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ePlatform Digital Libraries are an Australasian based business totally focused on libraries and their patrons. Our team across 4 continents love books, whether digital or print. We share this passion with librarians across the world and we work together with them to ensure their library members have simple, affordable access to quality books to enrich their lives.
We customise it for each customer, so no two look the same. In terms of what titles are in your eLibrary there are three main options:
- Private Collections - You purchase eBooks for the sole use of your library members
- Shared Consortium Collections - You join a shared collection to access a huge range of appropriate titles based on your library type and location
- Hybrid - You can subscribe to a shared collection to gain access to a huge range of eBooks but you can also purchase titles just for your members (maybe you want class sets or specialty titles not available n the shared collection) - this is a powerful combination
The main reason is budget. With a private collection you are purchasing titles individually and, if your budget is not large, you may end up with only 50-150 eBooks. Imagine your print library with such a limited range! We would advise not to embark on a private collection with a modest budget - it will be an uphill battle to generate patron interest for obvious reasons.
In contrast if you joined our shared collection product "ePlatform One" you would pay an amount equal to purchasing approximately 60-70 titles but have access to 1000+ paid titles and up to 250 public domain titles for a year. Your library members will love the huge number of titles which we constantly refresh. We manage collection depth to ensure high availability. You will love the ease of administration and the response of your members.
Have specific content needs? No problem - join the shared collection and then purchase just the speiclist titles you need, or perhaps purchase class sets.
A private collection is simply purchasing eBooks for sole use by your library members. If you purchase 500 separate titles and one copy of each, then your library members could borrow all 500 books at the same time but only one copy of each. However to purchase 500+ titles (which we would suggest is good base range to ensure patron interest) you do need a larger budget.
In contrast access to shared collections is governed by (generous) 'fair use' policies. The reason for fair use policies is so that each member library has equitable access to the collection.
Some benefits of private collections:
- Full control of the collection
- Large collections give generous member access - if the collection has 5000 unique titles that equates to 5000 simultaneous loans
- Develop collection depth where it suits - for example class sets of curriculum titles
We simply have the best solutions at the most affordable prices. We offer you a full control model where you purchase eBooks and develop a private collection just for your library members. Alternatively join a shared collection where we have done the hard work and built a shared collection where the other member libraries are similar to yours. Or the best of both worlds; join a shared collection to get massive collection breadth for a small price, and purchase additional titles to be used only by your library members.
At ePlatform we’re always evolving and innovating to help libraries inspire the next generation of readers. Research shows that print and digital resources complement each other in Modern Library Learning Environments (MLLE) and instill confidence in reading in multiple formats. Recent studies highlight that reading on devices better engages boys, less keen or able readers, visually impaired or Dyslexic readers and those with digital preferences. This is where ePlatform really delivers – the platform’s enhanced settings are designed to help overcome these reading challenges and support literacy outcomes. ePlatform goes beyond library walls, it is school wide and supports the entire school learning environment.
Here’s why thousands of schools and public libraries across 19 countries have chosen ePlatform
A successful school eBook library is nourished with great content and smart software that supports high levels of engagement with learning. We help you deliver this without charging set up fees and exorbitant ‘hosting’ fees.
ePlatform delivers on:
- Huge range of titles (350,000+) to match the different interests, ages, cultural diversity and reading capability of your students. Delve into a global range with the latest bestsellers and indie authors, plus local diversity.
- Great, local support – we provide a high level of support to ensure you and your students get the best out of ePlatform.
- Attractive pricing enabling you to invest in content, not hosting fees.
- Innovative, easy-to-use reading App. Simple one-touch reading and browsing means the hardest part is deciding which eBook to read..
- We help you market eBooks to your readers with proven marketing techniques and promotional packs, designed to engage and excite your students.
- Collection Builder Compilations (tailored for your member’s ages, gender and location) – drawing from active ePlatform schools or libraries most like yours – we deliver you the, most borrowed eBook titles from comparable libraries, and the most popular compilation lists. This is collection development with the ‘answer sheet’.
- Our managed shared collection product ePlatform One delivers a huge range of titles at a very affordable price. It delivers great eBooks with minimal fuss.
Yes (we haven’t found any that don’t yet!). Following an eBook sale, we simply provide you with a free brief MARC Record that you import into your Library Management System (within seconds) to populate it with a title record. This brief record includes a unique hyperlink that allows students / patrons to connect directly from your existing catalogue (OPAC) to the eBook on the ePlatform. Students/ Patrons can also browse your ePlatform remotely from anywhere to borrow and download a title.
Once your new eLibrary is stocked with great titles and is looking fantastic it is time to launch it to your patrons. We are absolutely passionate about patron usage. We will help you by providing promotional materials such as posters, bookmarks, shelf wobblers that you can display in the library. We also have a large range of digital assets that you can use to promote the eLibrary on your library's homepage or in newsletters. All of these promotional materials are located on your ePlatform under the Admin tab, go to Help & Updates, then click on Promotional Material.
Here are some ideas that school librarians are implementing to successfully promote their ePlatform:
• Online promotion on the school website, social media site or apps with links to ePlatform.
• Information in newsletters to inform and educate parents.
• Lunchtime and classroom sessions on how to use ePlatform. Many schools implement a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) day and use this as an opportunity to promote ePlatform.
• Get keen students and teachers involved. They can act as advocates and train others.
This is simple and we've done it thousands of times in many different ways.
We have simple methods that wont require your IT department to get involved and can be implemented within a few hours.
There are more sophisticated options where our system talks to your system which will need your IT team to get involved; these include LDAP and SIP2.
We’ll set up the patron authentication process to ensure that every student or patron that borrows eBooks through ePlatform is a valid user. To learn more about Patron Authentication and the different options please refer to our Patron Authentication page.
Thousands of eBook titles specifically licensed for library lending are available through Wheelers for ePlatform. With a huge range of fiction and non-fiction titles to choose from (over 350,000 titles at last count), including educational and region specific titles, you can populate your ePlatform to suit the exact preferences of your students or library members. You can view a selection of featured titles and publishers on our website here or contact us for a login to see the full range of titles available.
If you are interested in our shared collection model "ePlatform One" the titles can be viewed on any of the member library's ePlatform instances. You can view these and check that we take our commitment to quality content and high availability very seriously. The shared collection we show you will be the one tailored for your school type (Secondary or Primary) and location (United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand). With the shared collections you don't purchase the titles, we do that for the collection based on our analysis of what's popular, award winners, and curriculum content. It's constantly updated and built in collaboration with member librarians.
To read a library eBook on a tablet or smartphone you will need to access the ePlatform app or download other reader software.
The ePlatform app is a dedicated eBook lending app personalized to your library. It allows users to read eBooks anywhere, any time on multiple devices. The user-friendly interface includes full search and filtering options to make finding titles simple. Library administrators have access to extensive title and patron reporting.
To read eBooks on a computer or laptop (PC or Mac) you can use your web browser to read titles online or offline through the ePlatform website.
If you have a Kobo eReader, Sony eReader or Nook eReader you will need to download Adobe Digital Editions and create an Adobe ID.
Download the app from your favourite app store
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eplatform-by-wheelers/id912668852?ls=1&mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eplatform.android.googleplay&hl=en
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/apps/eplatform/9nblggh3z38k
Absolutely. We keep your library collection secure. We set up a link between ePlatform and your library management system so that members are required to login and be authenticated prior to lending titles. ePlatform keeps the eBooks secure and protected by DRM
Flexible admin controls include the ability for you to set eBook loan parameters from 1 day to 60 days and to define the maximum number of eBooks a student/ patron can borrow (or reserve) at once. Furthermore, and importantly for schools, the librarian can restrict borrowing of certain titles by age (as long as your library management system or school database stores the year/ age of the student). Librarians can also access a number of free usage reports.
When you purchase eBooks, you acquire the right to access the content of the eBook through the ePlatform. It means you can lend this title to your library patrons/students. There are some publishers that restrict access to their books. Any variations are described on a per publisher basis against the title when purchasing. In these cases we pass on the rights as far as we are able to. Your agreement with ePlatform sets out terms and conditions which apply to eBook access.
Detailed usage reports are stored in the Admin area of your ePlatform under the sub heading ‘Reporting & Tools’.
You can download various reports such as:
• Loan Report - a list of loans over the time period of your choice
• Transaction Report - a list of transactions over the time period of your choice.
• Patrons - a list of patrons created over the time period of your choice.
• Complete Title Report - a complete list of titles from this portal and their current global and individual settings.
There are numerous other options to provide you with quality analysis of your eBook collection.
Within your ePlatform you can access over 1,000 free public domain titles in addition to the top 50 public domain titles we load on to your ePlatform. Simply search under ‘Publisher’ in the ‘Browse’ section of your ePlatform 'Shop' (left hand side) and add as many of these free titles as you want.
Collection Builder Compilations are tailored for your member’s ages, gender and location and are drawn from active ePlatform schools or libraries most like yours. We deliver you the most borrowed eBook titles from comparable libraries, and the most popular compilation lists. Simply search under ‘Compilations’ in the ‘Browse’ section (left hand side) from within your ePlatform 'Shop'
ePlatform Shared Collections are a consortium of libraries with a central shared collection managed by us - the key phrase is 'shared collection'. We have specially chosen distinct primary and secondary school collections for each of the markets we serve (United Kingdom, Australia, Asia, Europe, the United States and New Zealand) available for you to join. These large collections of ebooks and audiobooks are designed to be affordable, and contain a superb range of content suitable for each school type and country. We manage all aspects of this consortium including: adding new members, maintaining the collection, ensuring equitable usage and so on. The important point to remember is that it’s an annual contribution to a shared collection of eBooks.
You can develop a private collection which sits seamlessly alongside your shared titles. This is a hybrid solution with a shared colection as the core, and then add a private collection to sit seamlessly alongside it. You get the breadth of the shared collection, and the opportunity to add depth and special titles as required. This is a popular combination.
For pricing please see the pricing page:
https://eplatform.co/au/pricing/school-library-pricing/
The benefit is that for a low annual consortium contribution you get access to a huge range of titles which would be enormously expensive to replicate in a private collection. To have a single copy of these titles in a private collection would cost more than US$20,000 per customer.
We have a 'fair use' policy so the shared consortium collection is equitably available to each member library. The fair use policy limits simultaneous loans, loans per month and no more than a single copy of each title for each member library. These limits are generous and will not affect the vast majority of customers. We are simply trying to avoid a small number of customers borrowing a huge number of titles and copies leaving slim pickings for the rest.
Just to be clear - we manage this system for high availability! So popular books may have dozens of copies to keep up with demand. As more members join we add more copies of popular titles and refresh the collection with new releases and award winners.
If you choose ePlatform One you will not need to purchase titles for a standalone private collection unless you want to.
If you have a large budget and need to build the entire collection yourself, then ePlatform Shared Collections may not be the best option for your school.
However it is worth considering using Shared Collections to give your collection breadth and using the extra budget to purchase class sets or multiple copies of titles that you feel you want your members to have exclusive access to.
A hybrid solution is to have a Shared Collection as the core of the collection, and then add a private collection to sit seamlessly alongside it. You get the breadth of the shared collection, and the opportunity to add depth and special titles as required. This is a popular combination.
We have extensive experience in eLending and a data centre full of statistics that inform us on the popularity of titles taking into account the age and location of the member libraries of the shared collection. For example some titles that are relevant and popular in the UK may not be popular in other countries and vice versa. In addition to this we look at curriculum needs and add a sizable weighting to local content.
We build collections in collaboration with our member librarians in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with reference to local award winners, curriculum needs and school reading initiatives.
Yes you can. However you would need a junior ePlatform instance and a senior ePlatform instance.
Yes you will have your own ePlatform where you can age restrict titles, view reports etc.
Collection depth (multiple copies) is managed by us based on the popularity of titles. We guarantee high availability (500 unique titles available at all times). Our selectors monitor reserves and activity and will be adding copies based on demand.
1. Students cannot borrow more than 2 books simultaneously from central collection
2. A single school cannot simultaneously borrow more than 1 copies of a single title
3. 100 loans simultaneous / 200 loans per month
These only apply to the shared titles. Private collection titles are limited by the copies owned of each title.
For example your patrons can borrow 100 shared collection titles at the same time, and if you had 150 private collection titles, they could borrow those as well, this would equate to 250 simultaneous loans.
We are expanding the available countries for ePlatform One based on demand. If you don't see it advertised on the pricing page then it has not reached your country yet. Please contact us to express your interest, better still muster a group of schools and we will consider building a collection for you.
For ePlatform One, our shared consortium collection product, there is a fixed annual fee (contribution), to cover costs of additional copies and titles, and no other costs to pay.
For private collections we operate a Collection Plan credit system where you pay for a content credit, then use up this credit purchasing eBooks during the year. We supply the hosting of your eLibrary at no cost. If you do not wish to commit to the Content Plan, you can elect a Gap Year Plan where you are not committed to purchasing eBooks, but we do charge a fee to maintain your ePlatform for that year. With the Gap Year plan you can still purchase eBooks on an ad-hoc basis but you are not committed to do so.
Our eBooks are specifically licensed for library lending, so titles can be loaned to different users within your library/ school community. This allows greater freedom than buying eBooks from retailers as these eBooks are legally only licensed for single use (using them in a library/school environment would actually breach the terms of the license you have purchased from them).
The ePlatform, like other eBook platforms, licenses the Adobe Content Server to manage the DRM (encryption) of eBooks being lent out to library members. Adobe charges us a per loan license fee every time a loan is made and we look to cover this hard cost with the DRM/hosting fee per eBook (invoiced at the time the eBook is purchased).
These fees are absorbed by us in the ePlatform One shared collection model, and would only apply if you were purchasing eBooks for a private collection.
The inclusions depend on the type of Collection Plan you sign up for. Annual Collection Plans are very cost effective because every single dollar is spent on books. This includes hosting, development, help desk and marketing support. For Australian and New Zealand customers the content credit can be used for print and/or eBooks. Plans are renewable on the yearly anniversary date.
For full details on exactly what’s included for each plan please visit our pricing page
The inclusions depend on the type of Collection Plan you sign up for. Annual Collection Plans are very cost effective because every single dollar is spent on books. This includes hosting, development, help desk and marketing support. Plans are renewable on the yearly anniversary date.
For full details on exactly what’s included for each plan please visit our pricing page
https://eplatform.co/nz/pricing/public-library-pricing/
Paying upfront helps us and our customers with budget certainty. You can plan ahead as you know what to expect each year.
You can pay the Collection Plan invoice once you have purchased Books/eBooks.
If this doesn’t suit, you do have the option of a Hosting Fee or a Credit Purchase.
At ePlatform, we recognize that we exist in partnership with our customers. We respect this relationship with you and always appreciate your business. Our priority is to offer you the best products and services– but to continue to do this, we need to adjust our pricing structure.
In 2011 we launched an ePlatform that is very different to the one you see today. The one-touch App, the range of titles, the user experience, integrated shop, compilations, consortium features, catalogue integration with your LMS etc. make the current ePlatform superior to what it was originally. In addition, we now have a large team developers working on new features to improve it further.
To maintain a high rate of development, we need consistent revenue to support it. Unfortunately, it is no longer commercially feasible for us to host small collections of eBooks in perpetuity, whilst also developing and improving the platform features and experience, without charging for the services that ePlatform delivers.
We have worked hard to make the ePlatform affordable to all schools and libraries, not just the best funded. We've tried to ensure our commercial terms are more accessible than any of our competitors - and we hope we can always offer this value. Many software providers, including library software providers, charge annual fees, version upgrade fees, module fees, and support fees. We have also done our best to avoid passing these fees onto our customers.
Interestingly, feedback received from libraries with the highest eBook usage has shown that an eBook library needs to introduce new books to keep student interest high. With the Standard and Advanced plans you can use the content credit to buy more books for your library and create a collection that will be continually attractive to students.
Yes. Our annual collection plans are interchangeable from one year to the next - giving you the freedom to choose the plan that’s right for you.
You can even move from a private collection plan to the ePlatform One shared collection plan and keep the titles privately purchased.
Yes it is available.
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM is encryption technology that protects the copyright of titles and is required by the publishers who provide the eBooks.
The ePlatform, like other eBook platforms, licenses the Adobe Content Server to manage the DRM (encryption) of eBooks being lent out to library members. Adobe charges us a per loan license fee every time a loan is made and we look to cover this hard cost with the DRM fee.
A one off DRM fee per eBook purchased will be charged (invoiced in addition to the price of the eBook at the time of purchase from ePlatform) relating to hosting, storage, and lending of that eBook with DRM protection.
It will be on your invoice. It is only applicable to private collection titles.
No. It is a one off fee that is invoiced at the time the eBook is purchased.
Please visit this page, https://eplatform.co/au/payment/
If you can't find the answer here, our team will be more than happy to give you the information you need.