During the period 23 January to 12 March the Library ran a pilot project offering a choice of 150,000 extra e-book records on Library Search.
Staff and students of Imperial College London were able to download these e-books for a fee paid by the Library. We wanted to make the process as seamless as possible and so the whole transaction was invisible to library users. 3 downloads of the same title automatically triggered a purchase.
During that period, a total of 2,149 items were loaned and 127 items were purchased by the Library. The faculty breakdown of these items is as follows:
E-book loans and purchases during trial
| Faculty | Loans | Purchased |
|---|---|---|
| Business | 130 | 7 |
| Engineering | 1067 | 61 |
| Medicine | 338 | 26 |
| Natural Sciences | 480 | 22 |
| NHS | 40 | 2 |
| Other | 59 | 8 |
| School of Professional Development | 35 | 1 |
All in all, the project was a great success. Judging from the titles loaned and purchased and range of staff, researchers and students who borrowed items, it was of benefit to the entire Library community.
The Library is now considering whether to adopt this new method of purchasing books as part of its collecting strategy.
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Reporter
Janet Corcoran
Library Services
Contact details
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 8867
Email: j.m.corcoran@imperial.ac.uk
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