A bit of technology I find fascinating is the ability to locate people based on the location of the device they're using. So you can, for example, make collections just for people in a location that would be interested in them. Which is what Arizona did with Reading Arizona.
The earliest posts on the Reading Arizona Wordpress blog are from March 2014, and talk about how, in 2012, a group of librarians formed a working group to try to meet the growing demand for eContent.
By May, they had announced that the State Library had signed an agreement with Bibliolabs to launch an Arizona-specific collection of eBooks. Both the State Library and Biblioboard would work to collect materials (from the state archives, and a self publishing module), which the State Library will own, and Biblioboard will host. The service is available through the State Library website, with geolocation access allowing registration from within Arizona.
One of the very cool things I love about their program is the literacy map which shows highlights of Arizona culture and history, ready and waiting to be explored through recommended books. They also have a book list of titles about Arizona. I could see something like this really taking off if schools used it for recommended reading in history classes, etc. All of the content is available for unlimited multiuser access, and patrons may have up to three titles in an off line bookshelf at one time.
I really like what Biblioboard is doing here (and with Massachusetts and North Carolina). One of my frustrations from the beginning of our eBook project has been how much publishers want to recreate the print world. I mean, seriously, it's a FILE. You don't need to have holds lists and checkouts etc etc. This is exciting - you don't have the same limitations that you would with a physical book. There's a lot you can do with the technology that you can't do with physical books. There's still room for licensing (for example, you don't/shouldn't need to "own" 700 copies of 50 Shades of Grey forever. License it while it's hot - no pun intended - and then keep a few copies for archival purposes once everyone's moved on).
But this is scary for publishers, who are still figuring out how to adapt a business model that hasn't fundamentally changed since - well - the printing press? Inexpensive paperbacks in the 30's? That's a lot of adapting that needs to happen, and while I applaud Biblioboard for being forward thinking, and I hope that more libraries sign on and support them, I think it's going to be a while before the majority of publishers are happy to give unlimited simultaneous usage to a library.
That being said, I need to take my own advice with this - if enough libraries can show publishers that it's a model that works, and the files are protected and they're getting fairly paid, then in five years they could really be a successful and viable alternative to the services that seem to serve mainly as library outlets for the Big 5 Publishers.
This Publisher's Weekly article about Reading Arizona has some great quotes by Mitchell Davis, one of the founders and Chief Business Officer of Biblioboard. After each one, I want to go "Yes! Somebody gets it!" I just hope enough other people, the people who can spend money, get it too. Reading Arizona is a great example of a group that does get it, and I wish them lots of success.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Community Self Publishing
Sometimes I feel like a zeitgeist. When I was 11 I started putting granola in my yogurt. Suddenly in a few years Dannon is selling little prepackaged granola pots stuck on top of plain yogurt. My 14 year old self thought I should have patented the idea.
I'm feeling a little vindicated (read: smug) at the sudden interest in self publishing from libraries. From enki's inception, I didn't want to woo the Big 5, arguing that there were tons of amazing titles we could have from publishers who wanted to work with us. There were already plenty of national organizations in talks with the big publishers. It wasn't my fight. So we made a strategic decision to really pursue the great independent and small presses.
I also first met Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, in 2012. I was so excited to meet him, because he's been such a visionary in making self publishing work for individuals. He has a style guide, he provides resources on getting great covers made; in short, he wants to support people in telling their awesome stories. And he talks a lot about libraries being able to support building a "community of authorship." Being a NaNoWriMo geek (National Novel Writing Month - write a 50,000 word novel in a month) since 2008, this excites me. In fact, I'm personally going to be putting some of my edited NaNoWriMo novels up on Smashwords soon (it was a New Year's Resolution).
Ok, so I'm totally biased towards Smashwords - full disclosure. And mostly I'm biased because they will provide publishing portals for libraries for free. Freeeeeeeee! Los Gatos Library has been using it for a year or so now - you can see how they implement the platform (did I mention that it's free?) on their site.
But even beyond that, I'm really biased towards empowering people to write their stories, and supporting them in that. I can't tell you how many people, when we were first building enki, said things like, "oh, that's going to be a collection of self-published works...no one's going to want to be part of that." Seriously, people (you know who you are) said that to me.
Oh what a difference two years makes! At BookExpo I first heard about the Library Journal/BiblioLabs self publishing partnership, Self-e, in which libraries can put up a portal and have their patrons submit their works. If the works are chosen (by a team at LJ) they will be included in a collection that is hosted on BiblioBoard. So then of course the library can subscribe to the collection on Biblioboard - which is unlimited simultaneous user access.
Another partnership that seems to be making news is the Recorded Books partnership with FastPencil. FastPencil is a competitor to Smashwords, but from what I can tell they have services like designing cover art, editing, and other ways to make a book look and feel a bit more professional. I'm a little confused by their entry into the library market, because back in 2012 they announced a partnership with AutoGraphics. Recorded Books has a habit of finding great products to sell (like Zinio, their magazines product) and I applaud them for being so forward thinking.
While it doesn't directly relate to libraries pursuing relationships with publishers, which is what most of this blog is about, I think it's relevant to the discussion because self-published/indie books are only going to get bigger in the next couple of years (especially once I add mine to the mix) (that was a joke) (sort of) and the whole point of projects like enki are for libraries to take ownership of the eBook process, and the relationships with the publishers. When the authors and publishers are your patrons already, there's a great opportunity to have a great relationship with them.
For example you can:
- build local collections of novels by local authors
- have workshops where successful self published authors teach others about the process
- support NaNoWriMo and other writing events by having write-ins at your library, and then putting on editing workshops after the events, providing self publishing tools, and finally having a collection of books by the local authors - like the My Town National Novel Writing Month Winners! collection. I'd read that stuff.
The success of story sharing sites like wattpad are all the evidence I need that people will read self published stories, and they'll love them. Sure, there's a lot of stuff on Smashwords that doesn't meet the standards of a library's collection development policy. But they have like 300,000 titles. Of course there's going to be some work involved with separating the wheat from the chaff (is that how that saying goes?). There's some really great stuff there, and it's just getting better.
You know, back during the days when Eastman Kodak was first starting with their inexpensive cameras, photographers and artists freaked out about laymen taking pictures. In 1899 Alfred Stieglitz wrote,
While it doesn't directly relate to libraries pursuing relationships with publishers, which is what most of this blog is about, I think it's relevant to the discussion because self-published/indie books are only going to get bigger in the next couple of years (especially once I add mine to the mix) (that was a joke) (sort of) and the whole point of projects like enki are for libraries to take ownership of the eBook process, and the relationships with the publishers. When the authors and publishers are your patrons already, there's a great opportunity to have a great relationship with them.
For example you can:
- build local collections of novels by local authors
- have workshops where successful self published authors teach others about the process
- support NaNoWriMo and other writing events by having write-ins at your library, and then putting on editing workshops after the events, providing self publishing tools, and finally having a collection of books by the local authors - like the My Town National Novel Writing Month Winners! collection. I'd read that stuff.
The success of story sharing sites like wattpad are all the evidence I need that people will read self published stories, and they'll love them. Sure, there's a lot of stuff on Smashwords that doesn't meet the standards of a library's collection development policy. But they have like 300,000 titles. Of course there's going to be some work involved with separating the wheat from the chaff (is that how that saying goes?). There's some really great stuff there, and it's just getting better.
You know, back during the days when Eastman Kodak was first starting with their inexpensive cameras, photographers and artists freaked out about laymen taking pictures. In 1899 Alfred Stieglitz wrote,
"The placing in the hands of the general public a means of making pictures with but little labor and requiring less knowledge has of necessity been followed by the production of millions of photographs. It is due to this fatal facility that photography as a picture-making medium has fallen into disrepute."
I look at that quote now and call it snobbery. It's great that we all have cameras on our cell phones! It doesn't take away from the amazing artwork that the world has seen since then. It just means more pictures in my instagram feed! More cute cats and more cute babies and more pretty sunsets. Sure, there's a lot of junk, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't have cameras.
The same goes for self publishing. And it's my contention that the libraries should jump in and support their local authors - who are writing and publishing already, and want to do things like donate ebooks to their library and get support from the library. And I'm glad that there are more and more libraries and vendors who are jumping on board.
Monday, September 8, 2014
The State of Connecticut
Connecticut is joining the DIY eBook Platform movement in order to ensure better pricing on eBooks. Back on June 3, Governor Daniel P. Malloy signed into law P.A.14-82, An Act Concerning a State-wide Platform for the Distribution of Electronic Books, which authorizes the State Library to build an eBook platform, with $2.2 million in funding. The law was in response to a Department of Consumer Protection study to see how libraries could get fairer access to eBooks.
One of the conclusions of the DCP study was:
“The most forward-thinking and sustainable option the legislature could pursue to increase ebook availability at public libraries is to make a significant statewide investment in the creation of an ebook distribution platform that could be shared by libraries in the state.”
I couldn't agree more!
The $2.2 million allocated for the platform is meant to be split up as follows:
$1.1 million for building the platform
$1 million for the initial opening day collection
The library board is expected to absorb annual costs for staff and maintenance, estimated to be $100,000.
I'm trying to find out more about where they are in their process, what plans they have to research and choose the software they'll need, and what their timeline is like. I'll report back here on them when I can find all of that out, but as the law just went into effect on July 1, I'm sure they aren't ready to make any big announcements yet. I wish them well as they start to research and study the dizzying amount of information they'll need to absorb before making decisions.
(Just for fun, I should say, a white paper report on eBooks in libraries from 2012 mentions Douglas County and Califa.)
Back in June when the bill was first signed into law, James LaRue wrote:
"The point is this: There is a trend. State libraries and regional library cooperatives are pooling their technical expertise and resources to directly address public libraries’ e-business problems, which include not only market embargoes and price hikes, but the lack of access to emerging e-content. This should be good news for publishers, too, who will have a new distribution path to give their works the wider exposure that we have repeatedly demonstrated generate sales."
Governor Malloy's press release:
The Day (CT State News) report:
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
ebooks are forever
So I've become fascinated by the ebooksareforever people. It apparently started with JA Konrath was approached by the Harris County library about buying an ebook. He started learning about the whole ebooks in libraries issue, and now has a business which I think is fascinating because it comes at solving the problem from the Author side as opposed to the librarians or vendors. If this issue is ever going to get worked out (and obviously I want it to) it will have to be with pieces taken from each interest area. ebooksarefoever is one way to look at it.
Here's the blurb they sent me for this blog:
eBooksAreForever
Here's the blurb they sent me for this blog:
eBooksAreForever
August Wainwright
Co-Founder and CEO
Quick Blurb:
eBooksAreForever was built in pursuit of the elusive acquisition platform. Currently, every purchase between a library and a publisher or author has to be handled individually, each involving spreadsheets, a plethora of copying and pasting, manual labor, and unnecessary errors that both sides are open to.
At eBooksAreForever, we are simplifying this process. We negotiate with and distribute on behalf of publishers and independent authors so you don't have to. And purchasing is as simple as any other consumer ecommerce site online. Want our entire collection? It's just one click. Want everything in one genre, or from a single author? Again, we offer one-click purchasing. Once you've selected and purchased the titles you want, we'll deliver all your files in one download.
Our collection is still in its infancy, but we've already added titles from great authors like Hugh Howey, Barry Eisler, HM Ward, JA Konrath, Barbara Freethy, Melissa Foster and many more. Growing our catalog is very important, but never at the expense of quality. That means we're heavily focused on curating all new additions with the help of librarians and readers. If you'd like to add a specific author to your collection, just let us know. We'll do the legwork of acquiring those titles so you don't have to. Curating our collection with the help of librarians allows us to stand behind each and every title we offer, and guarantees you'll always get a standard level of quality to go with the easy purchasing.
For more information, or to learn more about our current features and future goals, visit us athttp://ebooksareforever.com. Or you can reach out directly to August Wainwright ataugust@ebooksareforever.com
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
eRead Illinois!
I met the wonderful Veronda Pitchford (who is my new BFF) at ALA Midwinter in January when there was a meeting of lots of different ebook projects. We then shared a booth at BEA (with three other groups), and so I've been learning a lot about her project, eRead Illinois.
Here's her summary of her project for this blog:
1. Is this an owned-content model? The eRead Illinois projects works with Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 and 3M Cloud platforms. Under these platform, eRead Illinois does own the material in the shared collection. The Axis 360 shared collection is open to RAILS and IHLS non-SHARE public, school, academic, and nonprofit special libraries. (www.railslibraires.info) Only IHLS SHARE members are eligible to participate in the 3M Cloud Library. (www.illinoisheartland.org/)
2. Is the platform/hosting owned, or are you using a vendor? Axis 360 and the 3M Cloud are both vendor created platforms.
3. If you're using a vendor, who is it? We have two vendors. Baker & Taylor and 3M.
4. Do you negotiate directly with publishers? Baker & Taylor negotiates with publishers with feedback and input from the eRead Illinois project staff.
5. Do you have a shared collection? Yes, all participating libraries have access to the shared collection. Individual libraries may also purchase a local collection on either platform if they wish. 6. When did you go live? Both platforms went live in December 2013.
More information about the eRead Illinois project can be found on our website(www.ereadillinois.com) and through our Twitter(@eReadIllinois).
Here's her summary of her project for this blog:
1. Is this an owned-content model? The eRead Illinois projects works with Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 and 3M Cloud platforms. Under these platform, eRead Illinois does own the material in the shared collection. The Axis 360 shared collection is open to RAILS and IHLS non-SHARE public, school, academic, and nonprofit special libraries. (www.railslibraires.info) Only IHLS SHARE members are eligible to participate in the 3M Cloud Library. (www.illinoisheartland.org/)
2. Is the platform/hosting owned, or are you using a vendor? Axis 360 and the 3M Cloud are both vendor created platforms.
3. If you're using a vendor, who is it? We have two vendors. Baker & Taylor and 3M.
4. Do you negotiate directly with publishers? Baker & Taylor negotiates with publishers with feedback and input from the eRead Illinois project staff.
5. Do you have a shared collection? Yes, all participating libraries have access to the shared collection. Individual libraries may also purchase a local collection on either platform if they wish. 6. When did you go live? Both platforms went live in December 2013.
More information about the eRead Illinois project can be found on our website(www.ereadillinois.com) and through our Twitter(@eReadIllinois).
Monday, June 23, 2014
NC Live's Home Grown eBook Project
The fabulous previously-mentioned Tim Rogers from NC Live was quoted in this Publisher's Weekly article about what's next for eBooks in Libraries, and so that made me want to write something about his project.
I first started talking with Tim regularly when we were both implementing MyiLibrary eaudio collections back around 2008. This collection was then somehow sold off to Recorded Books in 2011, and we both had to deal with getting a new platform up and running for our libraries. When we decided to do an eBook project of our own, Tim was right there, saying NC Live was also interested. We initially thought our projects would be very similar, but they have diverged a bit. This is a good thing. There needs to be a lot of experimentation going on in this world right now. One size does not fit all at the moment, especially when it comes to consortia or statewide access.
So NC Live has started what they call the Home Grown eBook Project, which focuses on North Carolina publishers and content. If the PW article is correct, they're using BiblioBoard to do it (I have all kinds of opinions on everything from OverDrive to the Open Library project from the Internet Archive, but one area where I'm still really uncertain is BiblioBoard. On one hand, I love what they're doing, and they're a fantastic group of people, and definitely a real game changer. On the other, it's still a vendor...)
Anyway, you can check out the Sneak Peak collection at http://read.nclive.org/
And I'm pasting below a letter from Tim Rogers posted on their blog that explains what they're doing.
http://nclive.org/blog/service/message-tim-rogers-announcement-nc-live-ebook-project-home-grown-ebooks
I hope I can get him to write an update for us here, but in the meantime, this was posted in February 2014.
-----
Dear Colleagues:
As you may know, NC LIVE has been working to put together an eBook project for some time, and we believe we've hit on something that will be of value to all NC LIVE libraries. The working title of this project is “Home Grown eBooks,” and it focuses on bringing both quality fiction and nonfiction content from North Carolina publishers (many of which are award winners!) together into one collection hosted by NC LIVE.
The main purpose of the project is to make local content (defined as “books published by a North Carolina publisher”) more accessible to all NC LIVE libraries at low prices. With this as our guide, the following bullet points highlight some specifics about the project.
HOW THE HOME GROWN EBOOKS WORK
- The program will begin as a pilot project starting this spring and will run through the end of the calendar year (December 2014).
- During the pilot, NC LIVE will purchase about 1,000 titles from 10-15 publishers including Crossroads Press, Press53, UNC Press, McFarland, and Algonquin (see the full list below).
- Because we know that no one likes limits, every title will be available to the patrons of every NC LIVE library (something we’re calling Always Available Rights) throughout the pilot. To clarify, Always Available Rights mean that there will be no turn-aways, no holds lists, and no limits for your patrons – every title will ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE during the pilot.
- To access the books, patrons will not need to create a user account, a virtual library card, or anything else. They will log in to the eBook platform just as they would for any other NC LIVE provided resources – using their library card, campus ID, or the NC LIVE password. And if they happen to be in the library or on campus, they don’t even have to log in! Once they download the book, they will simply use Adobe Digital Editions on a computer or the Bluefire App on a mobile device to access the eBook.
- Although the discovery platform/interface will be new, it will also be very simple … keyword searching and alphabetical title browse navigation. Additional search and browse options (such as facets and other filters) may also be available by July. Basic MARC records will be available to any library that wishes to add them to their local catalog, and all eBooks will be findable through NC LIVE’s discovery tools and search boxes.
- One aspect of the pilot is to come up with a sustainable pricing model for the Always Available Rights (unlimited simultaneous use), while another is to ensure we have perpetual ownership of eBook titles. NC LIVE will be working with publishers to develop an acceptable cost structure that accommodates both goals, and I can tell you that our initial discussions have been very positive – They are as excited about it as we are!
- In preparation for the pilot project, NC LIVE is launching our Sneak Preview Collection of 160 eBooks purchased from John F. Blair Publisher last year. This small collection includes fiction (novels and short fiction), as well as history, travel, and other general interest nonfiction titles. The no-frills interface, which currently allows downloading only (no in-browser reading), is temporary, and will include enhancements before the pilot project launches in July. The titles will also be included when you use the NC LIVE search boxes. We are making the MARC records available for libraries that wish to add them to their local catalogs, and to pull them down, simply select the records listed as “Sneak Preview Collection on http://www.nclive.org/librarystaff/marcrecords. The Sneak Preview Collection will be available to all libraries through June 2014, at which time they will be folded into the Home Grown collection.
- All titles in the Sneak Preview Collection can be downloaded to a PC/MAC using Adobe Digital Editions or to an IOS or Android mobile device using the Bluefire App. eBooks can be “checked-out“ for 14 days, and there are no limits to the number of titles a patron can check-out at one time, nor are there limits on the number of re-check-outs (i.e., renewals) of a specific title.
- If the pilot is successful, our intention is to continue the Home Grown eBook program with new titles on a quarterly basis. We’ll be working out the cost model, but my hope is to keep it at the $250 level.
PUBLISHERS WE’RE TALKING TO
Alabaster Book Publishing (Kernersville, NC)
Algonquin (Chapel Hill, NC) Baen Books (Wake Forest, NC)
Black Mountain Press (Asheville, NC)
Comfort Publishing (Concord, NC)
Crossroad Press (Elizabeth City, NC)
Duke University Press (Durham, NC)
Gryphon House (Lewisville, NC)
Ingalls Publishing Group (Banner Elk, NC)
John F. Blair, Publishers (Winston-Salem, NC)
Lookout Books (Wilmington, NC)
McFarland Publishing (Jefferson, NC)
Press 53 (Winston-Salem, NC)
Second Wind Publishing (Kernersville, NC)
UNC Press (Chapel Hill, NC)
Wake Forest University Press (Winston-Salem, NC)
FUNDING AND PARTICIPATION
Another thing we’ll be testing with this pilot is the way we’re paying for it. As you know, when NC LIVE has purchased content in the past, we did so with funding we received through our normal budget process and through LSTA grants. The planning, licensing, and platform costs will all be funded this way, as will the Sneak Preview Collection.
Here is the new part … we are planning (hoping!?) that the rest of the content will be paid for by our libraries. We are asking each NC LIVE library to pay $250, about the cost of 25 eBooks from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. For that $250, you and your patrons will receive access to 1,000 books (less than a quarter per book!) There is no commitment from you to fund anything beyond the pilot, though we hope you will find it successful and will want to! Even if you choose not to pay beyond the pilot, your library will always have access to at least a limited number of copies of the 1,000 titles.
We will be sending out another message in the next week or two asking for you to “Pledge” your support for the Home Grown project. Your pledge will consist of filling out an online form that says your will pay $250 (or more, if you’d like!) for the Home Grown pilot. As with any collaborative project, the most important aspect is to get 100% involvement, and I hope we can count on you all.
I know there’s a lot of information here, but you probably have a lot of additional questions … Feel free to contact me at your convenience about the Home Grown Project, and until then, enjoy the Sneak Preview Collection!
Best, Tim
I first started talking with Tim regularly when we were both implementing MyiLibrary eaudio collections back around 2008. This collection was then somehow sold off to Recorded Books in 2011, and we both had to deal with getting a new platform up and running for our libraries. When we decided to do an eBook project of our own, Tim was right there, saying NC Live was also interested. We initially thought our projects would be very similar, but they have diverged a bit. This is a good thing. There needs to be a lot of experimentation going on in this world right now. One size does not fit all at the moment, especially when it comes to consortia or statewide access.
So NC Live has started what they call the Home Grown eBook Project, which focuses on North Carolina publishers and content. If the PW article is correct, they're using BiblioBoard to do it (I have all kinds of opinions on everything from OverDrive to the Open Library project from the Internet Archive, but one area where I'm still really uncertain is BiblioBoard. On one hand, I love what they're doing, and they're a fantastic group of people, and definitely a real game changer. On the other, it's still a vendor...)
Anyway, you can check out the Sneak Peak collection at http://read.nclive.org/
And I'm pasting below a letter from Tim Rogers posted on their blog that explains what they're doing.
http://nclive.org/blog/service/message-tim-rogers-announcement-nc-live-ebook-project-home-grown-ebooks
I hope I can get him to write an update for us here, but in the meantime, this was posted in February 2014.
-----
Dear Colleagues:
As you may know, NC LIVE has been working to put together an eBook project for some time, and we believe we've hit on something that will be of value to all NC LIVE libraries. The working title of this project is “Home Grown eBooks,” and it focuses on bringing both quality fiction and nonfiction content from North Carolina publishers (many of which are award winners!) together into one collection hosted by NC LIVE.
The main purpose of the project is to make local content (defined as “books published by a North Carolina publisher”) more accessible to all NC LIVE libraries at low prices. With this as our guide, the following bullet points highlight some specifics about the project.
HOW THE HOME GROWN EBOOKS WORK
- The program will begin as a pilot project starting this spring and will run through the end of the calendar year (December 2014).
- During the pilot, NC LIVE will purchase about 1,000 titles from 10-15 publishers including Crossroads Press, Press53, UNC Press, McFarland, and Algonquin (see the full list below).
- Because we know that no one likes limits, every title will be available to the patrons of every NC LIVE library (something we’re calling Always Available Rights) throughout the pilot. To clarify, Always Available Rights mean that there will be no turn-aways, no holds lists, and no limits for your patrons – every title will ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE during the pilot.
- To access the books, patrons will not need to create a user account, a virtual library card, or anything else. They will log in to the eBook platform just as they would for any other NC LIVE provided resources – using their library card, campus ID, or the NC LIVE password. And if they happen to be in the library or on campus, they don’t even have to log in! Once they download the book, they will simply use Adobe Digital Editions on a computer or the Bluefire App on a mobile device to access the eBook.
- Although the discovery platform/interface will be new, it will also be very simple … keyword searching and alphabetical title browse navigation. Additional search and browse options (such as facets and other filters) may also be available by July. Basic MARC records will be available to any library that wishes to add them to their local catalog, and all eBooks will be findable through NC LIVE’s discovery tools and search boxes.
- One aspect of the pilot is to come up with a sustainable pricing model for the Always Available Rights (unlimited simultaneous use), while another is to ensure we have perpetual ownership of eBook titles. NC LIVE will be working with publishers to develop an acceptable cost structure that accommodates both goals, and I can tell you that our initial discussions have been very positive – They are as excited about it as we are!
- In preparation for the pilot project, NC LIVE is launching our Sneak Preview Collection of 160 eBooks purchased from John F. Blair Publisher last year. This small collection includes fiction (novels and short fiction), as well as history, travel, and other general interest nonfiction titles. The no-frills interface, which currently allows downloading only (no in-browser reading), is temporary, and will include enhancements before the pilot project launches in July. The titles will also be included when you use the NC LIVE search boxes. We are making the MARC records available for libraries that wish to add them to their local catalogs, and to pull them down, simply select the records listed as “Sneak Preview Collection on http://www.nclive.org/librarystaff/marcrecords. The Sneak Preview Collection will be available to all libraries through June 2014, at which time they will be folded into the Home Grown collection.
- All titles in the Sneak Preview Collection can be downloaded to a PC/MAC using Adobe Digital Editions or to an IOS or Android mobile device using the Bluefire App. eBooks can be “checked-out“ for 14 days, and there are no limits to the number of titles a patron can check-out at one time, nor are there limits on the number of re-check-outs (i.e., renewals) of a specific title.
- If the pilot is successful, our intention is to continue the Home Grown eBook program with new titles on a quarterly basis. We’ll be working out the cost model, but my hope is to keep it at the $250 level.
PUBLISHERS WE’RE TALKING TO
Alabaster Book Publishing (Kernersville, NC)
Algonquin (Chapel Hill, NC) Baen Books (Wake Forest, NC)
Black Mountain Press (Asheville, NC)
Comfort Publishing (Concord, NC)
Crossroad Press (Elizabeth City, NC)
Duke University Press (Durham, NC)
Gryphon House (Lewisville, NC)
Ingalls Publishing Group (Banner Elk, NC)
John F. Blair, Publishers (Winston-Salem, NC)
Lookout Books (Wilmington, NC)
McFarland Publishing (Jefferson, NC)
Press 53 (Winston-Salem, NC)
Second Wind Publishing (Kernersville, NC)
UNC Press (Chapel Hill, NC)
Wake Forest University Press (Winston-Salem, NC)
FUNDING AND PARTICIPATION
Another thing we’ll be testing with this pilot is the way we’re paying for it. As you know, when NC LIVE has purchased content in the past, we did so with funding we received through our normal budget process and through LSTA grants. The planning, licensing, and platform costs will all be funded this way, as will the Sneak Preview Collection.
Here is the new part … we are planning (hoping!?) that the rest of the content will be paid for by our libraries. We are asking each NC LIVE library to pay $250, about the cost of 25 eBooks from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. For that $250, you and your patrons will receive access to 1,000 books (less than a quarter per book!) There is no commitment from you to fund anything beyond the pilot, though we hope you will find it successful and will want to! Even if you choose not to pay beyond the pilot, your library will always have access to at least a limited number of copies of the 1,000 titles.
We will be sending out another message in the next week or two asking for you to “Pledge” your support for the Home Grown project. Your pledge will consist of filling out an online form that says your will pay $250 (or more, if you’d like!) for the Home Grown pilot. As with any collaborative project, the most important aspect is to get 100% involvement, and I hope we can count on you all.
I know there’s a lot of information here, but you probably have a lot of additional questions … Feel free to contact me at your convenience about the Home Grown Project, and until then, enjoy the Sneak Preview Collection!
Best, Tim
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Douglas County Libraries
I was inspired to do a platform of our own at Califa, after a meeting at ALA Midwinter in 2012 with Jamie LaRue and, oddly enough, Tim Coates, who was gathering feedback and information for his bilbary venture (which is now, I believe, called something like Frekle.)
The team at Douglas County were amazing in helping us get started. I basically knew how to say the words "Adobe content server." and that was about it. But Monique sent us some great technical information, and Rochelle was unbelievably helpful in pointing us towards publishers that we could start with. In fact, when I went to BEA for the first time in 2012, pretty much overwhelmed at the number of publishers I could talk with, I had a list of Douglas County publishers to start with.
In fact, if you're considering doing your own ebook platform, you need to bookmark their evoke site, which lists publisher contacts, technologies, agreements, etc.
Simply put, Douglas County created their own platform, and started buying content from publishers, and went live in 2012. Their collection doesn't replace working with other vendors (they still buy from hoopla, OverDrive, zinio, freegal, and others) but they did start the trend in showing that libraries could do this themselves. There are a lot of smart people in this space; if we use our collective brainpower, we can do great things.
They are now working on evoke2.0, to take their model throughout the entire state of Colorado, and information on that project can be found here: http://www.evokecolorado.info/ This project is a little different than Califa in that they are using OdiloTID, a Spanish eBook platform that they used for some of the work on their original site. We actually looked into Odilo, and found the cost to be prohibitive, but they have made some changes to the pricing, and might be a bit more reasonable now. We also had a philosophical issue with the idea of using another vendor for something we wanted to create ourselves, but for a lot of libraries this might actually be a good option (same with Biblioboard, which seems really creative, and supportive of libraries).
Anyway, the point of this post isn't to go into detail of their project. Besides, most people who are reading this blog right now are already familiar with them. I am going to see if Rochelle would like to do a guest entry on things they've learned (especially around pricing and discounts), but for now, if you're interested in their project, go to that evoke site, and contact them!
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