Minutes for 06/14/2016

E-Content Committee Meeting 6/14/2016

Edward Lott - EBSCO – Flipster

• Flipster Online Magazines Presentation Video
• Contact Information: elott@ebsco.com, (800) 653-2726 ext. 3647
  • Q: Could you talk about the crossover of magazines from MasterFile Premier and Flipster?
  • A: We offer a discount on Flipster for anyone who is already using MasterFile, because of the crossover in magazines. In addition, if you already get our print magazines, we offer an additional discount.
  • Q: How would you offer this discount to a consortium?
  • A: The way that Flipster is licensed, we work on a library by library pricing. This has to do with the publisher’s licensing, because we do not have the hosting fee.
  • Q: If we started buying in 2016 would we have access to anything prior?
  • A: You would get back issues from the time the magazine was added to Flipster.
  • Q: Is an APP placed on the device? Where does the download land?
  • A: Yes, the app is placed on the device. The downloads will be inside the app.
  • Q: For each magazine issue is the circulation model 1 copy - 1 user, or unlimited checkouts?
  • A: 80 % are unlimited, simultaneous users. Other titles have limitation to checkouts.
  • Q: How long is the checkout period?
  • A: No checkout period on simultaneous users. If there is a limitation it is by the frequency of the publication.
  • Q: Is there a different price for each magazine?
  • A: Yes. They are price individually. We can give you a link with the full price for the magazines.
  • Q: Do you offer MARC records, or an API to side load these titles in our Catalog?
  • A: Yes. The MARC records are free.
  • Q: Do patrons get to keep the magazines, or do they expire from their account?
  • A: If the magazine is not a simultaneous user it will time out. The patron will have to go back, and reload the magazine. Checkouts depends on the frequency of the magazine (weekly, biweekly, monthly).
  • Q: Do you work directly with libraries, or is there a roll for Marmot with Flipster?
  • A: I would have to check with the VPs, and talk with Marmot to see if there is an opportunity there. Normally, we sell Flipster directly to libraries.
  • Q: You mentioned discounts for Lynx databases through CLiC. Does CLiC play any other role?
  • A: Flipster is not offered to members through CLiC. We just offer the discount for the databases members get through CLiC, which is our MasterFile.

Experience with Flipster – Yuliya Lef from CMC & Martha Talman from Fort Lewis College

• Yuliya - Colorado Mountain College (CMC) has been using Flipster for about a year. Use has been pretty good. What worked well for them is the authentication process; it is the same as all the EBSCO databases. It is well integrated with their college systems. The negative side, no one is using the download option. The mobile app is pretty useless at this time. They just access the magazines from the website. They currently have 25 titles that cost under $2000. CMC likes that there are no platform fees.
  • Q: Have you been making Zinio magazines available to CMC students?
  • A: No. Zinio did not want to include academic libraries in Marmot consortium.
• Martha - Their collection is not live to the public until July 1st . They are excited to have usage stats for the magazines. They see an opportunity for public relationship with topics like voting. They can ask for public’s input on titles that will be removed for low usage.
  • Q: Why did you decide to go with Flipster and not Zinio?
  • A: Basically, because it is EBSCO. All of their subscriptions are through EBSCO. They liked the pricing model. Some magazines are available in Flispter that are not available in Zinio. They can also have some academic materials in their recreational reading collection. They spent about $5,000 for the 52 titles. Some titles are much more expensive than others.
  • Q: Is there a minimum number of titles you had to buy?
  • A: No. You can buy only one if you wanted. We are not loading these into the catalog. They are managing the titles using EBSCO manager.
• Action Item: Tammy will check with our Zinio rep, Mark Haley, to find out if Zinio is only available for public libraries.
• At this point, Marmot does not have an active role with purchasing of Flipster, so please contact Ed Lott. If you choose to purchase Flipster, and you would like it in the Pika catalog, contact Pascal. Ed Lott offered the MARC records. Pascal can side load these records for your library and collection set.

Concerns about Flipster from other members

• Jo Norris (Vail) - I am leery of adding Flipster for 2 reasons: 1 confusion on the part of patrons regarding Zinio vs Flipster. 2. Absence of APIs.
• Alysa Selby (BUD) - Also differing checkout periods.

AXIS 360 Discussion – Jimmy

• We were offered the opportunity for a trial, and we saw a demo. Jimmy asked if members want to pursue this product on their own, or as a group. It was stated that Marmot libraries want to keep things simple for their patrons. Adding different services like Axis 360 makes things more complicated. The group agreed not to move forward with this product.

Other Business:

• 1) Do we want to continue meeting on a monthly basis, or go to bimonthly meetings? The group decided to continue meeting monthly. We will shorten the meetings, if we do not have things to discuss.
• 2) We spend a lot of the money for OverDrive renewals, and adding extra copies for holds. How do people feel about being asked to pledge some of the money they have not spent to help with renewals and holds? Jimmy sent out the list of titles to libraries who had not spent all their money for the quarter. No one complained about the process.
• 3) Do we have to be proactive to check the materials requests that come in from the form on Pika? Yes, you have to be proactive and check the reports in Pika to see your patron material requests.
• 4) Should the rest of the Marmot members who have Advantage Collections go forward to make them available for all of Marmot? Alysa was testing it out for Bud Werner. She noticed that 2 items show up, but only 1 item is available. Mark has a ticket in with OverDrive to fix the API. It was decided that we wait for the patch from OverDrive. When the problem is fixed, we can recommend that the other Advantage libraries make their titles available to the consortium.
• 5) OverDrive title weeding. Joyce noticed that some of the titles that expired were still available in the Marmot OverDrive site. It would allow patrons to click on the title to place a hold. The patron was shown a message to contact their library to request they purchase another copy. Tammy contact our OverDrive rep to find out why the titles were still available. She was told the collection need to be weeded. Tammy, Alysa and Joyce are working on a document on how to weed the collection, and cancel holds. They will be meeting in July to go over the documentation. Alysa and Joyce will be weeding the collection in the future.