Hello and welcome to the EBSCO eBooks Collection Quick Bites series.

In this series of short videos, you will learn about the EBSCO eBooks Collection Development Team and find out more about some of the projects that we've been working on.

In this video, we will be discussing the value of DRM-free content and available DRM-free collections on EBSCO.

My name is Megan Cotter and I am one of four librarians on the collection development team. Before coming to EBSCO I primarily worked in academic libraries.

On the collection development team, we each work across all subject areas, but my area of expertise is primarily in the academic market. I also focus on conducting regular analysis of content to ensure that our collection offerings are of utmost value and meet the needs of customers.

DRM-free content, or content without the restriction of digital rights management, is rapidly growing in popularity for libraries. For EBSCO, DRM-free e-books are delivered to users without restrictions on printing, copying, downloading or saving and without the need to sign in or authenticate with additional software. DRM-free functionality is currently only available for titles in the unlimited user model.

It is becoming increasingly important for libraries to acquire content with consistent standards that enable, not restrict, reading across devices and technology platforms. Some libraries consider DRM-free to be an aspect of accessibility. Portability is a critical element of student use. If a user cannot quickly and easily access a title across devices, they are prone to become frustrated with the limitations and not use the content at all. DRM protection limits the portability of titles and prevents communal learning experiences and the transfer of ideas.

DRM-free provides patrons with the closest user experience to a print book. EBSCO currently has over 380,000 DRM-free e-books available on our platform from a variety of publishers. The collection development team has made it easier for libraries to find and purchase DRM-free content by offering a multitude of e-book collections featuring hand-picked titles. These collections are updated monthly or quarterly and can be found on both EBSCOhost Collection Manager and GOBI.

We currently offer two types of DRM-free collections: some that are heavily curated by the collection development librarians and some that are cumulative and offer every DRM-free title from the last three years. Here is a list of some of the most popular ones.

Our featured collections contain high value DRM-free e-books for an academic audience, from introductory undergraduates to grad students.

DRM-free has been adopted by many high-quality publishers, and the list continues to grow. Here are just a few of the most popular publishers available on EBSCO and GOBI that offer a high number of DRM-free e-books in their catalogs.

Our collection development team is always working with publishers to expand their DRM-free offerings and encourage their continued investment in the DRM-free model.

EBSCO also includes a number of DRM-free titles in each of our subscription products. Each member of our collection development team is individually responsible for the curation and maintenance of several EBSCO subscription products specific to each of our subject areas of expertise.

Our collection development librarians add new titles to each subscription collection quarterly in January, March, June and September. DRM-free titles are activated in subscriptions 2 to 3 weeks after the subscriptions update. During the selection process for our subscription titles, we consider a number of metrics to ensure that we are adding high-quality titles to our products. We give careful consideration to titles that are available in the DRM-free model in subscription collections.

This is a list of popular publishers who have included some of their titles in the DRM-free model in subscription products. Here's a snapshot of the best selling frontlist DRM-free e-books from January 2023. This list is always changing due to the inflow of exciting new content and shifting trends in collection development. Because we work with so many publisher partners and can look at sales data from a huge swath of institutions, I always find our sales data really interesting, and I hope you will too.

There are a variety of ways to stay informed about all of our new e-book collections. Please check out the companion info sheet to this presentation for links to EBSCO resources.

Thank you for your time and I hope you've enjoyed this session of EBSCO eBooks Collection Quick Bites.