Emery (2010)

Emery, J. (2010). Heard on the Net: One byte, two bytes, three bytes for dollars. All for e-books, stand up and holler!. The Charleston Advisor, 12(2), 62-3. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from Library and Information Science database. doi: 10.5260/chara.12.2.62

Using the Hodges, Preston & Hamilton article as her point of departure, Emery describes two e-book pricing models "that are beginning to emerge for libraries to explore" (p. 62).

The first model: "... content starts out Open Access and a library can opt to buy limited branded access with metadata records to load into an OPAC; upgraded purchasing options allow for perpetual access and more refined selection" (p. 62) Bloomsbury Academic is the example she describes. It is primarily for humanities and social sciences.

• Basic membership model: Provides OPAC records for content and information on usage but not perpetual access to the titles.
• Research membership model: Basic + perpetual access to 50 titles.
• Institutional sales model: Basic + option to purchase individual e-textbook titles.
• Print membership: Research or Institutional model + discount on purchase of print titles.

Emery said the question for her is how willing the faculty and libraries are to adopt e-books. Not clear to me if she is referring her to e-textbooks primarily, but she goes on to note that libraries have not traditionally been involved in providing textbooks to students. Libraries would have to adopt structures to handle this and the infrastructure for delivery of e-textbooks to students would have to be addressed (p. 62-63).

The second model: Evidence-Based Selection (EBS), as marketed by Elsevier. Primarily for sciences. Libraries subscribe to sets of ebooks defined by subject (chemistry, biology, etc.). Patrons get full access to the set for 12 months and then the library as the option of purchasing perpetual access to individual titles based on usage during the 12 months. This seems similar to the Cal State Fullerton model.

Emery provides the following reference to a third, patron-driven model:  "To read a bit more on patron-driven models, please see Eric Hellman’s blog from 21 June 2010 <http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2010/06/patron-driven-e-book-acquisition-crab.html>" (p. 62)

My thoughts
Interesting to see how the market is developing. Since this article was published just one year ago, it shows how dynamic the current situation is. Again, I need to talk with Follett and Mackey to see what models they are offering or considering.