Learning & Skills Council and JISC Collections Consultation for the purchase of E-books for FE Colleges
Response required by 25 June 2008
Background
For the last five years the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) has substantially invested in infrastructure, support, staff training and content to encourage the use of technology in learning. This has been highly successful and has enhanced the learning experience for many students and improved retention and success rates in the sector. The Council is now looking to build on the programme and in partnership with JISC Collections is considering an investment in e-books for FE Colleges. This follows a highly successful project in HE institutions where 176 institutions are participating in a national E-books observatory project and are receiving free access to 36 textbooks online.
The demand for e-books has been expressed already by some FE Colleges to help them cater for their diverse audiences and meet accessibility requirements through the delivery of e-books.
Proposal
A joint LSC and JISC Collections initiative that would provide the FE community with the following:
- An e-books platform (server) that would host a core collection of e-books for the FE community and provide search and access functionality. It is proposed that the platform is procured through an EU tender procurement process to ensure that it meets functionality suitable for the needs of the community. Emphasis would be placed on developments allowing access by mobile technologies
- The criteria for the core collection of e-books would be agreed with a steering group made up of representatives from the LSC and the FE community
- The FE community would help in the evaluation and selection of the e-books submitted
- The Council’s priority areas for the books are level 2 and 3 vocational subjects as part of our employability agenda
- The books would be licensed in perpetuity for the FE community
Funding
The Council is proposing to fund the cost of the e-books platform for two and a half years and the initial costs for the first collection of e-books. This means that access to the initial collection of e-books will be free to FE Colleges and that they will have access to those books in perpetuity.
JISC Collections would also prepare a framework agreement. This would enable FE Colleges to select and license additional e-books (at their own cost). These e-books would be available on the same e-books platform and would be cross searchable with the core collection. Thus building on the core collection each college would be able to build a critical mass of e-books to meet the needs of its particular learners and teaching staff.
JISC Collections would ensure that the list of additional e-books are of relevance to the FE community, provided on the same license terms as the core collection and priced at a level to ensure their affordability by the FE community.
Ongoing service
As part of the offer JISC Collections would organise and take road shows around the country in order to raise awareness of the resource.
This would help colleges understand the functionality of the e-books platform and how to embed them in their resources. The roadshows would additionally provide a forum for members of the community to discuss e-books in the context of FE. The results of these forums would be fed back to the publishers to further inform the development of e-books both in terms of content and functionality.
Consultation
We would very much appreciate your views on this initiative before we make this significant investment so could you please take 5 minutes to complete the consultation form, which can be found at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/fe_ebooks/.