Meeting Minutes for 02.28.2024

eResource Committee Meeting
02/24/2024

Changes to the Committee Name (MLN1 & MLN2) - Tammy

• The committee has been renamed the eResource Committee

Future eResources Position Discussion (MLN1 & MLN2) - Adam

• During the Marmot Council meeting in 2023 there was discussion about trends in OverDrive purchasing that are concerning making sure that we grow what is sharable across the consortium in OverDrive.
• This position would help take on some of the work that Adam and Tammy put into licensing, maintenance of the shared eResources, and negotiating collaboratively for Marmot libraries. For example, Marmot added LinkedIn Learning after the Vendor Demo Days and libraries to the Washington Post; these are new and growing areas of eResource negotiation that Adam and Tammy take on in their spare time. 
• If Marmot is serious about expanding the number of eResources, Marmot could negotiate on behalf of members in a consortial arrangement; the time has come for us to have an eResources librarian position.    
• Adam will talk to the directors at Marmot Council in June about a funding question to see if they are willing to support this new position.
• Adam asked for feedback about splitting the person’s time between eResource management and eResource statistics. As much as this person would be involved in helping grow the shared OverDrive collection and the quantity and quality of licensed content that Marmot negotiates. This person would also be responsible for eResource statistics for the members. Adam envisions this person as responsible for all eResource statistics, not just those negotiated and licensed through Marmot. This person would work with each vendor where members purchase content along with the Alliance and CLiC to gain access to the accounts Marmot would need to pull eResource usage data. A person in this position would build a data warehouse with eResource stats for the members so that we can work with Brandon and his familiarity with Tableau and start generating some prepared reports and prepared data pulls that libraries can consult to review trending usage and stats. We know that libraries spend a lot of time manually gathering that data.  

Feedback, Comments, or Questions

• Montrose would absolutely LOVE that kind of access to e-resource statistics
• A library commented that they do their statistics, so they do not see any reason for the position.
• Someone commented that they would see value in growing the Marmot-owned OverDrive titles, especially cutting down on the hold list for Marmot patrons.
• CCU asked do you think this will be more beneficial for the public libraries vs. academics.  Do you believe that the cost of a new staff will be offset (in part) by better deals with eBook vendors? What kind of cost increase do you foresee for Marmot Libraries to fund the position?
  • Adam replied that, to some extent, this gets back to the question about the capacity of Adam and Tammy to negotiate content. Adam mentioned that he struggles to find the time to find beneficial academic vendors. Also, Adam struggles to stay on top of contracts and billing. Adam hopes that this position could take on these responsibilities and grow it.
  • Better deals with eBook vendors would offset the cost of the new staff. This position could help academics with one-time eBook purchases for academic content for vendors like EBSCO. 
  • Marmot is working on a new fee or income structure to address current fees that do not match transparently with their expenses. The fees are currently built around Sierra and do not lend to changing if we move to a different ILS. One of the big goals is to get rid of barrier fees like staff sessions that are incredibly expensive and almost every library is doing with fewer staff sessions than they need because of the cost.  Marmot will show directors at Council expense scenarios and the cost of adding this position. 
• Buena Vista asked what budget this position would use to grow the resources. 
  • Adam replied that is something he would like the position to take on in their first year. This person would need to put together a funding model with Marmot pulling in some essential money from the members expressly to purchase electronic resources for the consortium. 
  • In addition, Adam anticipates that the person in this position would work with this committee to create a collection development policy so that whatever money is being pulled in centrally to purchase group materials, we are following the collection development prioritization that this committee helps to create.  
• Buena Vista commented that currently with Advantage sharing, the libraries who purchased the copy will get priority. However, with centralized purchasing, where does the priority go? 
  • Adam replied that is where the collection development policy would come into play. We would put some money towards holds management, and this group could help target growth areas.              
• Western commented that, in all honesty, OverDrive acquisition has not been a major priority for Western. While they could see value in that position for the consortia, Western would likely be a small part of that at best.
• Grand commented that they are interested in having Marmot pull data for the State Report
• Pitkin commented that they think access to eresource stats through Marmot would be a help
• Bemis commented that they are always happy when we can get discounts via Marmot on databases and other eResources. They appreciate that help. In addition, Bemis commented that they could also see this position helping to manage Libby-based Marmot-wide reading challenges and think this position could help make sure the curation page is as dynamic as possible.
• Vail commented that they love it when Marmot can put together discounts for member libraries vis-à-vis eresources.
• Ashley from Marmot asked how do you see this position interacting with CLiC since they have someone who essentially does the same kind of work but for all Colorado libraries.
  • Adam replied that this position would interact with CLiC to some extent.  Our goal for eResources is to pick content that slips between the cracks of CLiC and the Alliance. We have academic libraries that cannot afford to be part of the Alliance, and we have public libraries that CLiC is not quite the right fit for them.  Marmot is always mindful of what CLiC already has licensed. If there is something that libraries are interested in that CLiC already has a good licensing model, we always direct them to CLiC.  The goal would not be to take away any ordering that libraries do on their own. Adam thinks it would be an opportunity to help manage holds and make smarter decisions about Notify Me in OverDrive.     

OverDrive Collection Management and Reporting Training - Lisa Solko

• Here is the recording from the training and discussion
• OverDrive Collection Management Reporting slides
• OverDrive Hold-to-Item Ratio Instructions

Other Business

• Newsbank Interest for July 1, 2024 - June 2025, with three months free starting in April
  • Access World News Research & the Life in America Series has just been released
  • Fill out the Interest Survey to learn more about pricing.
• Lucky Day Reduced Loan Period Survey (MLN1)
  • Survey results favor keeping the 21-day loan period
• OverDrive Blackstone Audio, Duke Classic, and Magazines (MLN1) 
  • You can find the list of magazines and a list of the Blackstone Audio and Duke Classic Audiobooks on the committee homepage.
  • You can find the magazines, the Blackstone Audio & Duke Classic Always Available, and the Duke Classic eBooks on the Marmot OverDrive site. 

The next meeting is on Wednesday, June 05, at 10:00 a.m.