What Provision of Accessible Digital Books do French Academic Libraries Make?
Summary I. The example of the Pierre et Marie Curie University Library (BUPMC) Camille Dégez-Selves, BUPMC II. Consortium : a way to unlock provision of accessible ebooks? Sébastien Respingue-Perrin, Couperin
2 «sections» : sciences and medicine Over 31 000 students including about 3000 PhD. 16 libraries, 8 sites in Paris The BUPMC Budget 2013 : 3.3 millions (without staff) 85 % for documentation resources 2 millions for electronic resources
Students with disabilities at the In 2012-2013: 370 students registered with the Office of Student Disability Services 80 % undergraduate Mainly mental disability and visceral disease Visual impairment : 9% UPMC source: Office of Student Disability Services UPMC
Electronic resources at the UPMC PRINT ONLINE 320 000 book titles (480 000 items) 12 700 serials 196 000 loans 18 000 e-books / 26 providers 18 000 electronic serials 1 432 000 downloads of articles, 116 000 downloads of chapters
Electronic resources at the UPMC Mainly serials, research level, in English, foreign publishers and suppliers E-books: a small proportion of the catalogue but steadily increasing (1000 new e-books purchased per year) No specialized service providing adapted e-books (only for course and exam materials)
Use of e-books at the UPMC The reasons of this low utilization rates are : availability of e-books unknown to students the modalities of access the modalities of acquisition The use increases through the efforts of the BUPMC : increased visibility evolution of academic reading practices
How accessible are actually the UPMC e-books? A study in 2013 about the accessibily of the UPMC electronic resources AcceSciTech project, partnership between Braillenet and the BUPMC Tests following the method presented by the W3C in the document "Easy Checks - First Review of Web Accessibility" Tests focused on user interface and format of e-books
Aspects of accessibility of e-books The accessibility of e-books depends on : the BUPMC website (CMS : Ametys), the BUPMC OPAC (Symphony), the A to Z list of e-books, the publisher/aggregator platform, the access modalities, the format of e-books This situation is never static!
Main results of the study User interface : a highly variable compliance with the W3C criteria E-books poorly accessible for the visually impaired : File format : mainly PDF Sometimes format «plain text» of poor quality Download of documents into «protected EPUB» legible only with Adobe Digital Edition software Rarely: direct reading on the website in HTML An obvious gain for students who cannot easily go to the library because of a physical, mental, hearing, or even to a lesser extent, visual disability.
Achievements and projects of the BUPMC Technical aids and devices Development of the supply of e-books in French, at bachelors' degree level, with funding from partner companies of the UPMC Continuation of the AcceSciTech project with Braillenet, in order to produce accessible scientific e-books
CONSORTIUM : A WAY TO UNLOCK THE EBOOK OFFERINGS?
Who are we? Couperin The Couperin consortium is a network connecting all French academic and research institutions. It includes more than 200 members : It evaluates, negotiates and organises the purchase of electronic library resources (100 resources negotiated in 2013) It promotes a national policy of acquisition of scientific archives It works on improving scientific communication through the development of open archives The ebooks Team It is in charge of : watching over the developments of the ebooks market keeping a technical and juridical expertise for libraries.
What are the reasons of the lack of commercial adapted ebooks? French legal framework The current legal scheme allows reproduction depending on agreements granted by the French Minister of Culture. Trusted associations will do the job! Commercial reasons There is no strong demand for adapted device. Adapted ebooks are enriched ebooks : how to adapt the sound, text, pictures, movies? These could be very complex projects The publishing sectors of adaptation works could be in a dead-end, squeezed between the enriched book and the audiobook markets
Is it worthwhile to negociate dedicated clauses? Taking into account specificities of academic resources Variety of academic materials : data, grey literature, rare resources Academic usage requires enriched services, such as notes and cross-references Reading usage in academic market are not the same as for public market: search engine, knowledge bases Specific needs mean specific answers Compensating legal framework shortcomings Resorting to contractual agreements to better offers What will then happen with the «Out-of-sale and orphan law»?
Technical problems, DRMs : how do people access to academic material? Ebook offerings in English Ebook offerings in French CONCLUSION : most ebooks are accessible only in streaming! How to manage adaptation?
And now? A few propositions Using stipulations during negotiations A labellisation could be granted by Couperin to providers delivering EPUB 3.0 or DAISY files Adding dedicated clauses in public procurements Working with providers to promote true interoperable systems and files DRMs work as a brake : publish in Open access! Seminars have been organized by both Couperin and the JISC on «Monographs and Open Access» No more copyright troubles Adding a clause allowing adaptation for all materials contained by a database. No more copyright trouble Couperin has integrated this clause in its standard license. Now in the «10 commandements» of the ebook team?
Conclusion DRMs free/free DRMs? Open Access development Better discussion with providers Better service for patrons Convenient format and technical improvements Compensated legal framework shortcomings Juridical securisation Adaptation could be a chance for academic libraries to improve the ebook market!