2016 SSP 38th Annual Meeting
Concurrent 4A: eBook Wars: The Libraries Awaken
Product Strategy/Business Models
Concurrent 4A: While some suggest renting ebook collections is the new library status quo, others espouse more traditional values tied to curating collections for the long term and ensuring perpetual access to content. Increased reliance on intermediaries has obscured the long-standing value proposition libraries and publishers share. Building digital collections for networked distribution provides a unique opportunity to join librarians and publishers in common goals. Two speakers will describe their projects and opportunities for engagement. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the Charlotte Initiative for Permanent Acquisitions of Ebooks by Academic Libraries involves representatives from libraries, library consortia, and university presses. It addresses licensing principles, preservation, UX and course use of ebooks. Supported by the IMLS and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Digital Public Library of America is working with library partners to investigate a national ebook strategy that includes a community shared national ebook marketplace, distribution platform and a universal open ebook collection that is optimized for mobile use.
Moderator: Rich Lampert, Doody Consulting
Speakers
Rachel Frick, Digital Library Federation
Rachel L. Frick is the Business Development Director, Digital Public Library of America and Lead, DPLA Ebooks Working Group. She is responsible for building out DPLA’s sustainability plan and forging extensive new relationships in order to build it’s visibility, impact, and financial resources. Prior to DPLA, she served as the director of the Digital Library Federation program at the Council on Library and Information Resources and held senior positions at the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the University of Richmond, among other roles. She is widely known in the library, archive, and museum world for her vision, organizational know-how and commitment to open culture.
Twitter Handle: @rlfrick
Twitter Handle: @rlfrick
October Ivins, Ivins eContent Solutions
October Ivins is the Principal and Consultant, Ivins eContent Solutions and Charlotte Initiative Project Consultant. As an independent consultant, October assists publishers and other content providers, associations, libraries, and consortia. Projects typically include market research, pricing, and/or marketing strategy. She began her career as an academic librarian at UNC and LSU and then completed PhD coursework in LIS (digital libraries and the information industry, and qualitative research methods) at UT Austin. She was an executive at two Boston area publishing services startups before becoming a consultant. October is a past president of both NASIG and SSP and currently chairs the ALCTS President’s Program Committee.