We Don’t Need a Grand Slam,

but a Designated Hitter

Would be Nice….

Anne E. McKee, MLS

Program Officer for Resource Sharing

Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)

1/29/2015

Team GWLA:

32 research libraries in 17 states in the “greater west.”◦ 31 academic◦ 1 privately funded public library for science, engineering

and technology

Members Include:

27 members of the Association of Public and Land Grant Colleges (APLU, formerly known as NASULGC)

26 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

14 members of the Association of American Universities (AAU)

1 member of Hathi Trust

No shared acquisitions monies; all content packages must fit within each member’s current budget.

1/29/2015

Current economic realities•GWLA region one of hardest hit

•Southwest: tourism drops and housing defaults

•Northwest: bank foreclosures and unemployment

•Rockies and plains: ongoing drought and drop in oil revenues

•Midwest: manufacturing rust belt

•Draconian budget cuts •threats of up to 60% reduction-over all reductions

•approximately 20-25%

•multiple rescissions (sometimes 2 or 3 in same budget cycle)

•Members permanently lost library faculty and staff either thru attrition or lay-offs

•40 employees alone at one library

1/29/2015

Realities cont’d

Dizzying pace of new technologies

Pressure (real or perceived) from users to utilize virtual world/social media

All content on any medium

Conclusion:

All factors combined to create not a

perfect game but rather a perfect

storm.

1/29/2015

GWLA Survey

Percentage of change in current budget:◦ Roughly 1/3 increased, 1/3 decreased and

1/3 remained flat

However, more than 2/3rds reported that their current budget allowed for an increase in e-content, averaged approx. 7% increase

The percentage of total materials budget spent on e-content ranged from 44% to 88%

Moreover, 2/3rds+ reported that e-content was now preferred medium over paper

1/29/2015

Social Media/Devices du jour

Most members are utilizing a variety of social media choices and devices to allow virtual users to access content◦ Social Media: Facebook

Microblogs (Twitter)

Bookmarking (Digg etc)

Photosharing

◦ Devices Smart phones

E-book readers

MP3 and PDA devices

1/29/2015

Where Do We Go From

Here

Or

Are We Still Even in the

Game?

1/29/2015

Base Hit

User Driven Purchasing:Experimentation within an environment of

controlled risk (Macicak/Schell, 2008 Charleston Conference Presentation)

◦ University of Texas, Austin EBL pilot

Purchase and pay-per-view

◦ MyiLibrary Patron Select E-Book Program Started in 2008 with 5 libraries

E-books are purchased thru this program

To date, libraries have spent approx $150K on program

◦ Another member library performed a “quick and dirty” survey on ebooks 2 years ago. Results show a 200% increase in usage over same printed material.

1/29/2015

On Deck:

Primo as discovery tool (enables both a mobile and more traditional browser interface)

Promoting and/or emphasis on all types of mobile versions of library materials

Partnering with campus on university-wide mobile app

Baylor University’s Fine Arts Library is testing “Variations” (online access to streaming audio and scanned score images in support of teaching , learning and research)◦ Open source from Indiana University

◦ Enables music majors access to all audio reserves

1/29/2015

Who’s Going to Step Up

to the Plate?

Unbundling of e-content. Why are we

forced into purchase content our users

do not want or require?

No single universal e-book format

Common sense licenses

Interlibrary loan with easy-to-

implement/download technology

Non-proprietary apps

1/29/2015

Ninth Inning Observations

DRM/Preservation◦ Portico etc has helped alleviate the worry somewhat but

still major hurdles to overcome

Steep learning curve◦ Not by students but by older library staff

◦ Staff can be very wary when using new technology

Data Migration

Alarming shift to “new normal” or “non-normal” in purchasing ebooks versus paper

Students have been clear that they don’t want the library sending stuff to the "social spaces" they use online. They want to be able to access from many devices; [however] they are not interested in having the library push information at/to them. (S. Bosch, Univ of Arizona)

1/29/2015

As all Arizona Diamondback

fans say:

“Oh well, there’s always next

season…”

Anne@GWLA.org

480-575-0340

1/29/2015