Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2003 Volume 1 (1)

Public libraries: e-content

Value added facts

George Kerr describes the amazing database deal for Scotland's public libraries that SLIC has secured with left-over funding from the People's Network.

In Scotland, the national People's Network project, designed to provide all public libraries with a range of fast public terminals accessing the internet, has been part-managed by SLIC. As the project neared completion it became obvious that there was a residual amount of funding left over from the sum which had been made available to fund the infrastructure for the project.

A similar sum was left over in England and Wales, and there competitive bids were encouraged from public libraries for projects which would enhance the 'basic' provision. In Scotland it was thought that it would be more socially inclusive to spread the benefits of spending this residual sum (c £500,000) across all library authorities. SLIC persuaded the New Opportunities Fund (the funding authority) to allow the expenditure to be incurred to fund marketing for the new-look libraries, web enable public library catalogues and to seek a range of online subscription databases which could then be offered to library users right across the country.

This external funding might be the only opportunity which smaller library services would have to provide this sort of service. It would provide the opportunity to try to attract unit cost savings by negotiating a national consortium deal. In addition it would enable a test of the value of such products using the Scottish national access as a large 'test bed'.

A range of online subscription databases was selected by those libraries in Scotland who already had some experience with such products. All the companies were then asked if they were interested in the concept and in being involved in an assessment process. It was made clear to them that the available money could not fund subscriptions to all the products and that they should view their involvement in the project as a marketing opportunity. All the companies were asked to supply month long test logins which were to be supplied to all 32 Scottish Public Library services. They were invited to attend an 'Information Day' at Edinburgh University Library where they would all have the opportunity to demonstrate their products online to representatives from the 32 Scottish library services. Finally they were all asked to quote a price for provision of online access to public terminals in every Scottish public library based on a two-year deal. The quote was to indicate if there was a price variation depending on the number of simultaneous users and remote authenticated access. The quote was also to include the cost of staff training and product marketing. Of the 16 companies approached, 12 eventually decided to participate.

The Information Day was held in August after all library services had had about 4-5 weeks online access on a test basis. The day consisted of presentations about the potential of subscription databases for public library customers, followed by detailed demonstrations of the online products. The library service representatives examined the products critically, followed by a feedback session. All representatives were then asked to send a measured assessment to SLIC based on a 'score' (on a scale 1-6) for each product.

A decision had been taken earlier that, if funding allowed, one database from each of several different types (e.g. general information, online newspapers, company/management information) would be chosen. Pulling together the scored assessments, the wish to have a range of different types of database and the individual product prices, three options (which included slightly different mixes of the products, and the pros and cons of the mix) were then presented to a meeting of Scottish heads of library services in early September, and one of the options was then chosen. The whole process was designed to secure consensus across all 32 library services.

The favoured option included three products. Know UK; Newsbank (an option on any five chosen titles); and Kompass UK. Unsuccessful companies were contacted and assured that their 'failure' in no way represented any problem with the product but simply the fact that in a very competitive field they had assessed slightly lower than their competitors. At the information day all companies (most of whom already had existing Scottish customers) gave an assurance that, in the event of success, they would ensure pro-rata refunds on existing contracts. The unsuccessful companies were reminded of this since the refunds would release additional funding for some library services, who might wish to take this opportunity to extend their online subscription database provision.

National (or in larger countries regional) consortia arrangements of this type bring many benefits:

• Discounts of up to 40% compared with individually negotiated library deals, are possible.
• Smaller and less wealthy services are able to offer a range of services which might otherwise not be possible.
• The size of the deal also meant that invaluable add-on access provision, such as remote authenticated access, was included at no extra charge. This will be an invaluable extra social inclusion benefit available via the People's Network.
• The willingness of the successful companies to offer refunds to existing customers should mean that these libraries will be able to further extend the range of online databases available for customers at no extra cost.
• The willingness of all the companies involved to include significant staff training will be significant in maximising use of the new services.
• The willingness of the successful companies to contribute to the marketing of the new services will help to maximise use.
• Maximising use will be important in future assessment of the impact of the PN and thus a vital part of any future sustainability arguments put before funding organisations.

George Kerr is SLIC Consultant and formerly Customer Services Manager, West Lothian Council Library Service.

Information Scotland Vol. 1 (1) February 2003

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.