Thread by @sussexlibrary

As it’s the end of term we want to reflect on the past year and the successes we've had in providing resources.
One challenge though has been the price hikes that took place for eBooks in comparison to print. Sussex academics working on reading lists this one's for you. 📣📣📣

First of all we’d like to thank @Hohojanna, @heroicendeavour & @rachelsbickley for starting the conversation, and @UoYLibrary, @HullUni_Library & @BirkbeckLibrary for their superb threads about the eBook market and why it’s so hard for libraries to get you the resources you need.

This issue impacts accessibility, the quality of access for teaching and research, low-income users who rely on libraries, and Sussex authors. There is an opportunity for decolonising work but it’s incumbent on publishers to work with us to provide eBooks in a sustainable way.

Let’s begin with a little context.... 🤯theguardian.com/education/2021…

So, availability: Publishers sell eBooks differently to academic libraries than they do to individuals. Many users wonder why an eBook that costs £10, £20, £30 on Kindle can’t be bought by the Library.

This is because academic libraries need an institutional licence…. Sometimes the eBook can only be purchased as part of an expensive database or collection, where we’re forced to subscribe to the whole job lot.

Then affordability: We also pay very different prices. Some recent comparisons: Print version £62.99 ~ eBook version (with a single user license)……. £528!!! Print version £69.99, eBook version…. £479.92!!!

Then there are the eBooks that are only available to you as *individuals* on Kindle but libraries are not allowed to buy. We found print versions for £35.99 with the Kindle version for £29.13, but an eBook version for us – nope. This has happened with some Sussex authors…

So, books by those authors are not available as eBooks in Sussex Library. *Hint* this is because the publishers want to sell as many copies of the eBook as possible rather than users accessing copies through the library. We need to push back on price disparity and availability.

What about licences and restrictions you ask?? Well licence restrictions mean that we only get single user licences which means only 1 person can read the eBook at a time. 1 person!! Like a print book, then, so the price should be similar.

To save you scrolling back up, here’s one example of many where that’s NOT the case: £62.99 ~ eBook version (with a single user license)……. £528!
Some eBooks have 3 user licences which mean 3 whole people can read it at once. Licence restrictions can be very, um, restrictive.

Maybe the answer is eTextbooks? Well pull up a chair. eTextbooks are on a 1:1 model which means we pay for EVERY student to get a textbook (whether they use them or not) and must do this EVERY year as the licence expires, you guessed it, yearly.

This is unsustainable in financial and workload terms for librarians. It also damages collection building and interdisciplinary teaching and research, by limiting access to those titles solely to the module concerned. Oh did we mention that restrictions can be very restrictive?

This all came into sharp relief during Covid as increasing reliance on eBooks highlighted issues with the market, and we searched vainly for resources or watched prices shoot up. Remember, individuals would not pay these prices, but libraries must....

This not only affected users studying at home with no access to physical books but many disabled students who need to access eBooks.

Quiz time! What proportion of academic titles do you think are available as Ebooks?
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(It’s 10%, according to this 2018 Sconul report sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/…)

The titles are only offered via a 3rd party platform (so negotiated individually and only added to one module’s Canvas page).
The titles are only available to individuals (No Kindle or publisher website availability for institutions)

These are all choices publishers have made.

There has been some progress however. One of the workarounds librarians do is digitising chapters. Or offering to download chapters. Legally, users can print or download 5% of an eBook but publishers were removing this ability in their licensing. academicebookinvestigation.org/2021/05/14/vic…

This has been retracted after complaints by University libraries!! 🦸‍♀️

#LibraryPower

So, what are we doing to help you? As well as digitising extracts, the Library can help you find alternative titles for your reading lists. We look at Open Access titles, titles with unlimited access licenses, so that digital access is a priority. officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/g…

It’s also a major opportunity to decolonise your reading lists by thinking about other titles. Smaller publishers also get to shine as we look for more flexible suppliers. …ghcriticallibrarianship.wordpress.com/2019/08/23/int…

We can also look at Open Access options, like the Open Textbook Library open.umn.edu/opentextbooks or the LibGuide for Open Educational Resources guides.lib.sussex.ac.uk/c.php?g=682657…

We can also promote these issues to government and to you our Sussex community via the #eBookSOS Academic Ebook Investigation campaign academicebookinvestigation.org.

And we will continue to negotiate with publishers & sector organisations – we have regular conversations with publishers, purchasing consortia and national groups, and we’re feeding into charter agreements (currently being drawn up).

What can you do? Support the EbookSOS campaign academicebookinvestigation.org
Can you refresh your reading list? Is that text essential or is there another possibility, by a Queer or POC author?

Aaaand you can look at author guidance on contracts academicebookinvestigation.org/2021/05/20/can… to make sure your students can get your book through the library.

You can also tell us how this has impacted you, your reading lists, or teaching, or research. Access to eBooks is a disability issue, it also affects our research and our teaching. What do you want publishers to know?