2016 Charleston Library Conference

Managing eBooks in the library catalog, as part of a package or on an individual title basis, involves a variety of purchase or subscription models, vendor platforms, and access rules. From the subject selector perspective, it can be challenging to identify when an eBook title is owned, leased, or simply loaded in the catalog awaiting a potential evidence based selection or demand driven acquisition when making collection development decisions. At Randall Library we have added information to certain fields in eBook catalog records in order to aid liaison librarians in selection decisions, but without confusing patrons. This process, which we also apply to streaming video records, helps to distinguish the different access and ownership status, whether it is an evidence based selection, demand driven acquisition, owned, a subscription from our institution, or a subscription from the statewide consortium NC LIVE.