Last week, Exact Editions had the pleasure of attending UKSG’s all-day event entitled ‘Introduction to E-resources Today’. We approached the event with the intention of learning more about the work of librarians so that we could further address the challenges they face and make their lives a little easier where possible.

First Seminar

To start the day, we listened to Mitchell Dunkley’s presentation, ‘Managing Journal Content in the Online World’. This was a well-constructed talk which explained the processes used by De Montfort University to organise their online resources. We were pleased to learn that the university had an e-first strategy where possible, and this depended on numerous factors, such as; cost vs. budget, academic relevancy, content format, accessibility and licensing. Naturally, this was very useful as we could learn what librarians search for when selecting journals.

A few points of the talk were of particular interest to Exact Editions. Firstly, that the university witnesses annual price increases for most journals, despite having a fixed budget, meaning that resources must be sacrificed each year. These cancellations will tend to be decided based on usage, which speaks volumes for the need to integrate resources in library discovery systems. Regarding price increases, the ethos of Exact Editions has always been to provide libraries with excellent resources at a fair price, reflected by the fact that prices have remained largely fixed for the last four years. We consider ourselves forerunners in the provision of sustainable electronic resources intended to facilitate learning rather than squeeze libraries for profit.

Secondly, and related to this, Mitchell emphasised that student experience is at the heart of service delivery. The aim of the library should be the maximise the usage and impact of the information resources available to students. According to Mitchell, ease of access is absolutely paramount in the selection process. Specifically mentioned was the need for seamless access across multiple devices as libraries are experiencing a rise in the variety of devices used by students. This was music to our ears as Exact Editions have invested lots of time and effort into ensuring that content is easily available across all devices. We believe that the more complicated a system is, the less likely students are to use it, so we try to keep it simple.

Second Seminar

Holly Purcell from IOP Publishing gave the second seminar, ‘The Business of E-Resources Publishing’. This was a little less relevant for Exact Editions, however, it offered an interesting insight into the world of scientific publishing. One aspect of the presentation which was of note was IOP’s strategy to provide librarians with bespoke campaigns for internal marketing.

This involves creating promotional material on behalf of the library such as infographics and posters, as well as designing social media posts and HTML email templates for internal circulation. These efforts resulted in more usage, higher renewal rates and positive feedback, and Exact Editions will certainly be looking into offering a similar service.

Third Seminar

After lunch (which was delicious), Anna Sansome from UCL spoke about ‘Managing E-Book Content’. Again, this is not really an area of expertise for Exact Editions, although we do work with a few specialised book publishers to offer complete collections to institutions. However, there was a segment of the seminar dedicated to the reasons for converting print resources to electronic when possible, which also applies to magazines. These included; convenience, time-saving, space-saving, accessibility and search functionality. This led on to a discussion of the best models for purchasing electronic resources, which Anna stated was unlimited access with no limit to concurrent users or number of users per year.

Exact Editions have consistently placed emphasis on search technology, and all archives on the site are fully-searchable by keyword. Our tech team is also developing an exciting new feature which will be with you later in 2018… Regarding the best purchasing model, we have always preferred to offer subscribing institutions unlimited access to resources, the reason being that we want universities to use our resources to their utmost potential.

Fourth Seminar

The fourth, and final, talk of the day was concerning ‘Intermediaries and their Services’ by Richard Bramwell from EBSCO. As a content provider, Exact Editions work closely with several intermediaries in the purchasing process and management of subscriptions on behalf of universities. This was an interesting talk which stressed the challenges currently facing intermediaries, as well as the solutions that are being implemented.

Richard talked about the numerous factors which are squeezing the industry such as; pressure on library budgets, the sustainability of open access publishing and global economic fluctuations. He stated that EBSCO is having to adapt to the library market in order to continue providing excellent service to their 50,000 customers around the world. We agree that it is a fast-paced environment, which is why we strive to stay abreast of technological developments and movements within the industry.

It is important, as a content provider, to understand the role intermediaries play in the library market, as they often have many available services. Exact Editions works closely with several companies to facilitate the purchasing of and discoverability of resources. However, we also understand that we must be independent and flexible, and conduct a lot of business directly with institutions, as well as being constantly on the search for innovative technological solutions to the challenges libraries face. We welcome any suggestions or feedback, to chat with us please email institutions@exacteditions.com

Overall

In whole, the day offered much food for thought for the Exact Editions team. UKSG did a fantastic job of organising the event and encouraging discussion between librarians, intermediaries and publishers, whose professions can sometimes seem very separate despite inhabiting the same eco-system.

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