E-book Workflow from Inquiry to Access: Facing the Challenges to Implementing E-book Access at the University of Nevada, Reno

Abstract

As e-book holdings in academic libraries increase, libraries must face the challenge of how to manage the acquisition and access of both individual and package e-book titles. While libraries have developed workflows to effectively handle electronic journal holdings and packages, e-books do not fit neatly into those models. An e-book workflow shares facets of both monographic and electronic resource acquisition and access, with both title-level and package acquisition and management issues. This article will explore how a cross-departmental team in the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries collaborated to analyze and refine the workflow for the e-book lifecycle, from the point of inquiry through acquisition, access management, and end of life.

The Big Picture: A Holistic View of E-book Acquisitions

“…When convening a task force of librarians and staff to examine how e-books were managed at their institution, Beisler and Kurt determined that four processes occurred in the workflow: assessment/ acquisition, access, maintenance/troubleshooting, and end of life. 5 Vasileiou, Rowley, and Hartley reviewed the literature on e-books and did not find studies that offer "a holistic framework of the issues and challenges mapped onto the stages in the e-book management process," and semi-structured interviews were conducted with academic librarians to identify "the stages in the e-book management process and key activities and challenges and issues associated with each of the stages." 6 Vasileiou, Rowley, and Hartley's research resulted in demonstrating the activities and challenges occurring within a framework for the management of e-books that consisted of nine stages: collection development policy; budget; discovery; evaluation and selection; license negotiations; cataloging and delivery; marketing/promotion and user education; monitoring and reviewing; and renewals and cancellations.…”

Exploring academic e-book use: part II through focus groups and interviews

“…Over the past several years, a number of studies were conducted to determine the advantages and challenges users associate with e-book collections. Armstrong and Lonsdale (2009) and Beisler and Kurt (2012) suggest that the main benefits linked to e-book use include 24 hour availability of materials, remote access, and multiple user access options. In most cases, the challenges relate to issues that restrict access and functionality options including digital rights management (DRM), platform design, and the incompatibility of file formats with various e-readers and technologies.…”

An analysis of ebrary Academic Complete at Adelphi University

“…While e-books offer the opportunity to reach patrons wherever they have an internet connection, there are significant workflow and information management issues for libraries. One major issue is that many technical services departments are still organized around a print model, but responsibilities for e-book acquisitions often cross department lines (Biesler and Kurt, 2012). Amalia Beisler and Lisa Kurt at the University of Nevada, Reno found that communication was the greatest obstacle to managing e-books efficiently, so a workflow was created that not only addressed issues within the department, but was also centered on the needs of end users (Biesler and Kurt, 2012).…”