Analysis of User Preferences for Management and Search Features in E-book Reader Libraries in Smartphone Environments

Abstract

There has been a significant paradigm shift in the book industry from print to digital, with the increased use of electronic books (ebooks) on e-book readers. The major online booksellers and publishers are devoting their energies to the growth of the e-book market, resulting in an upward spiral in e-book usage, and a resultant increase in the number of downloaded e-books in an e-book reader library. However, there are comparatively few features for e-book management and search in most e-book reader libraries, particularly in smartphone environments. In addition, the user interfaces of e-book management in e-book readers are highly diverse, which has led to major usability issues. In this paper, we analyze user preferences for e-book management and search in the libraries of the five most commonly used e-readers for the Android smartphone platform via a questionnaire survey. Then, we suggest ideal alternatives in addition to user-friendly features based on user preferences for managing e-book libraries, to allow users to more easily browse collections, thereby enhancing the usability of e-book readers.