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OCLC Purchase of netLibrary Approved;
BCR Public Library Collection Moves Forward

By James Speed Hensinger

NetLibrary has been acquired by OCLC. BCR has been assured that the netLibrary financial situation has stabilized, and we can now go forward with the organization of the BCR netLibrary e-book Public Library Shared Collection purchase.

The BCR netLibrary Public Library e-book collection is focused on the ready reference needs of public libraries. However, the K-12 school and academic communities have shown extensive interest in participating since a ready reference collection is useful to all libraries.

The initial Public Library Shared Collection will be purchased from netLibrary (assuming the commitments have been received) before March 31 to avoid a substantial price increase. We have about 4/5ths of the library commitments needed already.

If you are interested in having your library participate, please sign-up as soon as possible. Funds from additional participating libraries will be used to expand the collection at no additional cost to the libraries already on board.

The title list (with a collection analysis) is posted on the BCR Web site at: www.bcr.org/~ids/Reference/Netlibrary/NL-PL-Titlelist.html The initial title list is 3,431 titles (all nonfiction). The cost of participating varies by the size of the patron population served.

     Public Library Population Contribution
     1 - 10,000 $700 (about 2 percent of list price)
     10,001 - 25,000 $1,200
     25,001 - 50,000 $2,700
     50,001 - 100,000 $5,000
     100,001 - 200,000 $7,200
     200,001 - 400,000 $15,000
     400,001+ $25,000 (about 18 percent of list price)
     K-12 School Student FTE (grades 6-12) Contribution
     1 - 500 $500
     501 - 1,000 $1,057
     1,001 - 1,500 $2,112
     1,501 - 2,000 $3,167
     2,001 - 2,500 $4,222
     2,501+ $5,275
     Academic Student FTE Contribution
     1 - 2,500 $2,700
     2,501 - 5,000 $4,500
     5,001 - 10,000 $7,200
     10,001 - 20,000 $13,500
     20,001+ $18,000

A free trial with access to the entire netLibrary collection continues to be available through March 15. Sign-up at: www.bcr.org/~ids/Reference/Netlibrary/NL-PL-Trial.html. For more information, the sign-up form, access to the free trial, etc., browse to BCR's netLibrary Web page.

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February 27, 2008
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