eReolen – the Danish, national

e-lending platform

Mikkel Christoffersen, senior adviser

Copenhagen Libraries and ”eReolen”

Copenhagen, January 18, 2018

Mikkel is:• National project manager

• Lending and business model architect

• Leads the negotiating team

• Chairman of NAPLE’s expert group on e-lending

• EU TAIEX recognised e-lending expert

• So there!

What is eReolen?• eReolen is the Danish public libraries’ joint

ebook and digital audiobook service

• It’s an association with all Danish public libraries as members, an organisation withlots of paid and voluntary employees, and a web site and Android and iOS apps

• 28.000 ebooks and 7.500 digital audio booksare available and increases daily

• 2,9 mn loans in 2017 from 600+ publishers

eReoleneReolen GlobaleReolen GO!

Setup

Publisher Datawell

Selection OPAC eReolen

Publizon

Stores & streaming

National Bibliography

An offer tolibraries

Publishers’ jointlyowned portal

Librarians’ committee

Basic business model• For every loan, libraries are charged a fee to

publizon and to eReolen (€0,30/€0,30)

• eReolens fees are used to buy free time from library employees like me and to do projects and to finance development suchas web site, apps etc.

• Publishers, Publizon and eReolen enter intoa three-way contract complex

The association ”eReolen”

Board

Editorialgroup

Support Selection

Project coordination Negotiation

team

General assembly

Lending models1. One-copy one-user (license): We have four

loans per license. Purchase and management is national as are the reservation queues.

2. One-copy multiple-users (click): The breadand butter of our platform (or used to be). Fixed prices based on age or length of audio book and there are local restrictions.

3. Free-for-all (suscription): We pay once for all or part of a publisher’s catalogue. Then’s it’sfree except for the fee.

Prices• Transaction fee for all loans: €0.30 to

eReolen, €0.30 to Publizon

• Licenses: Retail price for 4 loans. E.g. a license is €12; each loan is €3 + fee.

• Click: ebooks have fixed priced based onage: €1,40 - €2,00. Audiobooks have fixedprice based on length: €1,21 – €2,55

• Subscription: Based on an estimate. Scarystuff! Lots of money involved.

Models in a book’s lifecycle

Demand

Time

License

Click

Subscription

Local restrictions

• Libraries have an administration hub to put in local restrictions; money spent, number of simultaneous loans etc.

• The system checks local user data and permissions when the user logs in

Traditional use of models

The effect of 1C1U

Explicit models

2016: a new world• In 2015 Lindhardt & Ringhof and Gyldendal

the two biggest publishers got into a fight

• In 2016 Gyldendal dropped out of eReolen again, but L&R stayed on and in 2017 theyconverted all their titles into free-for-allbased on a three-year-contract

• This changed the dynamic on and offeReolen dramatically

New use of models

Integration w. social media

Audiobooks is the new black• Audiobooks have risen over the years

without much PR from us

• They draw in new user groups like youngmen

• Believed to be a ”medium of the time” and related to podcasts

• The real beneficiary of digitisation

• But is it reading? Cognitively? Legally?

2017: interesting numbers

Ebooks:

21.000 titles

1,1 mn. loans

256.000 users

Audiobooks:

7.000 titles

1.8 mn. Loans

247.000 users

Total:

28.000 titles

2.9 mn loans

366.000 users

In 2014 publishers wouldn’t let us have their ebooks but beggedus to create activity for the audiobooks that only librarieswanted and were able to move. Now it’s completely reversed!

Other interesting numbers

Publisher revenueon ebooks in 2017:

€1,7 mn

Average per title:

€1,54

Publisher revenue onaudiobooks in 2017:

€3,3 mn

Average per title:

€1,88

The debate

2011: eReolen is opened with 4.500 ebooks. All are 1CMU. Audiobooks is its own service.

2012: Big publishers wihdraw from eReolen (but not for audiobooks) citing too muchactivity for the bestsellers and declining sales. 4.500 –> 1.500 ebooks.

2013: Big publishers open their own service (EBIB) based on 1C1U. Central libraries buyinto it, but user reactions are bad.

The debate

2014: eReolen is surprisingly thriving withsmall publishers, but not flourishing. EBIB shuts down and reunification talks starts

2015: All publishers return and the Compromise Model is born: 6 months of 1C1U the 1CMU + permanent 1C1U for some. Audiobooks merge with ebooks in one service.

2016: The big publishers pull out again evenwith their audiobooks citing too much activityand hurting new streaming services

Publishers’ points• eReolen makes people

think literature is free

• eReolen exhaustspeople’s reading needsso there’s no buy in them

• eReolen should not focuson new, popularliterature, because thenit won’t sell

• eReolen should not have genre literature

• eReolen should not focus onolder, less popularliterature, because then the new titles won’t sell

• It needs to be difficult and user-unfriendly to get to literature and use eReolen

• Ebooks is a new, fragile market and needsprotection

• eReolen looks like a bookstore

eReolen’s points• In order to fulfil our mission we need a

user-friendly, easy-to-use e-lending service with a good supply and few restrictions

• We cannot and will not base an e-lending service for esp. children on restrictions

• We acknowledge that publishers must be able to “work their channels” and their commercial interests in a general sense

• We believe the great cycle of writing, publishing and reading is an ecology

2018 • Our minister for culture has put pressure on

the two sides since December 2016, and in late2017 she increased that pressure threateninglegislation

• Libraries believes ECJ ruling on e-lending is a win, but it may be an expensive one

• Libraries may lend ebooks; a book is a book

• … if it has been acquired lawfully

• … if the author is renumerated

• Nothing about audiobooks, prices or terms

2018 compromise• Actually a compromise-compromise

• After long, difficult negotiations we landed a deal with Gyldendal and Modtryk and the other three have contacted us

• We now work from a 50-50 model viz. restricted vs. not restricted and norestrictions for children

• Streaming services hate us, publishers have turned neutral, authors are silent

• 600 publishers rely on us almost solely

Tentative agreement• eReolen should not be the market leader in

trade publishing

• eReolen is uniquely suited for and very goodat promoting the back catalogue and ”narrow” titles

• Different models for different publishers; restriction for commerially interesting titlesand no restriction where commercialinterest is gone or awareness is key

• ”Libraries are great at promoting literatureand generate reading, but you’re cheap!”

More stats

Age and gender

A literary environment

User survey• 935 users answer a

questionnaire• Focus groups with

<30 yo. and >30 yo. users resectively as well as non-users in two cities

• Focus on use and evaluating the service and the promotion, use of social media and communication in general

Integration with OPAC

Digitisation

• There’s a market failure viz. Digitisation of the back catalogue and no public money

• eReolen and library intelligence can help

• We have two models: Collaboration withpublishers for newer works. Help with data and copies for the older works.

• No collective agreements!?

The potential

Thank you

Comments, questions, threats, fan-mail to:

Mikkel Christoffersen

c45c@kff.kk.dk

Mob. +45 2049 1885