Letting the patrons choose: using EBL as a method for unmediated acquisition of ebook materials

For many of our network savvy patrons, accustomed to identifying and instantly obtaining text material, convenience and immediacy are highly valued attributes. The library’s hard copy collection struggles to meet these expectations. For example, should a patron articulate a need for a monograph item which has yet to be added to our collections, it is doubtful whether 'convenience' and 'immediacy' would describe our standard responses. Libraries deal with the time lag inherent in their acquisitions processes by endeavouring to predict demand for particular monograph items, using the skills of collection development staff and other predictors of potential use. Inevitably, some of our scarce monograph materials budgets are wasted on materials for which our predictors or instincts failed us – books which no-one will read. We will spend a not insignificant amount of time and effort in adding them to our collections, and after however many years of inactivity, removing them again. What would happen if we let the patrons choose, without intervening directly in the process? Swinburne University of Technology has implemented the EBL ebook nonlinear lending model. In July 2006 the library loaded the entire EBL list of more than 34,000 thousand records into the catalogue. There is no distinction as far as the partons are concerned between an item which the library has yet to acquire and an item which has been purchased. Patrons can browse and download any of the EBL ebooks. An ebook which has not been purchased is borrowed by the patron, and the library pays a percentage of the list price of the item. Through the application of preset customizable parameters, patrons purchase items without intervention by Library staff. Swinburne is the first library in the world to have loaded all MARC records into the catalogue and allow unmediated loans and automatic unmediated purchasing of the entire EBL collection. There are many advantages in such a model, as well as some potential issues. This paper describes the implementation of the EBL ebook nonlinear lending model at Swinburne University Library, analyses practical issues which were encountered (such as duplicate records of ebooks already held), examines data on expenditure, range of content and usage gathered from July to December 2006, and considers implications for collection development.