[Eril-l] eBook weeding policy

[Heather Shipman]

Hi, Harold,

Officially, Cornell has never developed an ebook weeding policy (for perpetual access ebooks). Unofficially, the ebook specialist (me) shoots it down every time somebody asks if we should consider weeding. Because:


1.       We’re all still navigating the “how perpetual is perpetual access” question; IMO, if we start weeding, we undermine our position on that. (Assuming your position is that “perpetual” should mean literally for keeps forever.)


2.       I know scholars whose studies focus heavily on comparing the text of one edition to another – not just different translations of Chaucer, for example, but also the US/UK editions of Harry Potter, and changes from 1st to 2nd editions of a title and so on. We have no way of knowing which titles will be important to future patrons – and also no physical shelf space we need to clear to make room for other titles. Server space issues are probably a thing, but I think it’ll be a long while before that’s what breaks the system.


3.       Discovery is a current significant problem; it’s hard to find what you need when there are too many things to sort through. IMO, though, this is a problem that needs solved in the discovery layer – and we already know that our discovery layers need a lot of work. Titles to which we have perpetual access, but think are of less relevance to our patrons, should still be findable by folks who are searching for them – just not way at the top of the list, cluttering up more-likely-relevant search results.

We have weeded our unpurchased DDA collection recently, after about a decade of no weeding. We kept 2015-2018 titles in the purchasable collection, but ditched the rest (many of which had 1 of the 2 hits that would trigger a purchase). We haven’t officially decided how often to weed again in the future – do we want to keep it on a rolling 3-4 year window? Probably?

We also kinda-sorta “weed” pre-emptively by subscribing to some ebook packages instead of purchasing perpetual access to the titles (either on that platform, or elsewhere). There are some subscriptions we’ve held (particularly in computer programming) that we chose specifically because the titles were likely to become obsolete within a few years, and it was more cost-effective to have temporary access than to try buying them all – over and over and over again.

With respect to health sciences specifically – the only weeding our Med School is doing right now, as far as I know, is still print (and unpurchased DDA). They’re in NYC, so physical space is super limited, so they’re actively trying to replace portions of their print collections with e.

Heather Shipman
E-book Acquisitions and Management Specialist
110 Olin Library, Cornell University
Heather.shipman at cornell.edu<mailto:Heather.shipman at cornell.edu>



From: Eril-l [mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org] On Behalf Of Harold Bright
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2018 5:47 PM
To: eril-l at lists.eril-l.org
Subject: [Eril-l] eBook weeding policy

Does anyone have a specific eBook weeding policy and procedure, particularly one focusing on the health sciences?
Hal

Hal Bright, MLS, AHIP
AZ Campus Library Branch Manager | Electronic Resources Librarian
AZ Staff Council Rep for Academic Affairs
A.T. Still Memorial Library - A.T. Still U. of the Health Sciences
5850 E. Still Circle
Mesa, AZ  85206
(480) 219-6036
http://www.atsu.edu/atsmlib<Http://www.atsu.edu/atsmlib>
hbright at atsu.edu<mailto:hbright at atsu.edu>


A.T. Still University of Health Sciences serves as a learning-centered university dedicated to preparing highly competent professionals through innovative academic programs with a commitment to continue its osteopathic heritage and focus on whole person healthcare, scholarship, community health, interprofessional education, diversity, and underserved populations.
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