Library Support for Digital Readers
The aim of this project is to make recommendations on the Library’s role with regard to digital readers. The recommendations will be based on the outcome of the trials at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy. A newly discovered risk in the planning process is that, in order for the pilot studies to go ahead, the project must comply with the administrative developments relating to the buy-off fee.
In the spring of 2011, at the request of Koos Duppen, a study was carried out of the risks relating to copyright-protected work in Nestor. The reason for the study was that, in 2013, research will be carried out for a future-proof reader regulation. Contact with the UOCG resulted in a greater understanding of the possibilities and limitations of Blackboard in terms of making digital readers available, information on copyright and the possibility for building a tool into Blackboard to establish a threshold between a short and long republication. We also learned that Blackboard has entered into a partnership with one of the biggest American textbook suppliers, McGraw Hill, whereby lecturers can compile their own textbook and sell it to students online.
Information was obtained from other libraries about their digital-reader projects. The results were presented in the national UKB collection-management working group.
Contacts were initiated with Grafimedia. We learned that, among other things, Grafimedia makes a Prisma Access package by Océ available to all students and staff. This package enables any user to compile a reader, using the printing option. It also emerged that the Faculty of Law had carried out a reader trial using a web shop. The scope of the trial will be widened in January 2012. Interest has been shown in setting up a reader drop-point at the University Library.
For the trial at GMW, an online web survey was produced to facilitate structured interviews with lecturers. Discussions have now been held with lecturers at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences as well as at the Faculty of Philosophy.
At national level, discussions on a temporary (2011-2012) buy-off fee for short extracts have not proceeded smoothly. The Rector has given his approval for Groningen to participate in this. Groningen will also take part in the research for future-proof reader regulations after 2013. Aspects to be researched include improved checks, a complaints procedure and the scale of the republications. The study will assess whether PRO will be allowed direct access to the SURFDiensten database for checking purposes. VSNU has taken the initiative to liaise with the UKB on this point.
The buy-off fee will also apply to short at the Faculty of in digital form. The advice of the departmental Treasurers is not to republish any articles to Nestor yet, so that students cannot be required to pay copyright fees. That is why the trial cannot begin yet. However, we are looking into the possibilities of the Blackboard Content System and information provision. It may well be the case that the need for the Library’s involvement will become more urgent if the buy-off fee is introduced and the faculties wish to provide the relevant information to lecturers.
Esther Hoorn