Meeting Minutes for 12/10/2019

E-Content Committee Meeting
12/10/2019

Macmillan Update (Adam) 

• The proposal by the E-Content Committee for the $250 fee per library to fund a central pool that would be used to buy a consortial copy of Macmillan titles has been approved by the Board.
• Adam took this fee to the Board for approval to be added to the Marmot schedule of fees.
• Marmot will include that $250.00 fee on the invoices that will be sent in January. This fee will be on any invoice for any member library who participates in Marmot OverDrive. 
• This means that Alysa can start purchasing OC/OU Macmillan titles on January 1st.
• Any requests made in November or December will have to wait for January.  If the title is no longer embargoed, Alysa will contact the requesting library so they can decide if they want to purchase a leased title.
• Action Item: Alysa will reach out to Marmot to get the details on how they want her to handle it on the OverDrive site.  
• Action Item: Tammy will get in touch with Abbey at OverDrive to make sure the content credit is set up for Alysa to start purchasing.

 Flipster vs RBdigital Discussion (Adam & Liz)

• eMagazines: Flipster & RBDigital
• The origin of putting together the comparison was to help with the confusion about the pricing.
• This comparison is an attempt to wrangle the information that we have been provided.
• The “At a Glance” section 
  • This is a breakdown for the RBdigital spending from 2019, as well as projected spending for 2020 for all the Marmot libraries who could be part of RBdigital, which includes 2095 titles.
  • There is also a breakdown of the 2020 pricing for all the public libraries for 148 titles from the Flipster Voting Choices spreadsheet.
• The “Flipster Choices Voting Results” section
  • This is a break down of the unique and duplicate titles from the Flipster Voting Choices spreadsheet.
• The “Duplication Comparison” section
  • Shows a pie chart of the unique and duplicated Flipster titles.
  • Lists the 18 RBdigital canceled titles that are unique to Flipster, with cost information.
  • Lists the unique to Flipster titles that received the most votes from the 8 libraries who voted.  It only includes the titles that received 4 or more votes.
• The “Cost Comparisons” section
  • Shows RBdigital and Flipster pricing for the consortial cost, the number of titles, and the cost per title.
  • The cost for Flipster titles was divided by all the possible libraries (20 libraries) who could be part of Flipster, and not just by the 8 libraries who vote for the Flipster titles.
  • This section also includes pie charts for each consortial spending choice.
• The “Per Library Costs” section (Cost divided among all the libraries who could be part of Flipster)
  • Includes 2019 expenditures
  • RBdigital pricing for 2020 for all 2095 titles
  • Flipster pricing breakdown
  • All 148 selected titles
  • Unique titles
  • 14 most desired titles
  • RBdigital as quoted + Flipster unique titles
  • RBdigital as quoted + Flipster unique most desired 14 titles
• “Appendix A” lists all the unique to Flipster titles with the cost divided between all the libraries (20 libraries) who could be part of Flipster.
• “Appendix B” lists all the duplicated titles for Flipster with the number of votes with the cost divided between all the libraries (20 libraries) who could be part of Flipster.
• Straw Poll was done by chat for libraries to indicate if they wanted RBdigital only, Flipster only, or which RBdigital and Flipster combined models.  This is not a binding vote, but it is something we can take to the vendors and get firm pricing. 
• Adam hopes that by the time we have the January E-Content meeting that everything will be ready to be finalized, and that will be everyone’s final decision-making process. 

 Blackstone Audio Renewal (Liz & Tammy)

• Checkout Spreadsheet
  • The calculations were incorrect on the cost per circ on the individual titles.  That column has been corrected since the meeting.
  • Tantor Media as a possible replacement for Blackstone 
    • Liz suggested a possible switch of vendors from Blackstone to Tantor Media
    • However, Liz could not find 25 really desirable titles 
  • Liz asked if the group would like to keep Blackstone Audio or switch to Tantor
  • Most of the Blackstone Audio titles are popular with patrons which can be seen with the checkouts
  • Alysa asked if the titles were truly Blackstone Audio audiobooks, or are they redistributing them?
    • Alysa mentioned that Blackstone is only windowing libraries on their own authors, but they are not windowing libraries for everything else they distribute on behalf of others.
    • Looking at the Blackstone Audio titles through Marketplace showed that the titles were from Blackstone Audio publishing and some were also from Buck 50 Productions, LLC. 
  • Tallie asked if the titles are only good for one year.
    • Liz commented that the group pays annually, and you can keep the same titles from year to year, or swap them out.
    • Usually, we take the lowest circs and swap those out for other titles.
    • Liz commented that cost when split between all the libraries was just over $80 last year, which is not that expensive.
    • Tallie asked if we had the checkouts from 2018 to compare the checkouts for the titles for both years (Blackstone Audio 2018 checkouts).
  • The final titles for Blackstone Audio will be decided by a subcommittee
    • Liz stated that everyone is welcome to be part of the selecting team
    • Liz put out a call to anyone who is interested in joining the subcommittee to either email her, or the E-Content group, and we will include you when we make the virtual meeting for the selection of replacements for the 25 titles.
  • ​Tallie asked how to see the available Blackstone Audio titles
    • Liz replied that anyone who has access to the OverDrive Marketplace would log in to that site
    • Go to the Shop located at the top left of the page
    • Click on the drop-down for Simultaneous Use
    • Scroll down to the icon for Blackstone Audio under the Audiobook category
    • Click on the Blackstone Audio icon
    • You can use the filters on the left, or the sorting on the right 
    • Go to Ascending by drop-down sorter to limit by popularity or holds 
  • Action Item: Liz, Tallie, and Tammy (and maybe Shelley F) will have a meeting to decide the 25 Blackstone Audio Simultaneous Use titles.

Meeting Frequency Discussion (Liz)

• Liz would like to submit that the E-Content Committee has enough content to meet monthly instead of every other month.  
• Liz also proposed that we could skip a month when we do not have enough content for a meeting.
• No one at the meeting disagreed with changing the meeting frequency from every other month to monthly.

Other Topics

• More RBdigital Products
  • Adam let the group know that Mark Haley from Recorded Books has provided pricing for the RBdigital audiobooks program as well as their graphic novels program.
  • Adam mentioned that several individual libraries indicated that they are particularly interested in the graphic novel collection.
  • Adam is working internally on some useful data for both audiobooks and graphic novels that he can share in January to see if there is more interest in either of those two programs, especially as we near the February contract rollover with RBdigital.  
• OverDrive Sora for Marmot Library Schools or Marmot Public Library and Schools
  • Abbey from OverDrive contacted Tammy about a program that allows any Marmot school that is part of Boces to get free access to Sora. 
  • Any Marmot public library can also include any schools that are part of Boces to be part of the Marmot OverDrive collection using Sora.   
  • This can be discussed and demoed at a future E-Content Committee meeting.  

Next meeting is on January 14 at 1 p.m.