At this years London Book Fair I will be presenting in the Taking the Plunge: the Electronic Textbook Conundrum session alongside Mr William Chesser, General Manager of Vital Source Technologies, Ingram Digital Group, Ms Suzanne Cole, Strategic Relationships, EBooks Corporation Ltd and Mr Mark Majurey, Digital Development Director, Taylor & Francis.

The session will be chaired by My Graham Taylor of the Publishers Association.

Follow the link for further details on the session

A core message of the conference was the need for organisations to know who their customers / users are and to connect and engage with them. Why? Because your customers control the destiny of your organisation. It is therefore critical to your success to know as much about them as you can. It is easy to assume that we know our users and what they want. Such was the case with publishers, aggregators and librarians in education until we provided some concrete evidence through the JISC national e-books observatory project. ‘Don’t assume you know your users, know your users’ was my message to the publishers that attended my presentation at the conference and I enjoyed testing their assumptions by quizzing them on the behaviours that we found out about in the Observatory. View my presentation with the quiz in.

Once you know who your users are and what they want, you should ‘focus on their needs relentlessly’ as Skip Pritchard of Ingram said during his keynote. Pritchard was a fabulous presenter and I urge you all to watch his presentation. Pritchard was very clear in the need for organisations to focus on what they do best and ‘to do it better than anyone else’. He talks about finding out what ‘your unique strategic value is’ and ‘limiting the variables’ so as not to paralyse customers with too many choices. In a period of such fast paced innovation in technology this is good advice for us all to consider.
The requirement to simplify was a strong theme of the conference; in fact I don’t think that I have heard the word so many times in three days. As organisations we all need to simplify to ensure that we can connect and engage our customers. In the Observatory project we saw that students were overwhelmed by the amount of information presented to them and the multitude of platforms on which they could access the content. In my presentation I talked about how students , who use tabs to consult multiple e-books and content at the same time, are forced to stop and think each time they look at a different platform. The fact that they have to think about navigation or how to zoom or how to print is disruptive to their thought processes as they have to re-frame their minds each time. Finding some commonality across platforms would help students and staff and essentially make them more intuitive to use. I encouraged the publishers present to really think about enhancing their platforms through user centric design, to hide the complicated stuff bring simplicity to the forefront. I am reminded here of one of the very intuitive and innovative platforms that I saw presented for trade e-books – Enhanced Editions. Peter Collingride summed up the idea of simplicity perfectly when he that just like when a reader of a print book doesn’t notice its interface, the interface for an e-book should be so intuitive that readers don’t notice it. Peter’s presentation was very impressive but what I enjoyed most was his call to action for publishers to collaborate to ensure that they keep up with the fast rate of change. Through collaboration, Peter said that publishers would have a better chance of innovating and therefore avoid the threat of disintermediation.

We all know that providing a good user experience is critical to customer retention and satisfaction. I was struck by the many presentations at the conference on why DRM is a major barrier to the user experience and why it is pointless. Now we all know that it is there to protect IPR and to stop piracy but in reality, does it really stop priracy when all you need is just one physical copy for piracy? This is one of the questions that Kirk Biglione of Oxford Media Works asked in his presentation. Kirk suggested that DRM is pointless, that it ‘often turns honest consumers into hackers’. This was something that I also talked about in my presentation but my focus was on the need to either remove DRM altogether or to ensure that DRM actually takes account of user behaviour rather than to dictate it.

The message of ‘simplify, connect and conquer’ is not just relevant to publishers and libraries but to us here in JISC Collections. The recent satisfaction surveys have been critical to us in identifying our’ unique strategic value’ and thinking about how we can ‘limit the variables’ and focus on our members needs relentlessly ‘whilst keeping a watchful eye on the ideas and activities that are going on in the periphery’ through our projects and studies.

My picks of presentations from the conference:

• Caren Milloy of JISC Collections – How students and academics use e-books
• Skip Pritchard of Ingram – Are e-books dead
• Peter Collingridge of Enhanced Editions – Enhancing the E-book
• William Paltry of Google – Law is not a business solution
• John Rand of RAND – The Future of E-textbooks
• Kirk Biglione of Oxford Media Works – DRM, Digital Content, and the Consumer Experience: More Lessons Learned from the Music Industry
• Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media – The Impact of P2P File Distribution on Paid Content Sales
• Angela Bole (Book Industry Study Group, Inc.), Kelly Gallagher (R R Bowker) – Understanding the Ebook Consumer: The Results of the BISG Consumer Survey
• Mike Hendrickson of O’Reilly Media – Twitter Scorecard for Publishers

The results of the two year project exploring the behaviours of e-book users and the impact of course text e-books on print sales are now available. The final report summarises the key findings of the project and the  recommendations for future action.

You can view the report online, download it or order print copies.

The final report summarises the findings and data captured through deep log analysis, focus groups, user surveys and print sales analysis. I recommend that if you wish to see more detail that you read the relevant reports and look at the original data that is also available. Please see the reports page for further information and for the individual reports.

Report Quick Links

• JISC national e-books observatory project: Key findings and recommendations
• Scholarly e-books usage and information seeking behaviour: a deep log analysis of MyiLibrary
• Headline findings from the user surveys
• Findings from the first user survey
• Analysis of the free text fields from the first user survey
• E-book use by academic staff and students in UK universities: focus groups report
• E-book use by academic staff and students in UK universities: focus groups report
• E-book collection management in UK university libraries: focus groups report
• E-book collection management in UK university libraries: focus groups report
• Assessing the impact of electronic course texts on print sales and library hard copy circulation
• Establishing methods for future studies on the impact of e-books
  

The International ISBN Agency is trying to establish requirements and the simple 4-question survey is designed to assess both the real needs of users and the ability of publishers to satisfy them. Please do take part in the survey as this is an important issue that requires resolution.

You can read about the background and the issues associated with ISBNs for e-books in Brian Green’s briefing paper. It is well worth a read.

Eight leading textbook publishers, three e-book aggregator and ten universities are working together to test a range of business models for e-textbooks as part of the second phase of the Study on the Economic Impact of e-textbook Business Models that we commissioned last year.

17 core textbooks have been selected by libraries for the trials. They cover a wide range of subject areas – from business and economics to law and medicine.

The overall objective of the trials is to identify realistic and sustainable e-textbook business models from the point of view of all key stakeholders. In addition to exploring issues of pricing and usage, the ease of implementation and management of each business model will also be monitored through the trials.

Trial 1: assessing the sustainability of offering unlimited concurrent access to e-textbooks via aggregated platforms and/or publisher-specific platforms

Trial 2: exploring the role of the library in offering students a range of access options to e-textbooks, such as access to individual chapters and pay per use, print only, e-only and print/e-bundles

Trial 3: assessing the impact on print sales of textbooks of offering e-access via libraries, and finding out what students want if they have a range of options – for example accessing via the library, purchasing a print copy or print/online package, purchasing an e-only edition, or purchasing or renting a chapter

Trial 4: establishing whether making e-textbooks available through libraries improves the sell-through of existing adoptions

The 17 core textbooks selected for the trials are:

• Auditing and Assurance Services (McGraw Hill)
• Developing Business Knowledge (SAGE)
• Economics (Cengage Learning)
• Economics (McGraw Hill)
• Fundamentals of Physics (Wiley-Blackwell)
• International Law (Cambridge University Press)
• Introductory Econometrics for Finance (Cambridge University Press)
• Mental Health Nursing (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Organic Chemistry (Cengage Learning)
• Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence (Pearson)
• Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (Wiley-Blackwell)
• Psychology (McGraw Hill)
• Textbook of Criminal Law (Oxford University Press)
• Theories of International Relations (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Understanding International Relations (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Understanding Physics (Wiley-Blackwell)
• World Politics (Cengage Learning)

The textbooks cover the following subject areas:

• Business and Management
• Chemistry
• Economics
• International Relations
• Law
• Medicine
• Physics
• Politics
• Psychology

• Keep up to date with the progress of the trials
• Find out more about the background and objectives of the trials

This buzz is raising expectations. Gartner, a research company that provides objective insight on IT, places e-book readers in the ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations’ as ‘the devices still suffer from proprietary file formats and digital rights management technologies, which along with price, are limiting their adoption and will drive them into the ‘Trough of Disillusionment’.

E-books, especially in education, are still a new technology and publishers, librarians and technology providers are all still exploring what users want, what will work and what won’t work. Does this period of uncertainty, coupled with the media buzz driving user expectations, mean that e-books currently fall within Gartner’s ‘trough of disillusionment’? Findings from the JISC national e-books observatory project show that e-book platforms provide poor usability, digital rights management systems frustrate users, integration with library systems is cumbersome, students are totally confused by the library offering and there still isn’t a critical mass of titles available or a central catalogue.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, for we can utilise the vital insights into user behaviours from the JISC national e-books observatory project to develop the e-books market in line with expectations. We can also watch and learn how students and teachers use and benefit from access to a critical mass of 3000 e-books as provided through the e-books for FE project. We are set to move up the ’slope of enlightenment’!

Our keynote speakers

Our keynote speakers are Dr Hazel Woodward, University Librarian at Cranfield University and Chair of the JISC national e-books observatory project board and James Clay, ILT & Learning Resources Manager, Gloucestershire College.

Dr Hazel Woodward will present the key findings of the Observatory project looking in turn at what they means for users, libraries and publishers. Hazel will explain how responding to the findings in the project and proactively taking the recommendations forward is the next challenge and why this is necessary to reach the ‘plateau of productivity’.

James Clay will look at the ways in which technological change is having an impact on the ways in which society communicates, accesses entertainment, receives information and how this will impact on learners and learning. Gloucestershire College is an exemplar in the way in which it uses technology to support, enhance and enrich learning. James will explore how the 3000 e-books fit in with the future of learning and how colleges and universities will need to be more responsive to the technological changes taking place.
Parallel Sessions

In addition to our keynote speakers, we will be running four parallel sessions. We decided that although e-books are the main theme, delegates may be interested in some of the other activities that JISC Collections is working on:

1. Business models for e-textbooks

This session will present the e-textbook business models that are being tested by libraries, publishers and aggregators in the UK. This study is assessing the management and economic impact of four e-textbook business models. It will be run by Albert Prior and Paul Harwood of Content Complete who are managing the study.

2. Digital images for education

Join Michael Upshall to hear about the Digital Images for Education project. Thanks to JISC funding, JISC Collections will be making freely available over 500 hours of film and 56,000 photos in summer 2010. Michael Upshall, project manager, will present some highlights of collections and welcomes feedback.

3. Licensing for museum libraries

JISC Collections recently worked to negotiate discounted prices for a range of specially selected resources on behalf of the London Museum Libraries and Archivists Group (LMLAG). Join Kate Sloss, Director of Collection Care at the Tate to hear about the motivations behind this project, its benefits and future aspirations for national licensing for museum libraries.

4. Catch up with JISC Collections

JISC Collections is running many projects that are of interest to members… developing a usage statistics portal, a single platform for archive content, digital presentation, presentation layers… all exploring ways to make things simpler and to provide efficiencies. Join members of the JISC Collections team to catch up with what’s going on and what’s coming up.

The AGM will be held during lunch. All members are invited to join the AGM.

The data from the JISC national e-books observatory inidcates that there the availability of the free at the point of use course text e-books may not negatively impact on print sales to students. This idea of co-existence is being tested further through robust trials of various business models.

Phase 1 of the study was undertaken between November 2008 and February 2009 by Content Complete Ltd in partnership with OnlyConnect Consultancy and explored the current status of e-textbook provision in the UK higher education sector. Read the phase 1 report

The report on Phase 1 made recommendations that a number of trials should take place in Phase 2 to address and evaluate potential business models for future provision of e-textbooks. Four main trials were proposed and these are briefly outlined below and are also given in an appendix to the Phase 1 report. The trials will involve participation by textbook publishers, HE librarians and e-book aggregators. Over recent months Content Complete Ltd has been meeting with potential participants and to consider the textbooks that will be included in the trials. This part of Phase 2 is now almost complete.

The next stage is to commence access to e-versions of the trial textbooks by students at all participating universities, when terms start later this month. A variety of access arrangements and student options will be offered in the trials, including access to complete textbooks, to chapters, and short term rentals, and students will still be able to purchase print versions. A range of data will be collected during the trials including e-version usage data, loans of print copies and purchases of print copies. This data will be used by all participants to consider the types of business models that could potentially be used for library provision of e-textbooks in the future.

The trials at each university last from September 2009 through to the end of May 2010. Following the evaluation of the findings from the Trials a final report will be produced in August 2010.

Organisations participating in the trials are:

Publishers:
• Cengage Learning
• Cambridge University Press
• McGraw-Hill Education
• Pearson Education
• Oxford University Press
• Palgrave Macmillan
• SAGE
• Wiley-Blackwell

Libraries:
• Cardiff University
• UCL
• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• University of Greenwich
• University of Leicester
• University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
• University of Northampton
• University of St Andrews
• University of Surrey
• University of West of England

Aggregators:
• Dawson
• EBL
• MyiLibrary

The Trials:

Trial 1:
Assessing the sustainability of offering access to e-textbooks via aggregated platforms and/or publisher-specific platforms under a range of access models

Trial 2:
Libraries participating in offering students a range of access options

Trial 3:
What impact does offering e-access via libraries have on print sales of textbooks, and what do students want if they have a choice?

Trial 4:
Does making online access available through libraries improve sell-through of existing adoptions?

It will now take place at:

The Warren Room, The Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel, 130 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 5AY

The event starts with registration at 09.30 and will kick off at 10.00.  Lunch will be available at 12.45.

The nearest tubes are Euston Square, Euston and Goodge Street.

Draft final report will be made available to delegates.

If you were hoping to attend please send me an email (c.milloy@jisc.ac.uk) and I will add you to the reserve list.

Further information on the seminar