[Eril-l] Academic library ebook downloading is clumsy and ereader features inadequte - what are we doing about it?

[Melissa Belvadi]

I question whether it is worth our energy to fight about the downloading
issue. Increasingly, patrons have wireless/G-whatever live access to the
Internet just about everywhere they go - even on some airplanes now. As
wireless access becomes universal, the need for offline downloading as
compared with just reading the ebook in the native interface (eg Proquest,
Ebscohost, etc.) becomes less important.  While we aren't there yet, the
legal barriers for the aggregators are such that by the time they can solve
all the ADE-type issues being discussed here, it won't matter anyway.

FYI, I track the data for our print book circulation as well as our ebooks,
and our non-downloadable ebooks are still getting far more uses than our
far larger print collection is (although I'll admit we don't track in-house
use of print books).  So different libraries are having different
experiences when it comes to patron acceptance of non-downloadable ebooks.

Melissa Belvadi, UPEI



On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 3:05 PM, Harper, Cynthia <charper at vts.edu> wrote:

> Hi all – I wonder if the message is getting through to aggregator vendors
> like EBSCo and Proquest that the download and DRM procedures for downloaded
> ebooks from their collections are seen as onerous by our patrons.  I just
> redesigned our ebook libguide http://vts.libguides.com/ebooks, and
> presented the process to the rest of the library staff.  They were
> underwhelmed, especially when my Avira Antivirus shut off my access to the
> license server (again) on the computer on which I was presenting.  And
> requiring three logins – one for remote access, one for the aggregator
> site, and one Adobe ID – seems preposterous to those getting a one-shot
> presentation.
>
>
>
> I also notice that once I’ve downloaded to Adobe Digital Editions, the
> features provided differs from ebook to ebooks, based on whether it was a
> PDf or an epub.  Some PDFs don’t even support searching.  Why can’t you
> save the quotes you’ve highlighted in the ebook to a file?  I wonder if
> because Adobe Digital Editions is free software, does it suffer from a lack
> of vendor commitment?  Or do publishers prevent you from saving your
> highlighted quotes for copyright reasons?
>
>
>
> Are vendors engaging with their customers in discussing these issues?
> Where is the listserv conversation going on?
>
>
>
> Cindy Harper
>
> E-services and periodicals librarian
>
> Virginia Theological Seminary
>
> Bishop Payne Library
>
> 3737 Seminary Road
>
> Alexandria VA 22304
>
> charper at vts.edu
>
> 703-461-1794
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Melissa Belvadi
Collections Librarian
University of Prince Edward Island
mbelvadi at upei.ca 902-566-0581
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