An Important Paper on Library E-Book Content is Available

A pre-print of an International Elending Study of e-book availability, pricing, and licensing is available from the journal Information Research.  Download it here.

 It is well-worth a look for those interested in the library digital experience.  Here’s a brief summary, but it does not do justice to research that is the first of its kind and that has important ramifications for how we should continue advocating with publishers (and aggregators) for improving e-book access.

"Availability of e-book titles is better than expected, with digital library availability approaching that of print. Just because titles are available, however, does not make them accessible. Licensing models, especially the growth of metered access, complicate access, often making only likely best-sellers seem viable. Our ability to create the deep collections we offer in print is circumscribed, especially in light of high cost and the lack of variable licensing terms.    

ReadersFirst encourages please consider spreading word of this important contribution to library literature.

Full Disclosure: the paper cites members of the ReadersFirst Working Group