Are E-Book Big Deal Bundles Still Valuable?

Abstract

The academic e‐book market has undergone significant change in the last five years. E‐book availability has greatly increased as library demand has grown, with an increasing percentage of library acquisitions preferring electronic rather than print format. E‐book acquisition models like patron‐driven acquisition and short‐term loan have now become commonplace and available from a multitude of consortia, publishers, and aggregators. With the wide availability of these models, is there still value in buying e‐books through package deals? To help answer this question, we will present the results of a usage‐based analysis of Wiley e‐books. Since 2012, Miami University Libraries have purchased Wiley e‐book collections through a consortial OhioLINK contract. Previously purchased OhioLINK e‐book collections have been accessible to patrons through both OhioLINK’s Electronic Book Center platform and the publisher platform. The Wiley e‐book purchase deviates from previous practice by being available to patrons only on the publisher platform and our analysis is therefore focused on COUNTER e‐book usage reports from the Wiley platform. We also augment the usage data with title‐level information, such as subject and book type. This preliminary study focuses on the 2012 Wiley collection and its use over a three‐year period (2012‐2014) and will include data‐driven findings presented in visually useful ways.