Here’s news of a research project that might me be of interest to you and/or your colleagues. One thing is for sure, both timely and interesting.
From a JISC Announcement (Full-Text):
The JISC, working closely with the Publishers and Library/Learning Solutions (PALS) Metadata and Interoperability Group invites tenders to conduct a study to investigate the main drivers for patron-driven acquisition of e-books, and the implications for acquiring reliable and useful metadata.
The primary aim of the study is to:
- Understand the motivations for patron’s recommending or requesting the purchase of an e-book.
Additional aims include:
- Identification of the role metadata plays in the discovery, selection and acquisition process when it is primarily driven by the patron.
- Understanding the role metadata plays in the selection process of the patron, what might be termed ‘selection assisting metadata’.
- Understanding patron discovery behaviour (i.e. Google or Amazon).
- Availability of metadata.
- Exploring the problems such an approach has for libraries (for example, e-books purchased without library knowledge).
- Developing a number of recommendations for librarians, intermediaries and publishers
Total funding of up to £40,000 (including VAT, travel and subsistence) is available for this project.
The deadline for proposals is 12 noon UK time on Thursday 5 May 2011.
The successful bidder will be expected to start work on or around Tuesday 14 June 2011.
The deadline for submission of final deliverables is 13 September 2011.