Interview With a Librarian: Bob Kelly of Eastern Michigan University

Bob Kelly is the Collection Development Librarian for Eastern Michigan University.

What prompted you to start the trial?

Dave’s enthusiasm about developing a more user friendly paradigm in eBook publishing piqued my interest at the 2010 Charleston Conference. EMU participated as an advisory board member so helped to influence the ultimate product design.

What prompted you to purchase it?

The title list was a good fit for EMU and its College of Business. Additionally the fact that we paid once and owned the titles without any restrictions really appealed to me in terms of having the content available to our community, truly 24-7 365.

What's your opinion on e-books in libraries today in general?

We purchased a large number of eBooks in early 2000, but after experiencing low use and the challenges with the interface, we decided to not purchase this format until it was more mature. Today we see the market finally beginning to settle on e-readers as a delivery device. So with that in mind we are looking for content portability that is device agnostic and has minimal drm restrictions. Most publishers are not there yet, but with Ebrary’s move to downloading content to an eBook reader, we are seeing publishers become more comfortable with the format. Perhaps learning from the experience of BEP, publishers/authors will be more open to making their content accessible.

Electronic books work really well for EMU's Business students, many of whom take classes while working full-time and raising families. Being able to provide immediate full text via a browser really helps. Electronic books are also ideal for online courses, so I try to purchase many titles in electronic form.

Why choose Business Expert Press?

BEP provides uncomplicated access that makes my job as a reference librarian easier. I really appreciate that students won't find access blocked when another student is using the book and the assignment is due the next day. Electronic books work really well for EMU's Business students, many of whom take classes while working full-time and raising families. Being able to provide immediate full text via a browser really helps. Electronic books are also ideal for online courses, so I try to purchase many titles in electronic form.