Beguiled by Bananas :

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• Beguiled by Bananas
• A retrospective study of the usage breadth of
  patron vs. librarian acquired ebook collections
• Jason Price John McDonald
• Libraries, Claremont University Consortium
• November 5, 2009
• (with data discussion from
• Kari Paulson Alison Morin of EBL)

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Bananas tipped the boat a cautionary tale

• Early patron-driven deal with a major platform
• Assignment on economics of banana plantations
• UC Boulder bought every book with banana in the
  title
• Used by librarians vendors(!) as evidence that
  user-driven selection is a bad idea

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Patron-driven model objectionscautionary
conclusions?

• Books will be selected based on click-thrus that
  dont indicate interest
• Users will select ebooks that no one (else) is
  interested in
• User selected collections will be unbalanced
  turkeys

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Definitions

• Purchase type
• Patron selected Demand Driven User-selected
• Librarian selected Library selected
  Pre-selected
• Ebook usage was measured conservatively
• Data reflects post-purchase use
• Did not count uses that led to user-selection
• Casual use eliminated
• 1 use 1 read online 1 download
• read online gt10 min w/click thru OR copy OR
  print
• Transaction level data
• each use recorded separately with user
  anonymously but permanently identified

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Questions well address

• Are user-selected ebooks used less often than
  pre-selected ebooks?
• Do user-selected ebooks have a narrower audience?
• Are user-selected collections less balanced?
• Do we have anything to fear in patron-driven
  selection?
• (Can we use this to build better acquisition
  models?)

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Scope of the overall dataset

• 1 Ebook Vendor EBL (Ebook Library)
• 11 Libraries
• 28,327 ebooks bought from 2006 - 2009
• 212,887 uses during that period
• Purchase Models User Selection, Pre-Selection,
  or Mixed

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Total Books Usage
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Total Books Usage
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Total Books Usage
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Total Books Usage
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Scope of this analysis

• 5 Mixed-model libraries only
• Design
• Test variables Purchase type Library
• Response variables
• Uses per year
• Unique users per year
• Books owned more than 6 months
• Inferential stats Negative binomial regression
  (not shown), ANOVA

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Question 1

• Are user-selected ebooks used less often than
  pre-selected ebooks?
• Do user-selected ebooks have a narrower audience?
• Are user-selected collections less balanced?

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Librarian Acquired
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Question 2

• Are user-selected ebooks used less often than
  pre-selected ebooks?
• Do user-selected ebooks have a narrower audience?
• Are user-selected collections less balanced?

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User-selected collections have fewer unused titles
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Question 3

• Are user-selected ebooks used less often than
  pre-selected ebooks?
• Do user-selected ebooks have a narrower audience?
• Are user-selected collections less balanced?

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User-selected collections have similar subject
profiles
Proportion of individual collection
User Pre User Pre User Pre User
Pre User Pre
Library
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User-selected collections have similar LC profiles
Blue User selected Green Pre selected
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User-selected collections have similar LC profiles
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Summary

• Are user-selected ebooks used less often than
  pre-selected ebooks?
• No. User-selected ebooks are used 2-5x more
  often
• Do user-selected ebooks have a narrower audience?
• No. User-selected ebooks are used by 2-3x more
  unique users
• Are user-selected collections less balanced by
  subject?
• No. User selected collections are similarly
  balanced.

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Questions Discussion

• Given our results what do we (still) have to
  fear from patron-driven purchasing
• (at least in the EBL model)?

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Thanks!

• Jason Price jason.price_at_cuc.claremont.edu
• John McDonald john.mcdonald_at_cuc.claremont.edu
• Kari Paulson kari.paulson_at_eblib.com