Strategies for ebook Collection Development in the Astronomy Library: Insights from the IUCAA Library

Strategies for eBooks Collection Development in the Astronomy Library: Insights from the IUCAA Library By Vijay Kumar Rai Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India Outlines About IUCAA Library Services eBooks in IUCAA Selection Strategy of eBooks eBooks visualization Usage of eBooks Conclusion 2 Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune •IUCAA is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India to promote the nucleation and growth of active groups in astronomy and astrophysics at Indian universities. IUCAA aims to be a centre of excellence within the university sector for teaching, research and development in astronomy and astrophysics. •IUCAA's activities fall under two broad programmes: core academic programmes and visitor academic programmes. Core academic programmes include basic research, the PhD programme, advanced research workshops and schools, and guest observer programmes. Visitor academic programmes include the visitor and associates programme, refresher courses for teachers and helping the nucleation and growth of astronomy and astrophysics at Indian universities. 3 IUCAA Library •The IUCAA library is an open access automated library accessible throughout the year except on the three national holidays, viz. January 2, August 14, and October 2. The library can be described as a hybrid library, incorporating the latest in IT as well as giving the impression of a traditional library. The library staff aims to provide excellent service to the in-house faculty as well as to the associates, visitors, students, amateur astronomers, and teachers coming to IUCAA. •The total collection of the library stands at > 26,000 which includes Books, Bound Volumes, CD/DVD, slides, Microfilms, etc. The library has also acquired E-books from various publishers (more than fifteen thousand ebooks). We subscribe to 100 journals for both, print and online subscription. We get online access of journals from 30 major international journal publishers through One Nation One Subscription imitative of GoI. •The Muktangan Science Centre of M. V. S. as it is known, has a collection of approximately 2000 books. The collection is accessed by school students coming to M. V. S. for lecture, workshops and related activities. •At one point, the library acquired books for the IUCAA Resource Centres located at Delhi, Raipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, Siliguri, and Kochi. eBooks have been acquired for IRCs as well.4 Important Services of IUCAA Library IUCAA Institutional Repository consist full-text of Research Articles of some eminent scientist of IUCAA i.e. Prof. Narlikar, IUCAA Preprints, Academic Calender, Posters presented during conferences held in IUCAA and National Science Day, IUCAA Academic calendar, newspaper clippings etc (http://repository.iucaa.in:8080/jspui/) Dspace 5.2 is being installed for IR 5 IR@IUCAA IUCAA Library YouTube Channel IUCAA Library has created a YouTube Channel of lectures delivered during IUCAA Foundation Day (https://www.youtube.com/user/iucaalib) 6 Photos and Videos Archive 7 Library Blog 8 About eBooks An eBook does not have much difference with print book. The difference is the medium. eBook is digital form of the printed book, the medium for ebook can vary from a desktop/ laptop to digital eBook reader, PDA, mobile phone but for a traditional print book the medium is paper. eBook’s contents are not only available in PDF or HTML format, but also plain text or XML formats. This format or technology makes ebooks’s content much more versatile and flexible than the traditional print book. In ebooks environment, Students and faculties get benefitted with full potential and deliver content anytime, anywhere to anyone. eBooks have better visibility than print book. These ebooks can easily be found using library OPAC, search engine or publisher website. This primary difference give ebook edge on print book because ebooks are exposed and visible to large user community 9 eBooks Collection of IUCAA SN Name of Publisher Book Selection Mode Number of Titles 1Cambridge University Press Pick and Choose 690 2 Elsevier Print to Electronic 125 3Institute of Physics Pick and Choose 117 4John Wiley and Sons Print to Electronic 45 5Oxford University Press Pick and Choose 471 6SpringerNature Subject Bundle 14020 7Tylor and Francis Print to Electronic 39 8Universities Press Print to Electronic 94 9World Scientific Print to Electronic 187 16 eBooks Visibility to Users Linking the ebooks with print collection Cataloguing of ebooks Separate Webpage for ebooks 17 As soon as library decided to procure ebooks in 2011, guideline for better visibility of ebooks to users were drawn. eBooks Usage SN Name of Publisher eBooks Usage during 2020-21 to 2024-25 1Cambridge University Press 22971 2 Elsevier 1445 3Institute of Physics 772 4John Wiley and Sons 763 5Oxford University Press 507 6SpringerNature 76929 7Tylor and Francis 1454 8Universities Press 39 9World Scientific 458 18 Hosting / Data Maintenance / Platform Fee •Fee of USD 500 will be applicable from second year of purchase. However, no Hosting / Data Maintenance / Platform Fee applicable in any given year if the customer buys at least 1 (one) title in that year or maintain subscription to any one Cambridge online journal. •Service fee :- Annual service fee can be charged (Euro 500.00 springer), if acquire another product i.e. ebook, journal the service fee is not apply. •Perpetual one-time purchase, no maintenance charges (world Scientific). •After one year, an annual access fee based on the number of chapters downloaded from such ebooks during the prior 12 months at a rate of US $0.81 per download, with a minimum annual fee of US $500. however access fee will not be charged if an annual subscription maintain. 19 Conclusion eBooks are now part of the library collection in the academic institute. eBooks play a significant role in academic and research institutions to reach beyond the physical boundaries of the library. The flexibility, accessibility, and visibility of the ebook feature give an advantage to both the library and users. We are now procuring ebooks regularly due to the advantages of ebooks and user demand. The integration of ebooks into library catalogue has given better visibility of ebooks to users. The usage of ebooks shows that the number of users is finding ebooks useful for their studies. The library is receiving more recommendations for ebooks. Our ebook collection is surpassed the print collection. 20 21 I would like to acknowledge and thank the SOC of LISA10 for waiving my registration fee