At the end of 2009 the University of Liverpool embarked on a research project to study the use and impact of the Springer e-book collections that it had purchased. The usage analysis element of the study was reported in the July 2010 issue of Serials, and a user survey was reported in a subsequent Springer white paper. This presentation will bring those studies up to date and will examine whether their findings hold true for other e-book collections purchased by the University of Liverpool and other institutions. Having access to bucketfuls of e-books also serves as a useful test-bed for other possible e-book models. What works: title selection, patron-driven acquisition, big deal, or selection after one year’s access? Or does it all come down to price?
TERRY BUCKNELL is the Electronic Resources Manager at the University of Liverpool where he manages an extensive collection of e-journals, databases and e-books, as well as the online services, including EBSCO Discovery Service and SFX, through which they are accessed. After acquiring a first degree in Physics from the University of Manchester he gained his MA in Librarianship at the University of Sheffield. He was previously Engineering Librarian at the University of Leeds. Terry has a particular interest in employing usage statistics in the selection and de-selection of electronic resources, and Big Deals in particular. He is a member of the COUNTER Executive Committee and of several publishers’ Library Advisory Boards, and he recently joined the editorial board of Serials Librarian.
