Nudging the envelope: the hard road to mainstreaming UCD Library e-book provision

Abstract

Results of a local survey in late 2008 show that e-bookshave not yet reached a tipping point at University College Dublin (UCD) Library, with only about a quarter of those surveyed saying that they have used any.There is therefore everything to play for in this developing area.We describe briefly the stages of e-book development at UCD Library, and then focus upon the main themes that have emerged and our experience in each case. These themes are:collection development and acquisition;resource discovery; statistics and promotion; then future challenges and plans. There is discussion of the real challenges that we have seen over the three years that we have had a specific focus on e-books, in terms of the inter-team nature of the enterprise, the rapid transition to new working methods, and the threat presented to future e-book developments by the current financial situation.

The e-book management framework: The management of e-books in academic libraries and its challenges

“…None of the libraries had a marketing communication strategy relating to e-books. This finding is in contrast with the literature, which indicates that a number of university libraries had formulated marketing strategies for e-resources (Information Automation Limited, 2009;Schmidt, 2007;Turner, Wilkie, & Rosen, 2004;Woods, 2007), or specific strategies for e-books (Pan, Byrne, & Murphy, 2009). However, findings from the Information Automation Limited study indicate that academic libraries "are moving slowly towards the formulation of such strategies" and that "promotion of e-resources is rarely undertaken as a part of long-term, planned approach" (Information Automation Limited, 2009, p. 51).…”

E-books in academic libraries: Challenges for sharing and use

“…In contrast, 22% described it as poor (Albanese, 2007). Two years after the introduction of e-books at University College Dublin, only 26% of students had used any title from the UCD collection of nearly 170,000 e-books (Pan et al, 2009). Likewise, 49% of students in the US, Italy, Hong Kong, and Canada have never used a library e-book (ebrary, 2008).…”

Promoting your e‐books: lessons from the UK JISC National e‐Book Observatory

“…Their report recommended that the library engage in "further awareness raising to promote e-books" (Pan et al, 2009, p. S19). However, NeBO students recognised that the library offered more general promotional activities associated with e-resources, and spoke of the following methods.…”

“…The role of the library Ideally, promotional activities for e-resources needs to be framed within a strategic plan, and indeed there is evidence within the literature that university libraries are developing strategies for e-resources (Woods, 2007;Schmidt, 2007;Turner, Wilkie & Rosen, 2004) or, indeed, specifically for e-books (Pan, Byrne & Murphy, 2009). One institution links the success of promotion to their strategy:…”