The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Press and the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte have announced that they are experimenting with an innovative business model that will deliver affordable e-textbooks to students and faculty.
This fall, Atkins Library purchased perpetual access to the ASM Press e-textbook, Scientific Integrity. With the cooperation of ASM Press, the library arranged to purchase unlimited concurrent user access to the title, which had been adopted for use in graduate level courses, for its students and faculty. The price is based on one year of expected student enrollment, but provides permanent access to the book for the library.
Scientific Integrity has been adopted by a UNC Charlotte course entitled ‘Professionalism and the Responsible Conduct of Research’. Taught by Dr. Jo Ann Lee, Faculty Associate for Graduate Research and Ethics in the Center for Graduate Life at UNC Charlotte, the course focuses on the nine areas of ethical behaviour for which training is required by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
ASM Press Director Christine Charlip suggests that this model will work for any institution that wants to add e-textbooks to its learning management systems and e-course reserves, provided the institution has the technological infrastructure to limit use to authorised users only, such as faculty and enrolled students. Unlimited concurrent user access allows an institution to avoid the additional costs and inconvenience that result from limitations on concurrent users for titles purchased through traditional e-book distributors.
