Springer and PCG Publish White Paper About Scholarly E-books, Libraries, and RoI

From Springer’s Release About the White Paper:

A new white paper recently released by Springer, in partnership with Publishers Communication Group (PCG), entitled Scholarly eBooks: Understanding the Return on Investment for Libraries, explores how libraries might determine the value of eBooks, and why it is important to do so. The paper provides a broad view of the current state of eBook valuation, the implications of this measurement for the library community and the challenges that face those who are tracking these metrics.

While return on investment (RoI) for library resources may seem to be a simple question of money in vs. money out, the real difficulty in determining this value lies in the need to consider a number of factors, including savings in staff time, ease of access to eBooks, the effect on research and the space saved in the physical libraries. However challenging, the paper insists that it is still critical to determine eBook RoI as it could have profound effects on libraries where the allocation and prioritization of resources is concerned. The piece also states that it is important for librarians to stay up-to-date on developments from new and ongoing research into the value of eBooks. These studies provide support to librarians when challenged over how libraries contribute to a university, its students, researchers and reputations.

Direct to Full Text (10 pages; PDF)