LIS Research Support Weblog: RS Weblog

Tips for ordering mandatory literature

In an earlier blogpost we identified 9 roadblocks for the university library to purchase an eBook, but there are more. This blog is about ordering compulsory literature as eBooks for the university library.  

A possible scenario. You are preparing your course and searching for literature.  Fortunately, you have found the right book to use in your next course. On the website you see that the eBook version costs even less than the print book – so the university library can purchase it and all students can read it, and they don’t need to purchase it themselves. So, this part of preparing your course is done.

We are very sorry, but purchasing eBooks by the library is very, very different than purchasing eBooks as a private person.

• University libraries cannot order eBooks from platforms that are only for individuals, like Bol.com or Amazon. They simply don't allow us to.
• Because the library provides online access to more than one person, first it must enter into a license with the publisher or a platform specifically for libraries.
• The price for libraries mostly includes a fee for simultaneous use by multiple or unlimited users.
• The eBook can be withdrawn from an aggregator platform such as Ebook Central

So, the price you see on the website has nothing to do with the price that the library has to pay. Since eBooks have been available, publishers have offered university libraries a dizzying number of options and prices for purchasing eBooks, none of them related to the price for private persons.

Technically, yes, it is certainly possible that an eBook provides unlimited access.  But if the price is, for example, 1500 USD for only one title, for a so callled textbook, then we would need a lot more library budget. When we are unable to order an eBook version of a title, we will order two print copies instead, one for the SB collection, and one for short term loan. This is compliant with our policy for mandatory literature.

So please,

• Consult with the subject librarians about an eBook that you want to offer your students, before putting this title in Osiris
• Choose for open access books whenever possible. By the way, did you know that TiU has its own Open Press TiU?
• You can use this tool that can be used to find freely available digital learning material related to the subject of a book. The only thing you need to do is fill in the ISBN of the book.

By following these tips, you will help ensure that we do not have to disappoint you and your students afterwards and have to say: we are very sorry, we cannot order this eBook.