Publishers that distribute e-books to libraries under subscription in addition to other models will receive the most value, according to ebrary which is owned by ProQuest. Wiley along with over 50 newly signed publishers such as American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Leuven University Press, and University of Illinois Press will distribute e-books in Academic Complete as well as other models including perpetual archive, patron driven acquisition, and short-term loan. Academic Complete subscribers will soon benefit from an expanding selection of more than 75,000 quality e-books – including 1,800 new titles from Wiley – from over 500 participating publishers.

Distributing certain types of e-books like backlist titles via Academic Complete is advantageous in that publishers can participate in ebrary’s new approach to e-book acquisition and distribution. This approach includes working with libraries to leverage Academic Complete subscription usage statistics by discipline to determine where to strategically apply additional budgets to other acquisition models. It also involves streamlining and automating the ordering process through book vendors such as YBP.

Academic Complete was the industry’s first e-book subscription product and has been serving as a foundational collection to thousands of libraries across the globe for almost ten years.

Carole Correa-Morris, Head of Acquisitions at San Jose State University in an ebrary press release issued April 10 said that, “…We have been examining our Academic Complete usage statistics to strategically expand our patron driven acquisition program. By focusing on higher use subjects, we can better determine which titles to add to our consideration pool and only purchase those that are used.”

Kevin Sayar, President and General Manager of ebrary claims that by, “utilizing a variety of models including subscription, publishers can more fully monetize their monographic content, and libraries can affordably acquire the e-books researchers require.”

According to one of ebrary’s PowerPoints, U.S. e-book sales are expected to exceed more than $3 billion by 2015 and they are the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry. By 2015, public libraries are expected to increase their spending on e-books by 296%.

Hopefully these strategies will help public libraries keep up with the shift from print to e-books and save patrons a considerable amount of money.