Electronic Book Collections: EBL

The UFV Library conducted a pilot project from September 2014 to April 2015 to borrow and purchase electronic books using "Demand Driven Acquisition" (DDA). The e-books were provided by EBL, a leader in e-book publishing and acquisition.  The pilot project is currently on hiatus following the expenditure of our budget.  All purchased titles are listed in the library catalogue and available for use.  However, the large file of unpurchased titles have been withdrawn, while the library reviews options for a 2015/16 DDA plan.

What is DDA?

DDA is a method of purchasing items with a known demand or interest.  When a borrower views an e-book for over 5 minutes, a short-term loan (STL)  is triggered.  On the third STL,  a purchase is triggered.

More details on UFV's project are available below.

The EBL project was very successful. Students and faculty discovered thousands of titles on a wide array of academic subject areas, from a good cross section of reputable academic publishers.  Users were able to find recent monographs that supplemented our print collection, and made use of the online access during evenings, weekends and holidays when the library was closed.

Here are a few of the key facts and figures:

Total Number of Owned Titles: 105
Average Cost of Autopurchases: $80.64
Total number of Short-Term Loans: 1070
Avergae Cost of STL: $16.16
Total Titles Used: 2042
Total Unique Users: 1329
Total Unused Autopurchased Titles (Since Purchase): 0/105

Top Most Used Subjects:
Social Science: 660 Uses
Library Science: 552 Uses
History: 394 Uses
Literature: 224 Uses

The EBL collection currently includes over 32,000 books in all subject areas, provided by a wide range of academic publishers.

All  titles allow for multiple concurrent use. 

The EBL collection is searchable through the library catalogue.

You can search the library catalogue by author, title or keyword.  EBL books on your topic will be included in your search results. (To tell them apart from others, these books have the location of Website at EBL_DDA.)

Click on the URL.  EBL requires all users to log in, whether on or off campus.  Use your current myUFV username and password.

You can view the table of contents. Once you click on a chapter, the e-book will load into the online reader. Our free browsing period is 5 minutes.  If you want to close the book, click on the EBL icon on the left corner.

You can print 20% of a book and copy 5%. Both of these actions will count as a short-term loan.

If you are using a public computer in the library, you should read the books online using the EBL Online Reader.

If you are using your own computer or tablet, you can download the book for a 1 day loan.

Advantages of DDA

1. The library is buying items that with a known demand.
2. Allows for ordering in subject areas that may have been overlooked in faculty or librarian selection
3. Increases discoverability and access to thousands of current academic titles
4. Immediate provision of content

Short-Term Loans

When a book has been printed, downloaded or viewed for more than 5 minutes, a short-term loan (STL) is triggered.  Our STL period is set at 1 day.

UFV will purchase titles on the third STL.  The cost of a STL varies between publishers, ranging from 5% to 50% of the purchase price.  Our profile has set a maximum price limit on unmediated STL's at $45.

Purchasing Details and Non-Linear Lending

On the third STL, a purchase of the title is triggered.  EBL Books included in our catalogue have been limited to a maximum purchase list price of $140.00.  When buying a book, the final cost includes the cost of the initial STL's, as well as the purchase price. 

EBL offers a Non-Linear Lending model. Once a book is purchased, we are given unlimited simultaneous users, up to 325 loan instances in a year.  If we exceed 325 loan instances, we must either purchase a 2nd copy or have access suppressed until the next year begins. For purchased books,  a loan instance is triggered when a patron views the book for longer than 10 minutes.