarily made up of articles
  from magazines, newspapers, and journals.

6
What are the pros of e-content versus print?
What are the cons of e-content versus print?
7
Using Bookmarks in Class

• Go to bookmarks.infopeople.org
• Look for the class bookmark file
• Click on it so it shows on the screen
• With the class bookmark file showing in Internet
  Explorer, click the Favorites menu, choose Add to
  Favorites
• Notice the name in the Name box so that you can
  use the Favorites list to get back to the class
  bookmarks for the rest of the day

8
What is an E-Book?

• An e-book is an electronic version of a monograph
  that can be read on a personal computer, e-book
  reader, or other portable device.
• How it works
• usually in Adobe or html format
• sometimes downloadable

9

• Exercise 1Formats HTML and PDF

10
When Comparing E-book Providers Consider

• Platforms
• Functionality
• Content whats available?
• Acquisition/ownership models
• digital rights

11
Functionality

• Download
• Markup
• Full-text searching
• Hyperlinks
• Standing orders
• Authentication
• Adjustable font size

12
Platforms

• HTML
• PDF
• Proprietary readers
• Mobipocket
• Downloadable for offline use

13
What Are You Buying?

• Purchase one time up front cost
• Access fees
• Title selection
• Subscription
• Pay annually
• Updates
• Archival rights

14
Authentication Models

• In-library use only
• Vendor-side authentication
• Library-side authentication
• Use your borrower database

15
Simultaneous Users

• One copy, one user
• Unlimited
• Pay for simultaneous users

16
Policies

• Loan periods
• Authentication
• Co-branding

17
Exercise 2Library Catalog Searching vs.
Full-Text Searching
18
Free E-books

• AudioBooksForFree www.audiobooksforfree.com
• Escholarship texts.cdlib.org/ucpress/
• Google Book Search books.google.com/
•  Internet Public Librarys List of other small
  collections www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.
  60.00/
•  ManyBooks www.manybooks.net 
•  Memoware www.memoware.com/
•  Online Books Page digital.library.upenn.edu/book
  s/
•  Oxford Text Archive  ota.ahds.ac.uk/
•  Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
•  University of Virginia Electronic Text Library
  etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks

19
E-books and Print Books

• How should your e-book collection relate to your
  print collection?

20
What is E-Audio?

• Sound recordings in electronic format
• audio books
• music
• Current state of technology
• How it works
• Windows Media DRM
• library products not iPod compatible

21
When Comparing E-audio Providers Consider

• Platforms
• Functionality
• streaming v. download
• Content whats available?
• Acquisition/ownership models
• digital rights management
• burn to CD
• unlimited simultaneous usage
• transfer to portable device

22
Exercise 3Download an E-Audiobook
23

• How does e-audio fit with other formats in your
  collection?

24
Planning to Incorporate E-Books Into Your
Collection

• Who is the audience?
• Are there catalog issues?
• Training issues?
• How to promote?

25
In-House vs. Remote Usage

• What type of content makes sense in electronic
  format?
• Where will users most likely access your
  e-content?

26
Exercise 4 Plan an E-Content Collection
27

• Should you change your collection development
  policy? If so, how?
• Who should be selecting e-content?

28
When Selecting an E-Content Provider Base Your
Selection On

• Platform
• Content
• MARC records availability
• Support
• Usage statistics

29
Exercise 5

• Select an E-content Provider

30
Best Practices for Implementing E-content

• Collection development
• Access configuration
• Cataloging
• User support
• Staff training
• Promotion
• Usage statistics

31
Collection Development

• Integrate with print selection
• Integrate with database selection
• Collaborate with other libraries through
  consortial collections
• Let users suggest new titles
• Consider weeding needs

32
Access Configuration

• Multiple access points
• database links
• MARC records
• Test remote access
• Use proxy server software
• Test public PC access

33
Cataloging

• Evaluate MARC records
• MARC load frequency
• Weeded titles
• Item records
• Use E-ISBNs

34
User Support

• Staff must be comfortable
• Vendor tech support
• Limit support for individual issues
• Liaison between staff and vendor

35
Staff Training

• Train staff so that they are comfortable
• Train all staff
• Let staff try downloading and using portable
  devices
• Have cheat sheets for staff and patrons

36
Promotion

• Press releases
• Use bookmarks, signs, flyers etc.
• Use your website, blog, newsletter, email, etc.
• Raffle mp3 player or pda to be used with your
  collection

37
Exercise 6

• Write Web Copy for Your New Collection

38
Usage Statistics

• Dont wait to collect stats
• Standardize measures across platforms
• Calculate cost per checkout and cost per download

39
More Implementation Issues

• E-collection budgeting
• Shared collections and consortial discounts

40

• What has worked or would work well for your
  library?

41
Exercise 7

• Start an Action Plan for Developing an
  E-Collection

42
Evaluation Form

• infopeople.org/workshop/eval