Business models for selection and acquisition of ebooks for Italian academic libraries. A comparison of three platforms (EBL, ebrary, EBSCO)

Abstract

In recent years, the spread of ebooks has grown exponentially. 24/7 availability, portability, the advanced tools offered by platforms make this product particularly interesting for academic libraries, which are in an experimental phase with regard to the selection and acquisition of ebooks. The article analyzes three platforms (EBL, Ebrary, EBSCO), to find out whether an Italian medium-sized university library can buy foreign titles in electronic rather than paper, and under what conditions. It provides information about titles catalog, business models, features available. The cut is practical/experimental, since the comparison among the platforms is based on a set, used as a representative sample, of 150 monographs, published in the last 5 years by different publishers and purchased on paper.