This document outlines Maria Savova's strategy for developing a comprehensive e-book acquisition strategy. It analyzes the library's e-book expenditures and usage over time. It then evaluates various e-book acquisition modes based on criteria like content quality, access provisions, flexibility, ease of use, cost, and cost per use. Subscription packages, standing orders, and demand-driven acquisition plans are positioned on scales according to these criteria. The document recommends a strategy that employs a combination of discounted subscription packages, publisher subject packages, and DDA/EBA plans to maximize access while ensuring sustainability. Title-by-title purchases should be minimized to avoid high pre-purchase costs.

1. Defining a Comprehensive
E-book Acquisition
Strategy
Maria Savova
Director of Scholarly Information Resources
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hiperactiv
o/3644097750

2. Overview
E-books’ share within the library collections budget
Review current acquisition modes used to acquire e-
books and position them on a scale using value-
based criteria
(Data from TCCL 2015 e-book study, budget and
usage reports)
Comprehensive e-book acquisition strategy

3. E-books’ share in the acq budget
TCCL Expenditures - FY14 vs. FY18
Collection
Support
Services
11%
Electronic
Media
1%
Electronic
Books
11%
Electronic
Journals
50%
Electronic
Primary
Sources
13%
Print Books
13%
Print Journals
1%
Collection
Support
Services
22%
Electronic
Primary
sources
15%
Electronic
Books
4%
Electronic
Journals
44%
Physical
Media
1%
Print Books
13%
Print Journals
1%

4. E-books’ share in the acq budget
TCCL E-book expenditures – FY14 vs. FY18
10%
18%
18%
36%
44%
46%
28%FY18
FY14
Subscriptions Standing orders Firm orders On demand

5. E-book acquisition modes
Subscription packages
Standing orders
Approval plan
Unmediated DDA/PDA
Mediated DDA/PDA
EBA/EBS
Package purchase
Title-by-title purchase

6. Criteria for determining value
Content quality and match to library needs
Ownership vs. access / stability and perpetuity of
access
Flexibility in content selection
Ease of use / extend of access (DRM, interface)

7. Criteria for determining value
Cost
List price
Spending commitment over time and predictability of cost
Purchase price as percentage of list price / cost per accessible
title
Overall affordability
Staff time investment
Cost per use

8. Ownership vs. access
PERPETUAL*TEMPORARY
SUBSCRIPTIONS
DDA / EBA TITLE POOL
STL
ALL PURCHASES:
TITLE-BY-TITLE
PACKAGE
APPROVAL
STANDING ORDERS
DDA AUTOPURCHASE
EBA FINAL SELECTIONS
* Where is the content hosted?
Who is responsible for maintaining access?

9. 72%
75%
14%
24%
14%
1%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
450000
500000
Total holdings All usage
E-book holdings vs.
usage per access type
Subscription Owned DDA
Owned titles
turnover – 2.3
Subscription
titles turnover
– 1.3
(Jan-Dec 2014)

10. 6% 15%
6%
7%
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
400000
DDA owned subscription Overall
Proportion of used e-
book titles by access type
Titles without usage Titles with usage (Jan-Dec 2014)

11. Flexibility in selection
FULL FLEXIBILITYNO FLEXIBILITY
SUBSCRIPTIONS
PACKAGE PURCHASE
APPROVAL AUTOSHIP
STANDING ORDERS
DDA STL
DDA AUTOPURCHASE
TITLE-BY-TITLEMEDIATED DDA
EBA FINAL SELECTIONS

12. Ease of access
NO RESTRICTIONSDRM
MOST SUBSCRIPTIONS
MOST AGGREGATORS’
DDA TITLE POOL
SOME PURCHASES
SOME PURCHASES
EBA TITLE POOL
Depends more on the provider, than the acquisition mode!
Could vary with age of content.

13. There’s DRM and DRM
Number of simultaneous users (ex: 1, 3, unlimited)
Downloading, printing, and copying restrictions
Duration of access / Number of views (ex: 325
days for non-linear/concurrent access)
Type and number of devices allowed to display the
work (ex: Adobe vs. Kindle)
Extent of content (HathiTrust)
Modification/altering capabilities
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/images|

14. Some interesting observations
DRM on subscribed/temporary content is more
often lighter than on some purchased/owned
content!
DRM overall seems to be dying – SLOWLY, but
(hopefully) surely – ex: some aggregator DDA
programs with no DRM and increased offerings of
non-DRM content for sale

15. Ease of access
http://office.microsoft.
com/en-ca/images|
non-DRM
15%
DRM
85%
E-book holdings by
access rights
Limited
(1-3 users)
1.3%
Unlimited
98.7%
E-book holdings by
simultaneous access model

16. 85%
72%
15%
28%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Total holdings Used
Proportion of used DRM
vs. non-DRM e-book titles
DRM Non-DRM

17. Cost
List price – (publisher, subject area, age of content)
Spending commitment over time and predictability of
cost
How it is prepackaged - overall affordability
Purchase price as percentage of list price
Staff time investment

18. Spending commitment and
predictability of cost
No commitmentLong term commitment
SUBSCRIPTIONS
DDA POOL
EBA POOL
TITLE-BY-TITLE
PACKAGE PURCHASE
STANDING ORDERS
APPROVAL AUTOSHIP
Low predictability High predictability
DDA STL
DDA AUTOPURCHASE
STANDING ORDERS
TITLE-BY-TITLE
PACKAGE PURCHASES
EBA SELECTIONS
SUBSCRIPTIONS
APPROVAL AUTOSHIP

19. Cost as percentage of list price
Less than list priceMore than list price
DDA AUTOPURCHASE
(105-150% or more of list price)
SUBSCRIPTIONS (as
low as 0.3% of list price)
PACKAGE PURCHASE
(10-90% of list price)
DDA STL (25-85% of
list price)
DDA AUTOPURCHASE
(Backlist - 55%)
TITLE-BY-TITLE
APPROVAL AUTOSHIP
STANDING ORDERS
EBA (typically 80-100%)
List price

20. Staff time investment
Low labor intensityHigh labor intensity
SUBSCRIPTIONS
STANDING ORDERS
PACKAGE PURCHASE
TITLE-BY-TITLE
MEDIATED DDA
EBA FINAL SELECTIONS
APPROVAL PROFILE
DDA PROFILE

21. Cost Per Use
To assess the value of the content to our
users in conjunction to the budget expense
To compare the value of the content
between different acquisition modes

22. Cost Per Use on Subscriptions
 In comparison to journal content – annual cost of subscription package /all
usage = could be as low as $0.05 per chapter (typically $0.50 - $5.00)
 Cost per available title (in comparison with package purchase) - annual cost
of subscription package/number of titles in the package – as low as $0.15-
$0.20 per title
 Cost per use of used titles only (comparison with DDA):
Total subscription amount = less than 10% of list price of used titles only
Total amount saved by borrowing the whole collection vs. purchasing on
demand only the used titles – close to $150,000

23. Cost Per Use on Purchases
$54.36
$8.91
$4.17
$10.94
$8.05
$6.60 $5.59 $4.84$4.83
$2.79
$1.67
$0.69
$0.93 $0.77 $0.74 $0.78
$0.10
$1.00
$10.00
$100.00
After 1 year After 2 years After 3 years After 4 years After 5 years
CumulativeCostPerUse
Publisher package purchase 2 Individual e-book purchases
Publisher package purchase 1 Subscription
 CPU on individual purchases goes down over time
 Cumulative CPU for (standing order) packages
Year 1: Year 1 cost / Year 1 usage
Year 2: Year 1 + 2 cost / Year 1 + 2 usage, etc.

24. NO
ACQUISITION
MODE IS
PERFECT

25. Tradeoffs
High selection flexibility = High cost in both $$$ and
staff time
Good deals often come prepackaged
Perpetual access is more often DRM free (though not
always), and it tends to come at the highest cost and the
highest short-term (and even mid-term) CPU
Low cost typically means (some) DRM and low flexibility

26. Acquisition strategy decisions
Which e-book acquisition modes to adopt?
 What are my library’s values in order of
priority?
How much budget to dedicate to each
acquisition mode?

27. A comprehensive eBook acquisition
strategy employs a combination of
acquisition modes that maximizes access
while ensuring that users are served as
effectively as possible over time at a
sustainable cost.

28. Recommended strategy
AGGREGATOR SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES
& APPROVAL PLANS
DISCOUNTED PUBLISHER
SUBJECT PACKAGES
Maximizing access
per acquisitions
dollar does not
always require
“just-in-time”
acquisition of
content.
Deep discounts on
subscription and
publisher packages
make these “just-in-
case” approaches
very attractive as a
foundation.
Approval plans
provide a
foundation of
content in the
targeted subject
areas.

29. Recommended strategy
AGGREGATOR SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES
DISCOUNTED PUBLISHER
SUBJECT PACKAGES
DDA / EBA PLANS
Use DDA / EBA to
fill in the gaps
between discounted
acquisition options.

30. Recommended strategy
DISCOUNTED PUBLISHER
SUBJECT PACKAGES
DDA / EBA PLANS
TITLE BY
TITLE
Minimize e-book pre-
purchase at full price!
Employ “just-in-time”
purchase as needed.
AGGREGATOR SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES
& APPROVAL PLANS

31. References
Price, J. and Savova, M. (2015). DDA in context: Defining a comprehensive
ebook acquisition strategy in an access driven world. Against the Grain, Charleston
Conference Issue, 27(5), 20-22. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/library_staff/37/
Savova, M. and Dickerson, M. (2015, Nov). Interpret the Numbers: Putting e-Book
Usage Statistics in Context - http://scholarship.claremont.edu/library_staff/35/. 35th Annual
Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition. Charleston, SC.
Levin-Clark, M., Price, J. and Savova, M. (2015, February). Making Value
Judgments: eBook Pricing for Access and Ownership - http://bit.ly/1QW1cQ9. Electronic
Resources and Libraries conference. Austin, TX.

32. THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?
Maria Savova
maria.savova@claremont.edu