[LIBRARYDIR] RE: Multi-state eBook offer from Sage/COSLA

Tue Dec 2 09:46:01 PST 2014

Jane,

Where is the list of books?  That will be the first thing my folks will ask.  Do we commit first and then vote on the books?  Is there a cost to us?  Do we need to subscribe to the Sage platform to get access to the group books?

Thanks for the info.
Mindy

Mindy Coslor
Director of Library Services
Skagit Valley College
2405 E. College Way
Mount Vernon, WA  98273
360.416.7761/mcoslor at skagit.edu

From: librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Jane Blume
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2014 9:30 AM
To: an open discussion list for WA CTC Library Directors
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] FW: Multi-state eBook offer from Sage/COSLA

Will Stuivenga from the Washington State Library. There is a short turn-around time for the SAGE offer.

Jane

Jane Blume, Director
Library | Media Services
Bellingham Technical College

Apologies for any duplication. Given the short notice, I'm posting this notice to multiple lists and addresses.

This is an announcement of a special 1-time multi-state group purchase offer for eBooks from Sage.

Response required by Friday, December 5, 2014. Subscription start date would be January 1, 2015. I apologize for the "last-minute" nature of this offer, but it came to us with this deadline externally imposed.

SAGE<http://www.sagepub.com/> has partnered with COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, i.e. state librarians) to create a new multi-state shared e-book program. Each state will select 15 titles from the list of those available under this offer. Libraries in each state will have access to ALL of the titles selected by every participating state. The titles are research or educational in nature. You will find reference, professional development, health titles, etc.

The books are unlimited use, and are read online with no downloading necessary. Sage Knowledge is the Sage eBook platform, which works like many other databases and e-book platforms. A state may select more than 15 titles, but that will cause that state's share of the cost to be correspondingly higher.

I checked a few of the titles more or less at random in WorldCat for holdings in Washington State. Several titles were held only by UW. I found one title held by at least 4 community and technical colleges. I found a couple other titles held by 2 or 3 WA academic libraries, sometimes including UW. I did not find any titles held by public libraries, but I only checked 8-10 titles total. Presumably we would attempt to select titles not already held by any participating WA library.

The cost per state will be calculated once the total is in place and will be broken out by population size to allow for varying budgets. The cost will vary depending on the population of a state and the number of states the participate. The goal will be to have the smaller states around $10,000 and the larger states around $20,000 with the other states falling around $15,000. The best preliminary estimate for WA is $15,000 to $17,500. No LSTA funds are currently available to support this purchase.

If libraries representing 10% of the population and enrollment FTE's that currently participate in the SDL (Statewide Database Licensing) ProQuest contract elected to participate in this offer, the cost would be in the same ballpark range as what libraries now pay for the ProQuest contract. Obviously if only 5% chose to participate, the cost per library would be about twice as much as libraries currently pay for ProQuest. I can provide those numbers for anyone who needs them, and give an estimate for any libraries NOT currently buying ProQuest through SDL. It is really impossible to guestimate any closer than that at this point, given the uncertainties involved.

Access statewide will be via a single username and password, although it should be possible for libraries with their own authentication systems to embed the username and password into a referring URL. That does mean that there will be no individual library usage stats available from the vendor.

Why should Washington libraries be interested in this particular offer? What is the compelling advantage to libraries and the state? According to the vendor:

  1.  It's a low risk way for all of your libraries to access some of the most relevant content and information pertaining to subjects such as Health Care, Environment, Politics, Urban Affairs that otherwise they couldn't afford on their own.
  2.  This initiative was created in conjunction with the state librarians. The program is exactly what was asked for, a multi-state shared offering of resources at a low cost.
  3.  If this initiative is successful, it opens the doors for Washington and other participating States to use this framework for future multi-state agreements. This could help drive prices down and allow Washington and other states access to resources that might otherwise be too expensive.
  4.  If this programs fails it could set back the opportunity and availability for multi-state cooperation in obtaining new resources.

If your library is interested in the possibility of participating in this offer, we need a tentative indication of interest by Friday, Dec. 5, which is the deadline for participation. Please look at the available titles, and send me a list of at least 20 titles that your library would be interested in acquiring. Or you can download the spreadsheet, and put your institution's name or acronym in a column out to the right side of the title info for the titles you are recommending for purchase.
For more information, including the list of available titles, and a copy of the Sage terms and conditions, visit http://sos.wa.gov/q/Sage. Tomorrow a zip file of MARC records for the titles will also be available at the same location.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I've been engaged in several back and forth exchanges with the Sage rep to get this much information compiled. Also feel free to contact the Sage rep directly:

Jarrod Roth

Sales Manager, Medical and Public Library Sales SAGE Publications, Inc.

Phone: 805-410-7323

Fax: 866-747-8616
Email: jarrod.roth at sagepub.com<mailto:jarrod.roth at sagepub.com>

Regards,

Will

Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager
Washington State Library<http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/> | Office of the Secretary of State<http://www.sos.wa.gov/>
360.704.5217 | fax: 360.586.7575
will.stuivenga at sos.wa.gov<mailto:will.stuivenga at sos.wa.gov>

Washington State Library: Empowering 21st Century Washington

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