2019 Charleston Library Conference

Evidence-Based Acquisition (EBA) models have grown in popularity in recent years. In the United States and Canada alone, adoption of Cambridge University Press’s EBA program increased almost 40% last year, from 38 participating libraries in 2017 to 52 in 2018.

While this growth is exciting, in order to ensure the sustainability of the model, Cambridge is seeking to better understand why libraries incorporate EBA into their collection development strategies. Once adopted, do libraries consider an EBA program to be an essential, renewable line-item in their budget? A one-off means of acquiring resources to meet an immediate need? Or something completely different? On the flip side, some libraries are questioning whether EBA is an economical acquisition model in the long-term.

In this session you will hear why three ARL and CARL member libraries – McGill University, University of British Columbia, and University of Calgary – have either chosen to integrate EBA programs into their long-term collection development strategies, or have opted to avoid them altogether. They will share their perspectives on EBA and address issues surrounding collection budgets, patron access and discovery, and efficiency. Through analysis of usage patterns within EBAs and large, perpetual-access collections, the librarians will examine the cost-effectiveness of the program from a variety of publishers over a multi-year period, while engaging in more intangible questions such as: How do you know you’ve purchased what you need? And, is there a saturation point where you’ve bought all the relevant resources from a publisher?

This session lifts the veil on the decision-making processes of three medical/doctoral university libraries, and interrogates whether the EBA model is a sustainable method for ebook acquisition. It will be relevant to a range of librarians – from those considering their first EBA to those currently juggling multiple programs on various platforms – and any publisher who has ever wondered, “Will they renew?”