This page features resources you can use to learn more about the ebook crisis and to advocate for better access and raise awareness to others. Please use these resources as you wish.
Background reading
This reading list provides some context to the ebook crisis in the UK and further afield.
Can my students read my books?
This document provides guidance to authors of the questions to ask about library access when negotiating contracts with publishers
Promotional resources
Please feel free to use these logos and animation to advocate for fair access to ebooks and to raise awareness of the campaign. For the logos, right-click on an image and select “open in new tab” to view the full logo. Then right-click and “save image as”
The promotion video is also available in multiple languages – please see this link for those currently available. If you would like it in your language, please get in touch!
#ebooksos campaign shop
We have launched a campaign shop where you can buy #ebooksos branded t-shirts and totes. The small profit we receive on each purchase will be used to further promote the campaign as currently we have no formal funding. Click on the image below to view our shop
Open access research methods and study skills ebooks
Research method and study skills textbooks are often some of the hardest to obtain in ebook format. In an effort to overcome this, librarians crowdsourced a list of freely available open access resources researchers, teachers and students may find useful. It can be viewed, edited and shared here
Crowd-sourced spreadsheet of examples
We have been collecting examples of excessively highly priced books, restrictive licences, titles unavailable or sudden price changes – these can all be seen here. Please add to this spreadsheet any examples you yourself have come across.
Student campaign petition poster (Uni of Worcester, UK)
As detailed here, Students at the University of Worcester have launched a petition calling for fairer ebooks pricing. In collaboration with library staff, they have produced a great poster to publicise their efforts and have kindly agreed to share them so other people can use them and help the petition to grow. This link – ebook sos.pub – should take you to an editable version on Publisher, which will allow you input ebook pricing data specific to your own context/institution. Feel free to add your own library logo onto your poster but please keep the University of Worcester one on too. so their work is credited. Below, there is also a pdf version you can use if you want to display the poster as is, and I have wrestled together a downloadable Word version that can be edited if there are any problems with the Publisher link. If you use the posters, please do consider letting @uwlibservices know via twitter using their Twitter handle and the #ebookSOS hashtag, as I am certain they would love to see their work out in the wild! A huge thanks to students and staff at University of Worcester for being so generous with their time and work.
