L&LR staff blog

I’m in this week’s issue of student newspaper The Linc, talking about (predictably) e-resources and the library. Page 8 of the print edition (next to Vito Cataffo!):

And in their online edition. I was really pleased to be asked to do this – gratifying that the student newspaper wants to hear about the library.

Somehow I missed this when it was first released. Which is a shame, because it’s very useful.

“The JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT) aims to help libraries to make informed decisions [...] key service information for database and eBook content platforms.”

Compares platform features including authentication method, search functions, indexing, reference management compatibility, DRM restrictions, linking, and usage stats.

Link — http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/adat_ebooks.pl

I’ve finally got a year’s worth of e-book usage data from both the ebrary and MyiLibrary platforms.

I’ve been commenting on the growth in usage throughout the year (since Michelle formally launched ebrary Academic Complete back in January), so here (without comment) are all the stats from August 2008 and July 2009.

Graph: e-book usage as a % of total usage (print+e).

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…alright, so I can’t resist commenting.

It looks as if we are definitely levelling out at the 25% mark – i.e., one e-book session for every three paper loans. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in September – will this 3:1 level of preference carry on into the new academic year?

My assertion that this translates to “one electronic loan for every three print” has been rightly challenged – after all, a new e-book session will be recorded every time a user ‘opens’ an e-book, whereas the same can’t be said for print loans, where the ‘loan’ is only registered once, irrespective of whether the reader opens the book thirty times, once, or not at all. Really, we need a formula along the lines of:

S = rL

Where S = a single user session, L = a print loan, and r = the number of times on average a student reads a library book they’ve borrowed. Anyone care to give me a figure for r?

What’s particularly interesting to me is that this growth has happened with – in the grand scheme of things – little in the way of overt publicity. I know that we’ve all pointed readers to e-books where they’ve been available, and I’m sure the Academic Subject Librarians have made sure their respective subjects were aware, but I’ve a hunch that the real driver has been the existence of e-book MARC records on Horizon, allowing readers to discover the e-books serendipitously. What would happen if we did the same for our 44,000 e-journals?

Picture: Leicester City Centre, this morning.

Or possibly the Simpson Desert, by tensaibuta, on Flickr.

35°C is too hot for me.

I’ve spent this morning in the city, first for a meeting with people [librarians, VLE people, and lecturers] from Leicester College, who are shortly to start delivering a UoL foundation degree in Food Manufacture (Bakery).

We discussed appropriate resources for the students (inc. ScienceDirect, Mintel, e-books, RefWorks) which they’re going to expose to the students via their Moodle VLE; we talked about creating a physical and virtual induction and support materials; and they were kind enough to take me down to see their bakery suite, which was empty and undeveloped the first time I saw it and is now a hive of building activity ready for September.

After that, I went around the corner to the University of Leicester for a chat with Gareth Johnson (aka @llordllama), who’s an information librarian and manager of the Leicester Research Archive (LRA), their repository. I always enjoy talking to people at other institutions involved in repository work – it’s a great social leveller! No matter what the type, size, or prestige of the university, a lot of the problems are the same.

I also got a behind-the-scenes tour of the impossibly smart David Wilson Library: chaises longues and all.

The help guide Accessing and using ebooks has been updated to include information on accessing and using ebrary Academic Complete.

The help guide is accessible via the Library Help Guides page on the Portal.

As I reported in March, a comparison of Horizon issue stats and e-book ’sessions’ shows that use of our e-books is going up.

I now have the e-book usage data (ebrary + MyiLibrary) and print circulation stats (all 4 sites, desk and self-issue) for April 2009, and the usage of e-books shows no sign of levelling out yet.

Counting one session with an e-book as equivalent to one issue of a paper book, there’s now approximately 1 e-book session for every 3 paper loans. That is, nearly one-quarter of total usage is “e”.

Actual figure for April is 23.17%.

Graph: e-book usage as a percentage of total loans, 2008-8 to 2009-4.

The proportion of e-book sessions as a percentage of total loans appears to have been growing in a roughly linear way since we formally launched ebrary in Jan ‘09. My question still stands – where will this linear increase naturally level out? And (different question) where would we like it to level out?

Addendum: if it keeps going at the same rate, we’ll reach 1:1 print:electronic by January-February 2010. Will that happen, really, or will it bottom out before then? Is that what we want to happen? Could we stop it if we wanted to? Could we speed it up? Is it Friday yet?

Interesting visualisation of how the increase in our e-book usage is almost exactly offsetting the drop in issues.

For every seven paper books issued between Aug ‘08 – Feb ‘09, roughly one session with an e-book took place.

This includes data from both MyiLibrary and ebrary (which we only really launched in January ‘09, so it’ll be interesting to see whether – and to what extent – the trend continues).

“Y” axis numbers have been removed to protect the innocent… but you can get them from the Portal (L&LR staff only).

Hello,

I am implementing a change later this afternoon in the way the HIP public catalogue on Horizon handles searching for ebooks. At the moment you can either choose a “subtab” in the Search screen which says “E-books”. This will simply list everything that matches the collection code “E-book”. Unfortunately this code only relates to MyiLibrary ebooks, and ignores the new Ebrary ebooks, which are a separate collection code. I am therefore proposing to delete this subtab, as there is no easy way to include both collection codes, though it may be reinstated if I can find a way to make it work.

The other way to search specifically for ebooks is to do an ordinary search (keyword, or wahtever), and then limit by ebook. This does a limitation on the item type “ebook”, which ALL ebooks have. This way, you could search for, say “introduction to business”, get a list of results which wouild be both paper and ebook, then limit by “ebook”, which would give you just all ebooks matching your search.

This change will not take place until I have rebuilt the HIP indexes, which I will start doing about 4pm this afternoon. When the process starts, the HIP catalogue will not give any keyword results until the first 50,000 records have been indexed, which might be in 40-50 minutes. Hopefully the index rebuild will be finished later this evening.

This rebuild should NOT affect the StaffPAC search in Horizon.

Any questions please ask.

Thanks

Chris

We may not have even formally launched ebrary yet (though access is possible through the Portal, and the MARC records are on Horizon… somewhere…), but they’ve announced details of their new and improved user interface (UI). I can’t find it online, but I’m sure they won’t mind my reproducing their email here:

ebrary

Dear Customers and Partners:

We would like to remind you that on Tuesday, January 20, we are upgrading all ebrary sites to our new and improved user interface (UI).  Your end-users will soon have an even richer experience including improved search; QuickView, which allows instant document viewing in a browser; better bookshelves with folders; and other exciting new features.

Additionally, we would like to clarify exactly what will happen to your site on Tuesday, as well as your options post-launch.

1. When your site upgrades to the new UI, it will only offer the ebrary Reader that you are currently using, along with QuickView.
   • If you are using our ebrary Plug-in Reader, your end-users will have access to the ebrary Plug-in Reader and QuickView.
   • If you are using the ebrary Unity Reader (formerly called the Java Reader), your site will include the Unity Reader and QuickView.
   • If you currently offer both the ebrary Plug-in Reader and Unity Reader, your site will continue to include both Readers, along with QuickView.
2. When end-users access ebrary titles in the new UI through your catalog, they will first launch in ebrary QuickView, which does not require any downloads or installations.  End-users can instantly launch the Plug-in or Unity Reader directly within QuickView.
3. If end-users click on the document title, chapter links, or cover image, the document will open in QuickView. If they choose, end-users may bypass QuickView by clicking on the “ebrary Reader” button next to search results.  This button will launch the Reader you are currently using on your site. End-users may also bypass QuickView by setting that preference under “My Settings.”
4. QuickView is intended for quickly viewing and perusing a document, and does not include printing, InfoTools, or some of the other advanced features of the ebrary Plug-in or Unity Readers.  We anticipate that most end-users will use QuickView to easily find the information they need, then use the ebrary Plug-in or Unity Reader for more in-depth research. For a comparison of the different Readers, please see http://www.ebrary.com/corp/techReader.jsp.
5. If you have customized your banner or landing page, it will still display in the new UI.
6. If your site currently offers both the Plug-in and Unity Readers, end-users may select which Reader they prefer to be their default through “My Settings.”  Note that Windows users may use either the Plug-in and Unity Readers; however Macintosh users must use the Plug-in Reader, and Linux users must use the Unity Reader.  QuickView works with any operating system.
7. For more information, please see our frequently asked questions (FAQ), which we will continue to update based on your input and concerns, at http://www.ebrary.com/corp/techUIfaq.jsp. Additionally, our KnowledgeBase for Librarians now includes the new UI and can be accessed at http://www.ebrary.com/kb/librarian/ui.jsp.

Please note that we will be offering special training sessions on our new UI throughout the day on Friday, January 16.  To sign up, please visit http://tinyurl.com/3o65ey.

Also, we encourage you to try our demo site.  If you did not receive the URL, username and password, please email support@ebrary.com.

Feedback is welcome at any time by emailing feedback@ebrary.com, and don’t forget we will be demoing our new UI over breakfast at ALA Midwinter in Denver, CO, USA.  To RSVP please visit http://tinyurl.com/89gj2q. To sign up for additional special events at ALA, please go to http://www.ebrary.com/corp/promo/ala.html.

Sincerely,

The ebrary Team

ebrary, 318 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA

Chris L. and I have made a couple of changes to the way e-book links work on the public catalogue.

I’ve put a message on the public blog about the most obvious difference – MyiLibrary titles now open up in a new browser window – this seemed to be something that annoyed a lot of users (at least – a few Holbeach students complained about it…) because they couldn’t get back to the catalogue using the ‘back’ arrow.

Horizon now also handles the Athens authentication from MARC 856 $u in a slightly different way. We’ve made that change so that we can get the MARC records for the new ebrary e-books onto Horizon with the minimum of fuss, but it shouldn’t affect what users see when they log in to MyiLibrary (or ebrary) via HiP.

(You might spot that, since the change, links ro existing MyiLibrary titles in 856 are getting a double-dose of Athens authentication… this doesn’t seem to cause a problem [cue emails from Eduserv telling me why it's a terrible idea!] and Chris, Di, Bev, Jill and I will have a little project after Christmas to tidy up the existing MyiLibrary MARC records, to bring them in line with the newer ebrary records, and to put a stop to the duplicated Athens authentication within the links.)

I have to give credit here to Dave Pattern @ Huddersfield, who pointed the way forward to do this within Horizon(!) when we were chatting in London a week or so ago. Thanks Dave; works a treat!