Here’s an email we got a couple of years ago from a faculty member who assigned one of those limited use titles to her class after experiencing high levels of her students being unable to access a title she assigned.
After we explained the limitations to her she wrote:
I did not realize this is how e-books work. Now I can warn students in the future not to count on using them for class and I will also make sure to put a hard copy on reserve.
Based on this type of feedback consistently over the years, we have removed limited use titles from our catalog and currently display individual title links for unlimited simultaneous users only and do not display any titles with any DRM.
Chuck
Charles Hamaker | Associate University Librarian Collection Development and Electronic Resources
J. Murrey Atkins Library
9201 University City Blvd. | Charlotte, NC 28223
Phone: 704-687-1106 | Fax: 704-687-0890
cahamake@uncc.edu | http://library.uncc.edu
From: ACQNET-L [mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2014 8:50 PM
To: acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Using eBook databases for textbooks
Sometimes, our e-books end up being chosen by professors for their texts, although it's generally just a chapter or two. They don't always tell us their plans, either. We sometimes find out when students call to tell us they can't "get in" to the e-book. We find that if we tell them to wait about 5-10 minutes and try again, they'll probably get in because it's just a matter of hitting the simultaneous user limit.
Our experience is that students look up an e-book and either print or download a chapter and then get out of the book, making it possible for a number of students to use the book over a reasonably short period of time.
Even if the professor wants to use the whole book, it generally goes chapter by chapter from week to week and students just go in multiple times to look at the chapter for the week.
Aline
On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 10:33 AM, <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>> wrote:
I’d check the license, as many licenses limit simultaneous users. Our Books24x7 license has a limit on users that wouldn’t allow several people in a study group to use it at same time.
--
Virginia Kay Williams
Acquisitions Librarian and Associate Professor
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount / Box 68
Wichita, KS 67260-0068
316-978-6442<tel:316-978-6442>
ginger.williams_at_wichita.edu<mailto:ginger.williams_at_wichita.edu>
From: ACQNET-L [mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org>] On Behalf Of acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2014 12:25 PM
To: 'acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>'
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] Using eBook databases for textbooks
I would investigate if this plan complies with copyright.
Karen Malnati
Librarian - Acquisitions
Union County College
MacKay Library
1033 Springfield Avenue
Cranford, NJ 07016
908-709-7027<tel:908-709-7027>
Malnati_at_ucc.edu<mailto:Malnati_at_ucc.edu>
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Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:17 PM
To: 'alcts-eforum_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:alcts-eforum_at_lists.ala.org>'; 'ACQNET-L_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:ACQNET-L_at_lists.ibiblio.org>'; 'alcts-eres_at_lists.ala.org<mailto:alcts-eres_at_lists.ala.org>'
Subject: [ACQNET-L] Using eBook databases for textbooks
Hi everyone,
Our college is moving to electronic textbooks through the Vital Source platform in order to reduce cost for students. We are also considering using some of the titles from our eBooks database (Books24x7) as textbooks, which would further reduce the cost to students.
Does anybody have experience using library eBooks (either single books or databases) as a substitute for textbooks? Or have you heard of this being done elsewhere? Currently our subscription of Books 24x7 does not allow for books to be downloaded which is a disadvantage.
I would appreciate any input regarding this as this is new territory for me. Any other vendors/databases that I should consider? What issues or questions am I missing out?
Thank you,
Asha
Asha Unni
Library Director
TCI College (Technical Career Institutes)
320W 31st. Street
New York, NY 10001
aunni_at_tcicollege.edu<mailto:aunni_at_tcicollege.edu>
Tel: (212) 594 4000 ext. 5314<tel:%28212%29%20594%204000%20ext.%205314>
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--
Aline Soules, Librarian
California State University, East Bay
25800 Carlos Bee Blvd.
Hayward, CA 94542
510-885-4596
aline.soules_at_csueastbay.edu<mailto:aline.soules_at_csueastbay.edu>
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Received on Mon Dec 29 2014 - 11:58:46 EST