search and investigate their complete digital output (DG exclusively digitized out of print content for eleven UP partners) at the chapter level in a bespoke environment of just their eBooks? This summer we launched microsites on degruyter.com where our UPL partners now have access to their own homepage that contains their own content. DA: When it comes to your platform digital transformation, what is the benchmark that you are holding yourself up to? SF: Data transparency: we are updating our distribution agreements to include the rights for our partners to have access and ownership of the data from our platform in real-time through dashboards, so now, when 1,800 libraries are accessing an individual press’s content, they will know what eBooks researchers are downloading at what institutions. Taking into account the metadata behind each eBook, presses will also have data on book series, book types, subject areas and more. That could be transformative for our presses because historically they make decisions about digital rights management at the title level, determining if a title should be a single- or multi- or unlimited-user model, based on print data. Now, they can make informed decisions based on data from a digital environment. DA: You mentioned that you are not set up like an aggregator, what do you not have? What are your challenges? SF: Historically, our systems have been set up to publish books and journals, not to distribute content. We have to do a lot of manual adjustments to support digital distribution. Digital transformation allows us to align the publishing side of our business with the distribution/service side in an effort to build operational efficiencies in both publishing and distribution.
DA: MIT Press and CEUP have come up with business models that address the issues of low-use scholarly monographs via open access. Do you think that is the future? SF: From my vantage point, sustainability for the “low use scholarly-monograph” is mission critical for all stakeholders. I have great appreciation for the attention these scholarly presses are bringing to the issue and admire both of them and Michigan for their transparency, collaboration with stakeholders and innovative approach. Taking a closer look and in my opinion, the common denominator between these models is they require a number of libraries to make an ongoing investment through collection acquisition to become sustainable. I don’t know if it is the future, but it appears to me libraries around the globe will tell us either way. In the meantime, I’ll be watching and rooting for them! I must say I would be remiss if I did not address the similarities between these OA models and our UPL. As of this interview, the UPL does not have an open access component, yet the business models are very similar since they involve libraries acquiring ongoing collections. These commitments are critical for press predictability and sustainability. How the UPL model differs is important. As I stated earlier, the UPL is about the complete digital record that includes all titles: monographs, trade, reference works, textbooks etc. and not just the low-use scholarly monographs DA: Thanks, Steve. It sounds like the UPL, as well as the new platform, will continue to be exciting as De Gruyter continues to add partners. I’m sure everyone will look forward to hearing more about both!
The Digital Toolbox — OverDrive eBooks for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice Collections By Phillip Hewitt (Senior Engineering and Electronic Collections Librarian, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015) <pjh315@lehigh.edu> and Carrie Baldwin-SoRelle (Social Sciences & Scholarly Communications Librarian, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015) <chb316@lehigh.edu> Column Editor: Steve Rosato (Director and Business Development Executive, OverDrive Professional, Cleveland, OH 44125) <srosato@overdrive.com>
D
uring the COVID-19 pandemic, academic libraries faced the challenge of supporting remote extracurricular learning around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) at a time of increased public conversations about racism and white supremacy in the United States. One way that the Lehigh University Libraries addressed this challenge was implementing the OverDrive platform with eBooks and audiobooks with a targeted DEIJ collection focus.
The Lehigh University Libraries are part of a merged library and technology organization within a mid-sized, doctoral, high-research, private university. After some funds were made available following journal negotiations, librarians began investigating OverDrive as a resource to support extracurricular reading and learning. At the end of a six-month long investigation and implemen-
50 Against the Grain / November 2021
tation, librarians at Lehigh University chose to invest significant collections funds in the OverDrive platform to support reading and learning about DEIJ topics.
“The project has been an important vehicle for collectionsbased, DEIJ outreach and serves as a small but public signal of the libraries’ commitment to antiracism.”
An initial marketing push over summer 2020 focused on two collections: a Black Lives Matter Reading List and Stories of Black Excellence. Both collections were heavily used initially and see steady continued use. Additional reading lists added over the past year include collections for Native American Heritage Month, a National Poetry Month list featuring poets of color, and LGBTQ+ Pride Month. In building the lists, we considered: popular titles nationally that
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