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Objectives of the pilot project

In 2014, FinELib project E-textbooks for Finnish higher education are:

• More Finnish e-textbooks available
• Good usability of ebooks, for both end users and the library acquisition management
• Lisensing models which take into account the high usage peaks of e-textbooks
• Finnish publishers more aware of the needs of libraries regarding e-(text)books

consortium launched a project aimed at increasing the availability of Finnish e-books at institutes of higher education using pricing models suitable for libraries. The e-textbook project surveyed the libraries’ need for e-book licenses, assessed the ability of publishers and platform providers to provide such licenses, and gathered information on students’ and teachers’ experiences of using e-books. In addition, licensing models were piloted to address the shortage of textbooks by providing several users with simultaneous access to e-books.

Participants included Project started in January 2014, and the pilot phase is active during August 2015 - July 2016. The project is organized by The National Library of Finland and FinELib consortium, and participants include higher education libraries (both universities and universities of applied sciences), publishers Edita Publishing, Gaudeamus Helsinki University Press, PS-kustannus,and Vastapaino, together with ebook platform provider Ellibs .

Project includes 250 book titles, which are available for the participating libraries to purchase with two different pricing models.

• Simultaneous users
  • Packages: 3/5/20/50 simultaneous users
  • Valid for 6/12 months
  • Each library decides the length of their loan period
  • Patrons can make reservations
• Loan tokens
  • Packages: 25/50/100/200/400 loan tokens
  • Validfor max. one year from purchase
  • Loan period pre-determined as 7 days
  • 10 min preview (not counted as loan)
  • No reservations necessary

Ltd. The project was organized by the National Library of Finland.

During the one year pilot in the 2015–2016 academic year, two licensing models were tested: simultaneous user licenses and loan token packages. National Library also collected We are collecting e-book experiences from HE students and teachers with two surveys, which are open until the end of May.

• E-books supporting studies – a survey for students
• E-books supporting teaching – a survey for teachers

The project report will be published in autumn 2016. We hope that the experiences will benefit all, with more publishers selling e-books to libraries, with models that work for all parties.

Further information

Licensing models for e-textbooks in Finland. Presentation at Nordic E-book conference, 2.10.2015, Copenhagen, and SLiC eBooks Conference, 9.10.2015, Glasgow.

in 2016.

Primary results

• Institutes of higher education gained access to more Finnish e-textbooks
• E-book licensing models suitable for textbooks were developed
• The usability of e-books was improved
• Finnish publishers’ awareness of e-books increased

Summary report (2017)

E-book Survey for Higher Education Students and Teachers in Finland (2016)

Additional information

Paula Mikkonen, National Library of Finland,  paula.mikkonen (at) helsinki.fi

FinELib office: [email protected] FinELib office: finelib (at) helsinki.fi