What students told us about their experiences and expectations of print and e-books

Abstract

For the last 13 years at least, many of us have participated in the debate about the development of e-books to support education. Librarians, publishers and intermediaries all have a view about the format and the business models to support it and, of course, studies and surveys of students have informed that debate. However, it is not often that information professionals have the opportunity to sit down with a group of students, listen to their perspective and ask them questions. The UKSG One-Day Conference held in London in November 2015 offered such an opportunity with a panel session of students chaired by Jeremy Upton, Director of Library & University Collections at the University of Edinburgh. The debate uncovered the continued role of print alongside emerging e-book models. The students shared with us their frustrations in accessing the books they need, the financial challenges they face in terms of purchasing books and their expectations about library provision of books. This article is a summary for those readers who were unable to attend the session to hear for themselves the frank and eye-opening views from the student panel. As one member of the audience put it, the students provided us with gold dust. The students who so generously gave us their time were Tess McGovern, student of English literature and Cameron Myers, a law student, from King’s College London; Saleh Ahmed and Thomas Ash, who are postgraduates in library studies from City University London; and Lucy Hensher, a geography student and Lenart Celar, a psychology student, from the University of Sussex.