Academic E-book Research Articles

Suzanne Ward and Robert Freeman: Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians, and Users

Suzanne Ward and Robert Freeman: Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians, and Users

Book Review: Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians, and Users

In their introduction to Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians and Users, editors Ward, Freeman and Nixon list the potential promises of e-books to libraries: they cannot be lost or damaged, they do not require staffing to check-in and out and shelf, they take up no space, they can be purchased on demand, they can be checked out by multiple users, and they are often searchable. These promises are particularly enticing when so much scholarship is done through online journal databases and when library service models are shifting from a focus on physical collections to an emphasis on creating spaces for collaborative scholarship. However, e-books also present challenges that the editors summarize in two statements: “1) lack of sufficient content and 2) users’ stated preference for print books in many cases” (2). The Academic E-Books contributors flesh out these issues through specific examples from the publishing industry, libraries, user experience and case studies. They also demonstrate how libraries are combatting challenges to successfully integrate, and in some cases replace print with, e-book collections.

Demand Driven Acquisition of E-books in a Small Online Academic Library: Growing Pains and Assessing Gains

ABSTRACTHow does a smaller, fully online academic library offer a wide and deep collection of academic level e-books to its distance learners in a sustainable and affordable way? The State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College Online Library, with a staff of four, has used demand-driven e-book acquisitions since September 2013. Despite widespread publisher price increases, this DDA program continues to deliver quality content to users. This presentation will explore the e-book demand-driven acquisition (DDA) model in the context of that implementation. This will include in-depth analysis of usage data and costs, as well as impacts on course development, budget and inter-library loan.

Understanding Academic E-books Through the Diffusion of Innovations Theory as a Basis for Developing Effective Marketing and Educational Strategies

Academic libraries are choosing to purchase electronic books (e-books) rather than print more frequently for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, e-books are not being used as much as they should be. With increasing academic e-book collections, many studies have examined student and faculty use of and attitudes towards this innovation. This paper will analyze the results in this area of research and align them with the Diffusion of Innovations Theory that includes the Rogers Diffusion of Innovations Curve, innovation categories, and the factors affecting the diffusion process of an innovation. This analysis will give libraries a better understanding of who is using academic e-books, why academic e-books are being used, and how to influence the behaviour of the academic libraries' patrons to increase their use of academic e-books. An analysis of these three areas will help libraries to develop effective marketing and education strategies aimed at increasing e-book usage.

Are e-books for everyone? An evaluation of academic e-book platforms' accessibility features

ABSTRACTWith the increasing prevalence of e-books in academic library collections, faculty and librarians have begun to express concern regarding the accessibility of these digital texts for students with physical or learning disabilities. To begin addressing these concerns, the California State University System's Affordable Learning Solutions initiative—a campaign designed to encourage faculty use of library e-books and open-access texts as replacements for expensive textbooks—funded the Ebooks Accessibility Project at San Jose State University (SJSU). The Ebooks Accessibility Project evaluated the major accessibility features of 16 of the most popular academic e-book platforms in academic libraries. It was discovered that single-publisher platforms, such as Gale, Palgrave, and Springer, offered more accessibility features than aggregators like ProQuest and ACLS Humanities. Both single publisher and aggregator platforms, however, lack basic accessibility features that commercial e-book providers have long offered, such as background contrast adjustment and page reflow. On the positive side, most of the publishers evaluated did offer text resizing (or zoom) and were compatible with some form of screen reading technology, the most important features for users with print disabilities. Librarians are encouraged to let publishers know that accessibility is a major consideration in their e-book adoptions and urge their compliance with common accessibility standards.

Comparing Digital Apples and Oranges: A Comparative Analysis of e-Books Across Multiple Platforms

This session reported the findings of a comparative analysis of how e-books are represented across multiple platforms. In this session, the presenters shared the results of a study that examined how a sample of academic e-books are represented across different platforms. Topics of analysis included: the inclusion of various metadata, the visual presentation of e-book content, and variations in search results. This presentation also focused on the similarities and differences between e-book representation and what impact these various representations might have on users of academic e-books.

Exploring academic e-book use: part II through focus groups and interviews

Purpose– In two previous papers, the authors discussed a text analysis method utilized to explore e-book usage across disciplines at Columbia University. To verify the method, the authors conducted focus group and interviews sessions with faculty members and graduate students to understand when and why e-books are used in conjunction with scholarly activities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– Participants answered eight pre-determined questions during one-on-one interviews and dual moderator focus group sessions. They were also invited to complete a questionnaire regarding e-book discovery, access, and use. All sessions were transcribed and the data were analyzed using grounded theory approach to examine emerging themes.Findings– The findings suggest that faculty and graduate students use e-books for discontinuous reading and quick reference purposes. They value the ability to customize learning environments to suit immediate circumstances and needs. Frustration occurs when availability and accessibility are hindered by limitations imposed by platforms or licenses. Participants believe the library can advocate for users and work with vendors to develop business models that promote greater convenience and flexibility online.Originality/value– The study complements and extends existing findings reported in earlier research utilizing a text analysis method. The results indicate that text analysis is a reliable assessment method in the examination of usage trends across e-book collections. Also, the study brings a human sentiment to the discussion of e-book discovery, access, and use. It provides the user community with a voice and left the authors with a deeper understanding of existing information needs on campus.

University Students Awareness, Usage and Attitude Towards E-books: Experience from China

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' awareness, usage and attitude towards e-books at the Zhejiang University in China. The research design was quantitative using a convenience sampling method and chi-square analyses were employed. Library staff responsible for digital resources collection had been interviewed. Results indicated that there was a significant difference of students' awareness and usage of general e-books and academic e-books. There was a higher awareness but lower adoption of general e-books. The awareness and level of usage of library provided e-books were both very low. A search engine was generally used to access e-books. Senior undergraduates and postgraduate students mainly accessed e-books from the library website and library catalog. Students, particularly undergraduate students, used e-books mainly for the purpose of leisure. In contrast, postgraduate students tended to use e-books more for academic purposes. The use of mobile devices and computers was preferred when reading e-books; but for academic e-books students preferred print part of them for reading. University students showed strong preference for printing books. Academic libraries should put more efforts on promotion, stimulating demands, and cooperation with teachers to improve e-books usage.

Are we there yet?: A longitudinal look at e-books through students’ eyes

ABSTRACTStarting in summer 2011, two librarians at Wesleyan University annually interviewed and directed usability studies with undergraduate students to determine how students interact with academic e-books. In 2014, the librarians used a campuswide quantitative survey to supplement these longitudinal qualitative findings. While students are increasingly using e-books as resources, their facility with them has not increased at the same rate. Students continue to encounter issues with interface designs as well as the ability to easily control and manipulate their own copies. These quantitative and qualitative findings have proven important in local collection development practices as well as library instruction initiatives.

Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians and Users

Academic E-Books: Publishers, Librarians and Users

Exploring academic e-book use: part I through text analysis

Purpose – Over the past decade, as the electronic book (e-book) collection continues to grow, Columbia University Libraries has been gathering information to develop policies related to e-book acquisition, discovery, and access. The purpose of this paper is to investigate users’ e-book search behavior and information needs across different disciplines. Design/methodology/approach – The research method utilizes text data from two sources: users’ e-book search queries that were entered into the libraries discovery tool called CLIO and e-book title words provided by the Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources (COUNTER) usage reports. The analysis involves identifying and quantifying certain words from users’ search queries with the purpose of examining the contexts within which these words were used. Findings – The prominence of topical words such as “history,” “social,” and “politics” in the list was an interesting reflection on the kinds of works users were looking for, as were the terms “handbook,” “guide,” and “manual.” The high frequency of these words imply that users were searching for broad topics, reference works, or other collections of instructions, all of which are intended to provide ready reference. Originality/value – Running search queries and e-book title words through a text analysis tool revealed new ideas related to what types of materials users search for and use. Text analysis of search terms and title words provided insight into the nature of e-book use, including broad topic (e.g. history), academic level of use (e.g. introductory), and genre/type (e.g. reference). While it is challenging to deduce reader intent from word frequency analysis, as text data remain widely open for interpretation, the methodology has significant strengths that drive us to continue to use in future studies.

Investigating the quality and maintenance issues of bibliographic records provided by the e-book supply chain: Using the operations of the Taiwan academic e-book & database consortium as an example

Investigating the quality and maintenance issues of bibliographic records provided by the e-book supply chain: Using the operations of the Taiwan academic e-book & database consortium as an example

The paradigm shift in realising the right to read: how ebook libraries are enabling in the university sector

Millions of people with print disabilities are denied the right to read. While some important efforts have been made to convert standard books to accessible formats and create accessible repositories, these have so far only addressed this crisis in an ad hoc way. This article argues that universally designed ebook libraries have the potential of substantially enabling persons with print disabilities. As a case study of what is possible, we analyse 12 academic ebook libraries to map their levels of accessibility. The positive results from this study indicate that universally designed ebooks are more than possible; they exist. While results are positive, however, we also found that most ebook libraries have some features that frustrate full accessibility, and some ebook libraries present critical barriers for people with disabilities. Based on these findings, we consider that some combination of private pressure and public law is both possible and necessary to advance the right-to-read cause. With access improving and recent advances in international law, now is the time to push for universal design and equality.

In transition: academic e-book reading in an institution without e-books

Purpose – This paper aims to report the results of a study that examined the ways in which graduate-level library and information science students make use of e-books and e-readers at an institution that does not offer e-books through its library. The paper can be used as a case study in the adoption of emerging technology. Design/methodology/approach – The study used three research methods – a survey, focus groups and interviews – to investigate library and information science students’ reading habits and preferences. Findings – The findings suggest that despite the barriers of access and usability, the students have generally incorporated e-books into their academic routines. The results also suggest the factors that contribute to reader preferences for e-book technology. Research limitations/implications – The study sample was limited to one academic institution without e-book collection. Originality/value – The article presents one of the very few studies that examine e-book reading of an academic population that does not currently have access to e-books through their academic library. Understanding the ways in which such a population accesses, uses and values e-books would help many academic libraries make decisions with regard to the selection, integration and marketing of e-books. Additionally, such a study could serve as the basis of a case study that seeks to understand the ways in which people who do not have ready access to technology through their institutions find ways to work around that obstacle.

Current state and future prospects of Japanese language academic E-Books : findings and challenges from a collaborative academic E-books usage project at 8 university libraries

Current state and future prospects of Japanese language academic E-Books : findings and challenges from a collaborative academic E-books usage project at 8 university libraries

The Case for e-Book Literacy: Undergraduate Students' Experience with e-Books for Course Work

This paper investigates how electronic books (e-books) are used for scholarly activity. It focuses on the end-users of e-books in a case study which aimed to establish how scholars use and learn from e-books and the limitations of academic e-books.There have been a number of calls for more user-focussed research on e-books to understand how they are used rather than how often they are used. In-depth case studies of end user behaviour are, by design, very labour and resource intensive and generally limited in terms of the numbers of participants and the ability to generalise from analysis of the results. However, this type of research provides a valuable insight into how scholars interact with e-books to attempt to fulfil their information needs. These studies produce a very rich data set which enables the researcher to understand how scholars use, and wish to use, e-books.Analysis of our empirical results, together with those obtained from previous research examining user needs and experiences of e-books, has enabled us to draw general conclusions about what is required in future e-book design and development. More specifically, we present a typology of e-book interactions relevant to the design of e-books (content and features) and to library/academic instruction in the effective use of e-books (‘e-book literacy’).

E-Readers on Trial: Qualitative Results from an Academic Library Pilot Project

In 2010, the University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries opened a bookless satellite library, the Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) Library. AET librarians wanted to offer a new service: lending e-readers loaded with academic content and other e-books of interest to engineering and science students. Librarians chose three e-readers for the pilot project: Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook. The study's purpose was to determine whether the devices provided an effective option for access to these materials. Preliminary results from a small pilot project indicated considerable student interest in the devices while raising questions about the availability and accessibility of academic content formatted for e-readers.

Comparing Usage Patterns Recorded between an Electronic Reference and an Electronic Monograph Collection: The Differences in Searches and Full-Text Content Viewings

This paper presents the results from a quantitative and systematic analysis comparing the online usage of an e-reference and an e-monograph collection. A very strong relationship exists between size and usage: the larger the collection, the greater the usage. An equally strong relationship exists between searches and viewings, meaning that the more there are searches performed, the more will full-text content be viewed. The smaller e-reference collection has also seen significantly greater use proportional to its size compared to the much larger e-monograph collection. E-monographs have not seen significant usage until after the addition of very large academic e-book packages.

慶應義塾大学における電子学術書利用実験プロジェクト最終報告 既刊書・電子学術書の学術利用の可能性

慶應義塾大学メディアセンターが2010年度から2012年度に行った電子学術書利用実験プロジェクトの最終報告として，実験の成果や意義を報告した。同実験は学術出版社や協力企業と共同で電子化した学術書（既刊書・和書）を学内に提供する実証実験で，大学図書館に対して，学術書を中心とする電子書籍提供モデルの可能性について検討を行うものであった。本稿は利用実験に焦点を当て，アンケート調査と聞き取り調査をもとに，「学生は電子書籍をどのように感じ，何を期待しているか？」を中心に論じた。利用者は検索，表示，目次の機能を重視し，「調べる読書」の電子化への要望が強い。また学習に関する電子化された情報を管理するネット上の「場」を望んでいることがわかった。得られた結果をもとに，教育インフラとしての電子書籍や新しい教科書の可能性を探った。研究や学習・教育の変化により，日本の大学図書館では学術書籍の大量電子化作業が不可欠である。慶應義塾大学メディアセンターでは他機関図書館との共同実験を計画し，電子書籍の汎用的な利用モデルの実現を目指している。

A Report of the AALL Annual meeting, Philadelphia 2011

AbstractVictoria Jannetta describes her experiences at the AALL annual meeting in Philadelphia focusing on various particular sessions given in relation to free speech, Delaware corporation law, company mergers, academic library issues and ebooks.