Impact of Evidence Based Acquisitions (EBA) on Resource Sharing Activities of Canadian Research Libraries: How EBAs Impact the Ability to Share

Abstract

In Canada, university libraries play a key role in supplying research and scholarly items to college, public and special libraries’ patrons via resource sharing. At the same time Canadian university libraries have invested heavily in Evidence Based Acquisitions products, and ebooks in general. This paper presents the results of a survey of resource sharing specialists and licensing specialists at member libraries of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Recipients were surveyed for their work-informed impressions regarding resource sharing and licensing of ebooks; for evidence of declining resource sharing activity due to the rise in EBAs; and for evidence of communication, or non-communication, within libraries about the impact of e-books on resource sharing. The findings suggest that there is a causal link between the rise in EBAs and the decline in the ability of libraries to fulfill resource sharing requests. The findings also point to a probable lack of serious reflection by Canadian university libraries on the equity impacts of reducing resource sharing capacity through the acceptance of licensing terms that limit the ability to share ebooks within resource sharing networks.