Developing Workflows for Short-term Loans of Ebooks as an Adjunct to ILL: Part Two

Abstract

After devising a workflow to provide short-term leases of ebooks to ILL patrons in order to take advantage of the rapid fulfillment inherent in ebook acquisitions, researchers at The College of New Jersey Library ran a semester-long trial of the process. Through an examination of the resulting fill statistics and user preferences and experiences, it was found patrons appreciated rapid ILL fulfillment, but were ambivalent about using ebooks, and the actual number of available ebook equivalents was less than anticipated. As the study was underway, changes in the marketplace (specifically large increases in the pricing of short-term leases of ebooks) significantly undermined the practicality of the experiment.