Learning Belongs in the Library — Digital Textbook Acquisition and Library Workflow Three Regions and Three Very Different Scenarios: North America, United Kingdom/Ireland and Australia/New Zealand Column Editor: David Parker (Publisher and Consultant; Phone: 201-673-8784) <david@parkerthepublisher.com>
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etween the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021, I conducted more than 50 interviews with librarians responsible for acquiring textbooks (print and digital). I conducted many of these interviews as a member of the ProQuest Ebook Central team, and also as an independent consultant and writer after leaving ProQuest in January, 2021. The interview participants were equally spread across North America, the UK and Ireland, and Australia and New Zealand. The goal of my research was to understand the workflow challenges the librarians faced in each of these regions and the role of the library within the larger university strategy of textbook fulfillment. While affordability and open access were critical topics in the interviews, I will leave these topics aside for a follow-up article. The pandemic engendered a near-total, instantaneous shift to digital learning and that became the catalyst for the deep reflection amongst the librarians I interviewed. And while so much changed so rapidly, it occurred within fairly rigidly defined regional and institutional practices concerning the role and place of the library in textbook provisioning. In other words, the status quo of “who pays” and how acquisition is conducted shifted rather little in response to the pandemic. I came to understand that any profound shift must commence from either senior administration policy change, or an exogenous economic or regulatory shock. Students, faculty, instructional designers, and librarians all have a voice, but it is the senior university leadership and the regional policy and regulatory framework that drives the publishers’ business models for access and pricing. Librarians have well-worn workflow solutions and practices in place for acquiring books (print and digital). When textbook (print and digital) acquisition is mission critical, those well-worn workflow solutions break down to a great degree, but not entirely, and the pandemic fueled significant growth in the availability of digital textbooks in extant workflow solutions with “library friendly” purchase models. The connection between reading list software and acquisition workflow solutions eases the process in certain regions and less so in others. The degree to which workflow and reading list solutions are a significant source of aid or concern in each of the three regions is driven by historic practices. Again, the sudden shift to nearly complete digital only curriculum, created headwinds and opportunities, but it did not fundamentally change longstanding practices.
Australia and New Zealand I begin with Australia and New Zealand because, in my view, it is in between the practices of North America where the campus bookstore is central to textbook delivery and the university library focuses on reserve copies only and the United Kingdom and Ireland where the bookstore does not exist in a meaningful way and the campus library is viewed as the critical center of textbook delivery for students. Among the librarians I interviewed in Australia and New Zealand, there was a nod to the bookstore as a resource for print textbooks, but when
46 Against the Grain / November 2021
asked where the university administration was focused it was the library. But this observation was juxtaposed against a clear view that the university expected each student to acquire their textbooks directly; in other words, there was seemingly little administrative strategic coherence as to the “center” of textbook deliv“The goal of my ery on campus.
research was Unlike North America and the United Kingdom and Ireland, most to understand of the major textbook publishers the workflow deliver their textbook catalogs in challenges the library workflow solutions, most notably through ProQuest (though librarians faced this is in flux and very recently pubin each of these lishers are pulling back on front list regions and availability in library workflow). The publishers understood these digital the role of the textbook sales to be in support of library within the course reserves. As the pandemic larger university took hold, and all courses moved strategy of online, digital textbook access through the libraries increased textbook in equal measure to students not fulfillment.” purchasing print textbooks. This fueled publisher business model changes, including digital list price, changes to number-of-user models (typical is 1 user, 3 user or unlimited user), digital rights management changes in the direction of more restriction and, in some cases, new title release embargoes. I characterize the current library textbook market in Australia and New Zealand as chaotic. The librarians I spoke with see their role as very much about providing broader access to textbooks, whereas the administration of the universities is focused on student responsibility for purchase and access. The publishers have historically provided broad library 1 user and 3 user access and allowed for “stacked purchases” of 3 user purchases, which implies usage beyond course reserve and knowing publisher acceptance thereof. Reading list tools (Talis, E-Reserve Plus, and Leganto) are in use, but adoption by faculty is fragmented. The workflow solutions (Gobi, Ebook Central, Rialto) are broadly used to acquire textbooks because textbooks are broadly available. The primary challenges facing the librarians are publisher pricing, DRM and access changes and thus uncertainty about what will be available. This is compounded by uncertainty from university administration about the central versus supporting role of the library in providing wide access to digital textbooks.
North America In North America the campus bookstore in the unequivocal center on campus for both print and digital textbook delivery. Institutional access, in the context of the bookstore, is delivered through inclusive access (IA). IA is a program whereby the stu-
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