The Indiana University eText Experience: Recipe for Success
The Indiana University eText Experience: Recipe for Success
8 eText Operations: The IU Experience
John Gosney, Director of Faculty Engagement and Outreach, Learning Technologies, UITS, Indiana University
Mark Goodner, Principal Business Analyst and Faculty Consultant, IU eTexts, UITS, Indiana University
This section outlines the day-to-day nitty-gritty of IU’s eText program. A large part of the success of the IU program depended upon the hard-won experience that enabled the development of the process described below.
Preparing for an “eText Order Window”
There should be established dates, an “ordering window,” for when faculty and administrators—and often “course coordinators”, discussed in more detail later in this chapter—can place eText orders for the forthcoming term. Depending on the institution’s academic calendar, there will likely be two ordering windows: one that opens in early spring for the upcoming summer and fall terms; another that opens in early fall for the upcoming winter and spring terms.
To ensure a successful opening of an order window:
- Reach out to publishers for updated metadata to update the eText Catalog. Accurate metadata that reflects all of a publisher’s catalog offerings is essential.
- Depending on the type of data file used by the publisher, some analysis may be required; search fields used with the institution’s online catalog/ordering tool (for example ISBN, author last name, subject) must match corresponding fields in the metadata file.
- Moreover, the type of data file itself (e.g., ONYX) may not be compatible with either the institution’s catalog or specific publisher data feeds, so a process for exporting the data file to a common format may also be required. Even though ONXY is standard, some publishers use different facets of ONYX in different ways; for example, the eISBN in one publisher file might not be the same as that for another publisher.
- When beginning work with a publisher, first ask for a sample file and analyze that file to confirm it contains all necessary information. Ultimately, the more this entire metadata/file transfer process can be automated, the less likely the process is to introduce errors and the more likely it will be efficient.
- Define both “soft” and “hard” closing dates for order window. There should be clearly defined opening and closing dates for eText ordering, that is specific ordering windows for each semester. Ultimately, these dates will depend on when the final, official schedule of classes for the upcoming term is posted and when students are first able to register for classes. Ideally, the order window should open several weeks in advance of when students can first register, so faculty have time to browse the catalog of available titles. This also ensures that students know, at the time of registration, whether a course will use an eText. This is critical because they will be charged a course fee. A side benefit of meeting the “Soft” closing date is disability service