Reference at Newman Library

EBSCO’s Ebook Academic Collection trial

We have a trial to EBSCO’s Ebook Academic Collection trial until June 30, 2012.

This is a new product from EBSCO, comparable to the collection we have from ebrary. Like ebrary, there are over 70,000 titles (only about 51,000 for this trial), unlimited simultaneous users and downloads. Because this is a trial, we will not add the records to the catalog, but if we were to subscribe, they would be added.

We will be actively comparing this product with ebrary’s so please share your comments in the comments below or email me directly. In particular, I would like comments on ease of downloading, search capabilities, on-screen display, marking, saving and emailing capabilities, and any other feature you may consider important.

4 thoughts on “EBSCO’s Ebook Academic Collection trial”

  1. EBSCO’s product has very few university press titles compared to ebrary. I just did bunch of searches for major university presses and scholarly publishers. Here are the results:

    Basic Books
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 129

    Cambridge University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 1891

    Columbia University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 508

    Cornell University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 296

    Harvard University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 599

    Indiana University Press
    EBSCO = 802
    ebrary = 534

    Johns Hopkins University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 490

    Oxford University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 3587

    Princeton University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 621

    Stanford University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 491

    U of California Press
    EBSCO = 2
    ebrary = 917

    U of Chicago Press
    EBSCO = 3
    ebrary = 1267

    U of Michigan Press
    EBSCO = 529
    ebrary = 433

    Yale University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 656

  2. Thank you for doing this!

    I don’t have a list of the publishers included in the package yet, but the trial contains a smaller sample of books than the full collection and not all publishers allow their books to be included in a trial. This might explain at least some of the disparity you found.

  3. I received an email from Scott Wasinger from EBSCO confirming that indeed this trial does not include all ebooks that would be available via the full subscription.

    Here are some number comparisons he provides: “Cambridge University Press – EBSCO 2,217, ebrary 1,891; Indiana University Press – EBSCO 901, ebrary 534; Columbia University Press – EBSCO 620, ebrary 508.”

  4. Based on the title list spreadsheet that we just got from EBSCO, I have updated numbers that show a close match in coverage by publishers. There still aren’t any (or very, very few) from these university presses: Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Oxford, Stanford, University of California, University of Chicago, and Yale. It’s my understanding that EBSCO will soon be adding more publishers to the collection.

    Basic Books
    EBSCO = 60
    ebrary = 129

    Cambridge University Press
    EBSCO = 2217
    ebrary = 1891

    Columbia University Press
    EBSCO = 620
    ebrary = 508

    Cornell University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 296

    Harvard University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 599

    Indiana University Press
    EBSCO = 901
    ebrary = 534

    Johns Hopkins University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 490

    Oxford University Press
    EBSCO = 1
    ebrary = 3587

    Princeton University Press
    EBSCO = 537
    ebrary = 621

    Stanford University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 491

    U of California Press
    EBSCO = 2
    ebrary = 917

    U of Chicago Press
    EBSCO = 3
    ebrary = 1267

    U of Michigan Press
    EBSCO = 535
    ebrary = 433

    Yale University Press
    EBSCO = 0
    ebrary = 656

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