The growing e-book market raises questions regarding access. Many libraries use their catalogs as a conduit to e-books because of user expectations and because vendors offer free MARC records. This presentation explores the challenges associated with these records including information quality, user expectations, and cataloging workload. A checklist regarding these issues is provided.

1. E-Book MARCeting: How Do
your E-Books Look?
Electronic Resources &
Libraries
February 2, 2010

2. Liz Babbitt
Electronic Resources Librarian
Doralyn Rossmann
Collection Development Librarian
Amy Foster
Catalog Librarian
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana

3. What We’re About to Tell You
• Purchasing options for E-books
• MARC record options
• Considerations for vendors
• Considerations for other library units
• MARCeting your E-books
• Considerations for ILS providers
• Considerations for shared catalog
members
• Considerations for library users

4. Purchasing Options
• Purchased outright
With hosting fee?
• Annual subscription
Replace older editions
• Leased
Swappable

5. MARC Record Options
• Vendor produced
• OCLC produced
• Home grown

6. Considerations for E-Book
Vendors
• Who creates the data?
• Authority control?
• Other non-standard headings added?
• Call numbers, what field(s) and what
schema?
• Table of contents notes?
• Are corrected MARC data records
provided?

7. Considerations for E-Book
Vendors
• Free with purchase?
• Already available or forthcoming?
• Available from vendor only or from OCLC?
• Record sharing in consortia environment?
• Stable URLs?
• OpenURL compliant?
• Leased E-books challenges

8. Considerations for Other
Library Units
• E-books as “noise” in the catalog?
• Ways to filter out E-books/print?
• Multiple formats on one record challenges.
• Workflow for retrieval, modification pre-
load, load, replacement of records.
• Collection Development/Cataloging
relationship in purchase
considerations/timing.

9. MARCeting Your E-Books
• Pushing MARC record information to Web
pages & RSS feeds
– Convert MARC to MARC XML
– Challenge with which fields to include (245,
650, etc?)
– Cross-walk to PHP for Web page and via RSS
• MARC records can be included in new
book lists within the ILS, as well

10. MARCeting Your E-Books

11. MARCeting Your E-Books

12. Considerations for ILS Vendors
• How do ILS vendors recommend handling
E-book records in a shared/consortial
catalog environment?
• Load in the ILS in the same manner as
other records?
• Segregate somehow for ease of searching
and maintenance?

13. Considerations for ILS Vendors
• What options exist for display of the URL?
URL itself
Public note
URL and a public note
Text link
Icon link

14. URL itself

15. Public Note

16. URL and Public Note

17. Text Link

18. Icon Link

19. Considerations for ILS Vendors
• How do the ILS vendors recommend
exclusion of E-book records from exports
for regular authority control processing (if
desired by the library)?

20. Considerations for
Shared/Consortial Catalog
Arrangements
• Do all libraries share records?
• Are there any special considerations, i.e.
one record for all formats?
• Will all member libraries be purchasing the
same E-books?

21. Considerations for
Shared/Consortial Catalog
Arrangements
• Will all member libraries be using the
same purchasing model?
Purchase outright
Leasing titles
• How will multiple URLs for multiple
institutions on the same record look?

22. Considerations for Library Users
• Will Users require hand-held readers or
software downloads to view the E-Books?
• How do Users expect to access E-Books?
ILS, ERMS, Federated Searching,
Unified Discovery Interface
Usage Statistics
• E-books noise

23. Related Article:
Doralyn Rossmann, Amy Foster,
Elizabeth P Babbitt. “E-book MARC
records: do they make the mark?”
Serials: The Journal for the Serials
Community, 22 (3) Sup. 1, S46 - S50.

24. Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?
Complaints?