Final Summary Report July 1998

SPACER SPACER SPACER

SCOPE is administered by the Follett Implementation Group on Information Technology (FIGIT) and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee. SCOPE is an On-Demand Publishing project in the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLIb)

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Acknowledgements

In total, nearly one hundred rightsholders have participated in SCOPE, and our heartfelt thanks are also due to them. If they had not been prepared to explore electronic delivery with us, there would have been no project.

The support of booksellers has also been essential in distributing the coursepacks and providing feedback on sales patterns.

All in all, a large number of people have devoted a generous amount of time to advising and supporting SCOPE, and we are well aware that this was not always easy for them. We can only record our appreciation.

Preface

Key aims of the project were to demonstrate copyright clearance issues, as well as logistical and cultural matters relating to course reader publishing and online delivery. The University of Stirling (lead-site) housed a Copyright Unit which handled all negotiations with rightsholders, and was responsible for liaison with collaborating institutions, while the Technical Unit at Napier University digitised texts, developed the resource bank and was responsible for course pack production and online delivery.

Thirteen Scottish higher education institutions collaborated. They varied widely in size and character and flexible systems and services were designed which could be readily adapted to their individual needs. A further significant aspect of SCOPE lies in its 'real world' approach to negotiating terms with rightsholders and the involvement of booksellers.

This report summarises the findings of the project.

Introduction

In 1995 the University of Stirling won a grant to develop, in partnership with Napier University, an on-demand publishing service, which would benefit undergraduates throughout Scotland. Under the aegis of SCURL (Scottish Confederation of University Research Libraries), twelve Scottish Universities took part in the project, and one Higher Education college. The project was run by a team of five full-time staff, supported by a Technical Advisory Panel, a Copyright Advisory Panel, and the Project Board.

The project's main aim was to allow students better access to key reading materials. To this end, SCOPE developed an electronic resource bank of digitised book chapters and journal articles which lecturers selected as key reading for their courses. Lecturers could opt for their students either to purchase these materials as pre-published course packs, or browse the resource bank and print out their own selection of texts over their university's computer network.

In the three years of its existence, SCOPE has printed 2,300 course packs for students on 19 courses in 4 institutions, and made available 120 extracts online to 1,000 registered students on 11 courses in 4 institutions.

Throughout the term of the project, regular contact was maintained with all Consortium Member Institutions (CMIs) and regular meetings were held for representatives from these institutions. CMIs were:

Project milestones:

Autumn '95	First course pack published, with CLA and SCOPE clearance.
Spring '96	First SCOPE contract in use. First course pack published with licences or agreements negotiated by SCOPE.
Summer '97	Cactus (the SCOPE online delivery software) completed.
Autumn '97	Online delivery implemented.
Spring '98	Proposal accepted for national on-demand service.

The Final Summary Report should be read in conjunction with the Annual Reports and other documentation:

Project Outcomes

Model agreements

As at July 1998 the following figures were available:

SCOPE contracts signed

by publishers	41
by authors (or their agents or estate)	23
rightsholders' own agreements	30
Total collaborating rightsholders	94

Copyright fees charged by rightsholders were commonly based on a per page rate. The vast majority accepted SCOPEís preferred amount of 2.5p/per page; the highest usage rate was 6p/page. A few Rightsholders charged flat rates irrespective of usage, and one charged a one-off access fee, combined with a usage rate.

The time taken to clear materials depended entirely on how easy it was to trace the rightsholder concerned, and their attitude towards the project. However, by the end of the project, approximately 60% of a reading list could be cleared within 8 weeks.

Agreements for the direct supply of electronic texts

Networked resource bank

See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XII

The resource bank as a whole comprised:

• Documents produced in text-format through Optical Character Recognition (OCR): 225 text PDF files
  Total pages: 2866
  Largest file: 61 pages
• Documents produced in image-PDF format: 19 PDF files
  Total pages: 143
  Largest file: 37 pages
• Files produced from documents supplied in electronic form by Publisher: 71 text PDF files
  Total pages: 1483
• Largest file: 55 pages
• Total original document pages: 3880

Procedures for digitisation

See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XI

Identification of suitable software

See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XI

Development of delivery system

It was discovered that text files, although more expensive to produce, were preferable to image files. Image files proved to be too large to enable effective delivery over networked printers.

See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XI

User reaction

In addition, a collaborative study was undertaken by the University of Stirling, South Bank and Liverpool John Moores Universities¹

Development of commercial model

See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XIV
and The HERON Project

Stakeholders and their interests

See SCOPE User Satisfaction Surveys

Students

• when required:
  • both delivery of reading lists by academics and copyright clearance need streamlining to ensure prompt delivery of materials.
  • adequate access to computers with OD/ER facilities is essential.
    'We've been back a few times when there hasn't been a spare computer to take the stuff off.' (student)
    'PC access was too limited to use properly.' (student)

• in a user-friendly format:
  • good quality course pack production (especially binding) requires to be balanced with pack price.
  • the tangibility and convenience of a course pack is attractive.
    'All the text is in one handy booklet.' (student)
  • first year students are not always at ease with the technology required for online delivery, although once IT skills are acquired students seem enthusiastic.
    'I was nervous at first, going into the web. But after a couple of tries you get used to it and it's OK.' (student)
  • the interface of the online service plays an important part in building student confidence.

• at an affordable price:
  • student perceptions of 'affordable' vary greatly and are affected by factors other than the purely financial, e.g. lecturer recommendation, perceived relevance and alternative sources of material.
  • data for online delivery is scarce as no SCOPE institution was able to charge students for the service, due to internal technical problems, a reluctance within libraries to charge, and a lack of established cost-recovery procedures within institutions.

• added value through the option to search online text.
• opportunities for wider and in-depth reading.
  'It's not saying that you should only read this, it is just the pieces that are the most essential. So you know you read those and then get additional reading.' (student)
• better tutorial preparation and revision, due to increased access to materials.
  'exceptionally useful for examination preparation ... rapid and easy access to key passages.'
  'it focused students on the required reading for the course, especially in seminars, and probably helped them to gain more confidence in discussing complex issues. It also avoided their dependence on a particular text.' (lecturer)

Academic staff

• convenience of delivering course handouts bound into one pack.
  'We did not have to photocopy handouts, so the pack saved time and money for the department.' (lecturer)
• opportunity to combine commercial copyright and 'home-produced' materials in course-specific packages.
• opportunity to expose students to diverse viewpoints on a topic.
  'It provides a wide range of 'hard to get hold of' material, made available in a seamless anthology. It can provide a collection of the best material and could have a really great future.' (lecturer)

• improved tutorial participation, with better student access to preparatory material.
  'We were able to focus the tutorials on the specific material we wanted, instead of having to compromise.' (lecturer)
• integration of IT skills into academic courses.
  'SCOPE on-line makes a contribution to innovative IT based learning strategies for students.' (lecturer)

Spoonfeeding issues:

• anecdotal evidence suggests that academics in different subject areas may have different definitions of spoonfeeding - students on factual courses such as Engineering may receive more in the way of handouts than students on courses such as Sociology, where the students' own assessment and evaluation is a priority. Students, naturally enough, have a different perception and in questionnaire responses a number of them asked for lecture notes and handouts to be included in course packs!

• initial time required to integrate the service into course design was seen by lecturers as an investment for future years, despite the delays and difficulties to be expected with involvement in a pilot project.

• similar usage patterns to those of library materials were noted, in that:
• material which is essential to the course receives high usage;
• material equivalent to that in the library short loan collection - i.e. useful, but not all 'essential' - receives lower usage;
• general background reading material is likely to receive low usage.

• it proved too difficult to do a full overlap study. However, there was some evidence of overlap both within and between institutions.

• clarification of policy is needed on institutional copyright ownership.
• issues were raised of responsibility for quality control.
• potential was identified for income from sales outwith the originating institution.

Booksellers

Book sales:

• sales of course packs provide an income stream. Only three instances were recorded where SCOPE may have had an adverse effect on book sales. In both these cases, SCOPE was not the only contributing factor.
• involvement in SCOPE draws students into bookshops in search of course packs, and exposes them to other books at the same time.
• evaluation showed student book purchasing to be at a higher level than that reported by campus bookshops, which were the only outlets monitored by the project.
• online delivery might affect multiple-copy sales to libraries for new courses, but no data are available yet.

• during the project, booksellers took 10%, rather than the usual 25% discount, where packs contained mainly commercial copyright material. This helped to keep the price at what was perceived to be an affordable level. This was done on the premise that a high-volume, low-discount strategy would help maximise income. In addition, packs were supplied on a sale or return basis.

Library and information services

Benefits to users:

• increased access to materials.
  'It's good because you haven't got the Library [open] for 24 hours a day.' (student)
  You can do it at any time when the library is closed. It gives you a lot more freedom. (student)
  You know it will be there. Somebody hasn't taken it out and you are waiting for it to come back. And people haven't torn out the various odd page, preventing vandalism.' (student)

Savings:

• SCOPE, operating on a small scale across many institutions and lacking critical mass, did not have a significant impact on library collections and services during the lifetime of the project. 'Usage of the Short Loan Collection was less than would normally be expected, probably due to SCOPE usage.' (lecturer) However, a separate modelling exercise has shown that continued progress towards a larger scale operation holds the potential for libraries to make greater savings. Further details are available in The impact of On-Demand publishing and Electronic Reserve on students, teaching and libraries in Higher Education in the UK.²

• effective communication between the project and CMIs, and between academic, library and computer services departments within institutions is vital to the success of the service.

Authentication requirements:

• student data require to be delivered to SCOPE promptly and in a suitable format.
• late student registrations cause difficulties.
• ATHENS (a JISC funded authentication system) is not suitable, as it does not allow identification of individual users for billing purposes.

Payment:

• SCOPE acted as broker, paying copyright fees to rightsholders and recovering the cost from institutions.
• CMIs were required to make one payment to SCOPE per course, for materials used.
• the SCOPE system allowed CMIs to decide on the most appropriate method of recovering costs from students, if deemed appropriate.
• librarians need to budget in advance. Therefore pay-per-use is not appropriate unless costs can be passed on to students. At present there is no suitable infrastructure in place to do this.
• most CMIs did not have institutional policies on responsibility for payment for student texts (by students, libraries or departments).

Student training:

• time-tabled, hands-on tutorials on SCOPE resulted in high use of the service.
• lecture-theatre presentations on SCOPE were less effective.
• provision of user guides alone proved insufficient.
• training in IT skills and use of on-demand services as an integral part of teaching is seen as the best way to promote use by students.

  'It is intrinsically simple, but if people are a little bit worried, then a little introduction set in front of a computer screen would probably make it much more widely used.' (student)

Rightsholders

• where materials formed an integral part of course teaching, uptake was approximately 60%-80%. Use of recommended but optional reading was significantly less, but still substantial.
• off-campus access - evidence was established but SCOPE was unable to fulfil it due to security issues.
• distance learning - demand was expressed but SCOPE could not comply, due to territorial rights issues.
• online delivery - at present this depends on network capabilities and technical support within individual institutions. SCOPE raised institutional awareness of the issues involved.

Royalty income:

• a new income stream from sales of copyright materials for online delivery.
• an alternative, often additional, income stream from sales of copyright for course packs.

Book sales:

• although there was evidence of a drop in sales from previous years on some courses, this cannot be attributed solely to SCOPE. For example, reading lists do not always reach the bookshop in time.
• potential to increase book sales through students being drawn into bookshops in search of SCOPE course packs, and being exposed to other books at the same time.

Copyright clearance process:

• where clearance negotiation proves difficult and/or time-consuming, lecturers are forced to exclude items and use more easily cleared material.
• level of copyright fee influences the decision to use material. If copyright costs are too high, items are liable to be excluded and, in some instances, a cheaper item may be substituted.
  'There were one or two problems with the copyright clearance, but we were able to find substitutes easily.' (lecturer)

Security issues:

• The SCOPE delivery system was developed to reflect rightsholders' concerns about security of copyright material during online delivery. This imposes demands on institutions which may be barriers to implementation. It should also be noted that the higher the number of security levels, the less accessible the service becomes to the end user. This has a direct and potentially detrimental effect on uptake, and income to rightsholders from copyright fees.

  See Annual Report Year 3: Appendix XI

Approximate breakdown of the retail price of printed course packs:

• copyright: 50%
• production: 40%
• bookseller discount 10%

  (Note: SCOPE overheads not recovered)

Conditions for the successful implementation of OD/ER

• There is no doubt that copyright clearance procedures need to be streamlined. The ideal scenario would be a 'one-stop-shop' which would deal with all aspects of on-demand publishing, including clearance, obtaining a digitised copy, and delivering it.
  Agreement is needed on appropriate levels for copyright fees. There is currently a conflict between usage patterns in HEIs, and pricing structures imposed by rightsholders.
• The high level of security which is required by publishers is a barrier to use, not only in terms of installing the appropriate measures, but also in that the cost of doing so uses money which would otherwise be spent on materials. In order for these requirements to be relaxed, rightsholders require evidence that there is a culture of compliance with copyright requirements within HEIs.
• The costs involved in digitising and proofreading suggest that economies of scale could be achieved by having one centralised service whose costs would be shared amongst the users. Costs would have to be significantly reduced to make it viable for individual institutions to process a large amount of material.
• As ever, there is a 'chicken and egg' situation: users require a critical mass of high-demand, quality material available before they are willing to use a resource bank, and the resource bank requires users to request material in order to form the necessary critical mass.
• For OD/ER to be most effective, it must be integrated into teaching methods, and also have appropriate institutional support and IT infrastructure.

Potential for the future

There is great potential for OD/ER usage to develop and bring benefits to all stakeholders. Two of the most immediate potential developments are:

• direct provision of electronic text, in usable format, from rightsholders.
• opening up OD/ER to remote users and distance learners.
  'I think that it is a great idea, but you should also be able to get access to SCOPE through a computer at home.' (student)

Both of these would be of great benefit to those concerned, and encourage usage.

The future depends on all interested parties working together, and movement on this is evident in, amongst others, the Phase Three eLib projects (particularly HERON), the PA/JISC working parties, moves by the CLA to provide a licence for electronic copying, and the general increase in awareness amongst stakeholders for OD/ER. It is hoped that progress made will justify the general optimism which exists:
'the potential is much greater than the initial achievements.'; 'On the whole I think it is an excellent service, potentially.'; 'In principle it has many, many, many advantages.' (lecturers)

Footnotes

² The impact of On-Demand publishing and Electronic Reserve on students, teaching and libraries in Higher Education in the UK. ibid

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