Changing the face of scholarly information provision: A case study of developing and launching JISC eCollections

Abstract

The primary role of JISC Collections is the licensing of content on behalf of its UK higher and further education member organizations. Affordable pricing and flexible terms and conditions of use, enabling content to be used to support teaching, learning and research, are central to negotiations. In 2011, JISC Collections launched JISC eCollections (www.jiscecollections.ac.uk), a community-owned content service developed to protect and preserve existing content investments by offering an alternative to commercial providers. It brings access fees within the control of the community, in terms of ring-fenced reinvestment and moderation of increases. A completely new venture for JISC Collections, the rationale behind the service's development and some of the challenges overcome in creating three new content platforms are presented in this case study. These included discovering and addressing gaps in content, rationalizing metadata, bringing lots of licences together under one model, anticipating and meeting the needs of multiple audiences (but delivering a simple overall interface) and developing an appropriate business model. © Caren Milloy.