Survey of Statewide Cooperative E-Book Purchasing Models

E-content and e-books in particular are becoming an essential part of every public library’s collection. This is true despite the hurdles to acquiring and providing access to it. To address barriers related to cost, libraries in many states have adopted cooperative purchasing models that reduce the cost of e-books for member libraries. For my project, I have been asked by the New Jersey State Library to conduct research on the state of cooperative e-book purchasing and to identify successful models. In doing so, I have researched cooperative e-book models and licensing and have interviewed library staff from various state consortia who have implemented successful cooperative e-book purchasing models. The result of my project is a white paper which summarizes the current state of cooperative e-book purchasing and identifies four successful models for the purpose of helping to inform the state of New Jersey about how they may implement their own cooperative e-book purchasing model.