E-books: In the shadow of print

Abstract

The e-book has gained a large number of readers in many countries. However, the growth rate, as well as the market penetration of e-books, varies considerably between countries and language areas. In the United States and other English-speaking countries, the use of e-books is more widespread than in many European countries, such as Sweden. In both the United States and Swedish markets, the growth rate has slowed down during the latest 2 years, and the majority of readers still seem to prefer printed books. This article aims to reveal the relationship between attitudes and use of e-books and to contextualize this in relation to socio-demographic background, library use and reading habits. The results, based on national, representative surveys in Sweden during 2013 and 2014, show that people’s attitudes are a significant and important factor for the choice of e-books instead of print, but this is probably a two-way relationship. It is also evident that e-books serve a complementary rather than displacement function in relation to print.