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Environmental
Scan of Pricing Models for Online Content
Prepared by Albert W. Darimont
OnDisC Project
November 2001
©OnDisC Alliance 2001
1.
Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. E-Business
Models
4. E-resources
in Today's Academic Libraries
5. Library
E-business
6. E-journals
7. Subject
Based Gateways
8. Content
Aggregators
9. Non-profit,
subsidized
10. Content
Providers
11. Conclusion
12. References
Conclusion
The
purpose of this research was to gather information
on relevant initiatives in distributing digital
content to academic institutions in a variety
of different media including text, audio, images
and video. Additional research was conducted
on electronic journal use in academic libraries
and on business models in use on the world wide
web by organizations distributing various kinds
of media to provide background and context.
Specific pricing information was gathered where
possible.
Some of the major findings in this research
include:
·
many
cultural heritage digital content initiatives
have been undertake in the past 5 years and
some of them have taken positives steps towards
becoming independent organizations
·
independent
content aggregators which target academic institutions
sell their content as subscriptions and most
have differential pricing schedules based on
the size of the institution
·
some
content aggregators charged an up-front or new
membership fee to offset their initial costs
in digitization their content
·
pricing
and marketing differentiation is important in
maximizing potential revenue to help offset
digitization costs
·
one
potentially useful group differentiation is
Canadian vs. US academic institutions; a number
of universities in the US have Canadian Studies
programs and they may be willing to pay a premium
price for OnDisC's Canadian content.
·
bundling
of products and using metering can help increase
revenues but will also add extra administrative
costs to manage accounts
·
there
is a lot of digital heritage content already
on the web being supported by various business
models and revenue streams including advertising,
affiliate referrals, public funding and subscription.
·
Academic
libraries are rapidly acquiring electronic resources;
those with limited budgets will be selective
and will focus on useful content that is easily
found and accessed
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