To Buy or Not to Buy That Is

To Buy or Not to Buy: That Is the Question – E-Book Acquisition at the University of Macau Library Paul W. T. Poon, Ph. D. University Librarian University of Macau June 2008 E-Book Conference HK 1

Contents • Emergence of E-Books • To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for EBooks • UM’s Unique Situation • UM’s E-Book Collection Development and Management Policy and Practices • Concluding Remarks 2

Emergence of E-Books • • • E-Databases (Libraries started to use during 1970 s) E-Journals (Libraries started to use during early and mid-1990 s) E-Books Ø Libraries began to collect end of 20 th century and beginning of 21 st century Ø Became a permanent feature in the last 3 – 5 years 3

Emergence of E-Books (II) Ø A TCR (The Charleston Report) survey of 64 librarians from primarily academic libraries in USA at the end of 2007 (TCR – November/December 2007, Vol. 12/No. 3) üAll except one planned to increase the holding of E -Books ü 37 of the 64 librarians noticed an increased usage of E-Books 4

Therefore, to Buy or Not to Buy? 5

To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books • Increasing demand on library materials v. A bigger and more demanding users group v. Inter-disciplinary courses 6

A Bigger and More Demanding Users Group Ø Increasing number of faculty members (about 400 in year 2007) Ø Increasing number of students (about 6, 400 in 2007) Ø Ten-Year Development Plan (2007/8 to 2016/7) üStudent number to rise from 6, 400 to 10, 000; 70% to 80% Ug, and the remaining Pg (one-third should be MPhil or Ph. D students) 7

A Bigger and More Demanding Users Group (II) üWithin 5 years, 70% of faculty members should have a Ph. D (or equivalent) with a 30% senior staff ratio üPromote research culture üEarmark 10% of recurrent expenditure to research 8

A Bigger and More Demanding Users Group (III) üProvide a variety of continuing education programmes 9

Inter-Disciplinary Courses • Offer a wide range of programmes, particularly niche courses e. g. , Macau Studies, Gaming Management • Whole Person Education and co-curricular programmes THEREFORE, greater demand on popular titles 10

E-Books Can Help!! Multi-User Accessibility 11

To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books (II) • Users have used e-Databases/e-Journals and found it convenient. They come to expect the same with books • Today’s students are: ØDigital natives ØMillennials/Generation Y 12

E-Books Can Help!! Available on the web Wired and hyper-linked 13

To Buy or Not to Buy: UM’s Needs for E-Books (III) • About 280, 000 volumes, but running out of shelving space shortly THEREFORE, E-Books can help! 14

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices • Started to buy e-Books from Ebrary in 2006 • At present, e-Book collection – ØEnglish titles: Around 35, 000 titles ØChinese titles: Around 7, 000 titles (Apabi) • Based on unique background and situation, different libraries have different collection development policy 15

UM’s Unique Situation 16

UM’s Unique Situation • Five Faculties: – Faculty of Business Administration (FBA) – Faculty of Education (FED) – Faculty of Law (FLL) – Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH) – Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) • No of teaching staff: about 400 • No of students: about 6, 400 17

UM Library Resources (as of 31 -12 -2007) Items Collection (All printed and a/v materials) Quantity Around 286, 352 Print journals (Incl. ceased titles) Around 4, 000 Databases (IEEE, EBSCOhost, …) Around 87 Full-text E-journals Around 30, 000 titles Newspapers Around 70 titles 18

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices • Different Faculties have different treatment ØFBA & FST: Use English as teaching medium; therefore, English e-Books are acquired ØFSH & FED: Use both English & Chinese; therefore, Chinese books are needed. But too few up-to-date Chinese e-Books are published. Have to acquire print copies ØFLL: Use Portuguese in some courses. Not too many Portuguese e-Books. 19

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices (II) • Selection Policy Ø E-Versions Vs Print Versions ü Print copies are preferred by users because v Easier reading v More convenient printing-out ü E-Copies are preferred by library staff because they are easier to handle 20

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices (III) • In the case of journals, E-Versions are preferred because ØJournal articles are shorter ØPrinting out is easy 21

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices (IV) • E-Reference: Usage not high ØFor quick information -- Google or Wikipedia ØReaders education is important 22

UM’s E-Book Collection Development Policy and Practices (V) • Library Collaboration ØUM is the only public-funded university in Macau and comparatively well-resourced ØOther public or private academic institutions are not well-funded / Subjects taught not compatible ØDifficult to establish co-operation scheme ØLook for co-operation with libraries in Hong Kong 23

Forum on “Library Collaboration in the Web 2. 0 Age -- an International and Regional Perspective” 「 Web 2. 0 時代的圖書館互聯 ─ 從國際及地區視野探討」論壇 Co-organized by UM Library and JULAC 5 September 2008 University of Macau Library ALL ARE WELCOME! 24

Library Forum on 5 September 2008 University of Macau Library Keynote speakers: Dr. Rush Miller (University of Pittsburgh Library, USA) Ms. Sherri Schmidt (Arizona State University Library, USA) Mr. Michael Robinson (Hong Kong Institute of Education Library) Dr. Paul W. T. Poon (University of Macau Library) ALL ARE WELCOME! 25

Concluding Remarks • UM Library will increasingly acquire more ebooks • A survey will be conducted to gauge the level of usage of e-Books • It is hoped that the technical set-up and format of e-Books will improve • More publicity, marketing and users education of e-Books are needed 26

Thank you! 27