National Library of Australia

FAQs from Libraries

See also: Answers to FAQs

Some answers to frequently asked questions from Australian libraries.


QUESTION: How can I keep up with ERA developments?

ANSWER: ERAlibraries-L is an open listserv for all Australian libraries and will be a key communication tool for Electronic Resources Australia. Subscription requests are only with list manager approval.

To subscribe, provide your email address in the space provided at http://listserver.nla.gov.au/wws/subrequest/eralibraries-l.

Feel free to contact the ERA secretariat directly, or talk to your sectoral representative on the Executive Committee . We expect that the participating vendors will also be very pleased to talk to you about their role with ERA.

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QUESTION: Who can join Electronic Resources Australia and how much does it cost?

ANSWER: There are not currently any membership fees associated with participation in ERA.

Subscriptions are offered to all Australian libraries, library-related entities or organisations on an opt-in basis. All your library will pay is the subscription prices offered by participating vendors for the electronic resources on the ERA Product List.

Should they wish to attend, participating libraries will be responsible for meeting all costs associated with attending the annual Membership Forum. ERA is currently administered by the National Library of Australia as a not-for-profit Australian library consortium. More information is available regarding ERA’s Governance.

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QUESTION: Is consortial pricing available?

ANSWER: Yes - ERA could become Australia's largest library consortia and is open to all. Pricing is offered to libraries individually or collectively and the success of the initiative relies on maximum participation across the whole Australian library sector.

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QUESTION: Are the subscriptions based on library type?

ANSWER: The nine electronic resources on the ERA Product List could appeal to any library and pricing is offered per library sector: national/state/territory, academic, specials, public, TAFE and school libraries.

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QUESTION: What about joint-use libraries: which prices apply?

ANSWER: Advice has been sought from our participating vendors.

  • EBSCO Publishing: Libraries currently subscribing to their products through an existing sectoral consortium (ie TAFE, public, academic, NSLA) would be similarly classified for ERA. More unusual circumstances will be treated on a case-by-case basis: please contact the vendor to discuss further.
  • Forward Learning (World Book) Pty Ltd: Please contact the vendor to discuss.
  • Gale: A Cengage Learning Company: Please contact the vendor to discuss.
  • Oxford University Press: Please contact the vendor to discuss.
  • ProQuest: Please contact the vendor to discuss.

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QUESTION: What sort of governance does ERA have and how can the interests of my library be represented?

ANSWER: ERA is supported and governed by the Australian Library sector. Have a look at ‘Governance‘ to see who on the Executive Committee is representing your library sector.

See also FAQs about Governance.

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QUESTION: Which Australian libraries are already taking their subscriptions through ERA?

ANSWER: Talk to your colleagues.

The first ERA subscriptions will run from 1 October 2007 through to 30 June 2008. Libraries who participate are listed in our membership with direct links through to online directory information for each wherever possible. We believe that this will offer Australian librarians an easy means of talking to their colleagues about their subscriptions.

To gauge the level of library interest in subscriptions per product, sector and state/territory, have a look at the results from the annual Product Polls from the individual product profiles within the Product List on the ERA website. Discussion on the ERAlibraries-L list is welcome and libraries are encouraged to discuss the proposal with their sectoral representatives on the ERA Executive Committee.

Libraries purchasing through ERA will also be able to flag this within their directory details on the Australian Libraries Gatway (ALG - refer to the 'Related organisations' update form).

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QUESTION: If I fill in the poll is there then an obligation to subscribe?

ANSWER: The annual online Product Polls are not binding but unless we have a real sense of genuine interest, it will be difficult to confirm the prices for the first ERA subscriptions with vendors in early August 2007.  

At the end of each consideration period (31 July 2007, 30 April 2008), we will gather the figures for how many libraries are interested in each product, discuss with vendors and confirm pricing per indicative pick-up. We will then contact those libraries who used the online poll to confirm whether or not they wish to proceed.

Customer details will be provided to the vendors for those libraries who participate in the polls and confirm their subscription decision to proceed. It will be up to the libraries to make the necessary arrangements to proceed with the subscription by sending a purchase order to the vendor/s, citing the appropriate head deed .

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QUESTION: Why should my library take up subscriptions through Electronic Resources Australia?

ANSWER: While some libraries already have access to a range of electronic resources, many others don’t, because they simply can’t afford to, and so many of these believe their users are disadvantaged. 

One of the motivations for ERA is to offer attractively priced products to libraries that may not have any other opportunity to realise the benefits of consortial purchasing. Licensing terms and conditions for have been considered for the products on offer and this alone is a huge saving for many libraries. Through ERA’s cross-sectoral collaboration, Australian libraries stand to achieve the greatest common good for all Australian library users.

At this early stage, the panel of e-resources is very select but we believe that these products are offered at the best prices currently available to the Australian market. Have a look at the Product List to see which resources are available.

The choice is yours.

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QUESTION: Can I trial the products before I buy?

ANSWER: All participating vendors offer free product trials. Contact the vendors to arrange a local trial, or ask them about current subscribers who you could contact within your sector to discuss the product.

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QUESTION: How does my library subscribe to a product via ERA?

ANSWER: The subscription process is outlined within Section 3. ‘Buying Deliverables’ of the Head Deed agreements between the NLA and participating vendors.

There will be an annual call for expressions of interest through ERA’s online Product Polls and Australian libraries will be asked to indicate which of the ERA resources they are interested in subscribing to by a due date. Once the level of participation has been established and library interest confirmed, prices will be set for the subscription year. The ERA Executive Officer will advise vendors of the name and contact details of libraries wishing to take subscriptions and vendors will then deal directly with the libraries.

Participating libraries are responsible for any contracts directly signed with a vendor and will be required to agree to their terms and conditions (refer to Schedule 3, Attachment 4 of the appropriate vendor’s Head Deed). A contract is formed when you place your own library purchase order with the vendor stating that it is issued under Head Deed NLA 06/044a (EBSCO Publishing) , NLA 06/044b (ProQuest), NLA 06/044c (Gale) , NLA 06/044d (Forward Learning (World Book) Pty Ltd) or NLA 06/044e (Oxford University Press).

Outside of the annual call process, libraries wishing to subscribe via ERA to the listed products will simply cite the Head Deed when placing their purchase order with a participating vendor.

Put simply, libraries wishing to subscribe to the resources available via ERA will cite the Head Deed when placing their purchase order with a participating vendor.

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QUESTION: My library already has a subscription to an ERA resource from elsewhere, why should I change?

ANSWER: Some of the vendor proposals offer increased subscription savings with higher levels of participation: the more libraries onboard, the better the prices for everyone. This is an opportunity for you to join a really big consortium!

We hope that by offering competitive subscriptions to products of broad appeal, ERA will mean established Australian library consortia can focus their negotiations on specialist resources for members. Participation in ERA by existing library consortia will also bring numbers and help individual libraries realise some gains.

Consider the packages offered by the vendors for product subscription through ERA. We believe these subscriptions offers are some of the best currently available to Australian libraries.

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QUESTION: What’s the billing cycle?

ANSWER: We realise that many sectors operate on different financial cycles and for pragmatic reasons, we have opted for the Australian financial year for ERA subscriptions: 1 July – 30 June.

Subscriptions can be pro-rated so that they can be synchronised with no impact on your library patrons.

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QUESTION: Why are subscription prices for an Australian consortium given in US dollars?

ANSWER: Through the National Licensing Proposal tender process, pricing was sought in Australian dollars ($AUD) as well as "native" currency. In some cases, pricing was offered by vendors in United States dollars ($USD).

There were difficulties for some vendors to quote in $AUD as their normal business practice is to quote in their own currency. Some offered to use a fixed conversion rate, but were unable to guarantee the conversion rate for the period of the contract. There were also practical considerations associated with moving exchange rates, eg if the Australian dollar appreciates then the fix rate offered by the vendor would not be competitive.

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QUESTION: The timing’s not right: can I opt in later?

ANSWER: Australian libraries can take up a subscription to an ERA product any time in the billing cycle. Subscription prices will be confirmed each year, per sector, according to indicative library pick-up via the annual Product Polls.

Libraries wishing to subscribe to an e-resource after prices have been established for the current year will be offered the price for the current subscription period, pro-rated to the end of the financial year.

Contact the vendors when you are ready and cite the relevant Head Deed.

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QUESTION: What help can ERA provide in terms of subscription set-up?

ANSWER: The ERA website provides libraries with the necessary paperwork from the individual vendors to establish your product subscriptions through ERA.

Have a look also at our answers to the Technical FAQs and let us know if there is something we haven’t covered.

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QUESTION: Who will manage my subscription?

ANSWER: All subscriptions taken up by Australian libraries through Electronic Resources Australia are business arrangements between the participating libraries and vendors.

The ERA website aims to help libraries help themselves.

The ERA Executive Officer will work with vendors to establish the extent of library participation each subscription cycle. Vendors are expected to report the number of library subscriptions taken through ERA every six months.

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QUESTION: Are there any user limits to the databases?

ANSWER: Naturally, every product is different but subscription terms have been negotiated with the ERA vendors to include:

  • Unlimited use on-site;
  • Remote use by registered staff and patrons using an agreed authentication system;
  • Use within virtual reference services; and
  • Use for ILL/Document Supply.

Product user guides and other training support materials are available from vendors for use by participating libraries: have a look at the profiles for the individual products.

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QUESTION: Can our staff/students/patrons log into these resources from home?

ANSWER: Yes.

Subscription licence terms have been negotiated with the ERA vendors to include remote use by registered staff and student/library patrons using an agreed authentication system. Your users must, however, agree to the terms and conditions of use, and if passwords are used, should not share these with anyone else.

Talk to your IT support and consider which of the authentication options offered by the participating vendors suit your library best.

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QUESTION: How can I provide feedback on an electronic resource?

ANSWER: Vendors welcome and need library feedback on their products. Details of how to send this feedback is available under the heading "Support for ERA Libraries" on each of the vendor profiles.

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QUESTION: What's the difference between ERA and the E-Resources offered by the National Library?

ANSWER: ERA, Electronic Resources Australia, offers Australian libraries subscriptions to electronic resources at consortial prices.

The National Library of Australia's "E-Resources" site offers end-user access to the NLA's selection of electronic resources - including free web resources as well as subscription products. Like any other Australian library, the NLA is free to opt in for subscriptions to electronic resources on the ERA Product List .

 

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More information?

ERAlibraries-L is a closed list for all interested Australian libraries to exchange news, views and information about ERA.
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