Academic E-book Research Articles

JSTOR E-Book EBA

JSTOR’s Evidence-Based Acquisition (EBA) model is a cost-effective means of providing access to a substantial backlist of academic e-books. Libraries pay a participation fee that gives their users unlimited access to a multidisciplinary collection of thousands of e-books for a 1-year term. Near the end of each subscription year, librarians select titles for perpetual access, with 75% of their participation fees available to fund the acquisition of those books.

Do you love them now? Use and non-use of academic ebooks a decade later

This survey of graduate students' and faculty's use and non-use of ebooks is a follow-up to the data captured in 2011 from the same mid-sized public university in southeast Texas. In addition to providing a change comparison of faculty and graduate students' ebooks usage over the past decade, the study also aims to contribute to the growing ebook literature examining faculty and graduate students' perception and use of ebooks for different academic activities. Survey results showed that while the proportion of respondents who are library ebook users had increased significantly over the past decade, both ebook users and non-users' attitude towards e- and print books remained consistent. Most ebook users appreciated features such as keyword searches and copy and pasting, but the majority also valued the option to print out pages and chapters. Respondents' format preferences also shifted based on their academic needs, although some of the feature limitations that prompted some users to switch from or avoid library ebooks were caused by DRM restrictions that could be removed by publishers. The findings have implications beyond the institution for academic library ebook acquisition and communication with local user populations. Other marketing and future research implications of the findings are also discussed.

E-Book Mobile Application: A Case of Kabale University Mukombe Library, Uganda

Globally, many academic e-books are available in user-friendly forms like PDF and HTML that can be accessed on laptops, iPads, and smartphones, even though some e-books require a special e-book reader. However, university students find it difficult to access e-books because some of the university libraries have few computers that hold the downloaded e-books, which are stored in a folder, and little effort has been made as a result; there is low usage of e-books. The project’s goal was to investigate how e-book applications work and how students at Kabale University can access e-books via mobile phone or tablet. The objectives of the project were to investigate the existing e-books application, design and develop the e-books application, and test and validate the developed application that enables students at Kabale University to access e-books simultaneously. The literature review helped me read a number of pieces of literature about e-book applications. They were information sources about the E-books application such as the internet, books, journals, and newspapers, among others. The use of existing information from the library helped to develop a model to predict the E-book application and testing of the application using Android smartphones. It was concluded that the implementation of the e-book’s application was done using Android to enable users to access the books on their mobile phones or tablets. The study recommends that the administrator of the system should be taken through the tasks in order to be able to upload books ready for the application

Determinants of the Adoption Academic Electronic Books by University Students in a Developing Country

Higher education institutions worldwide are transitioning to electronic books which have become a standard platform in providing reading materials. This study investigated the determinants of the adoption of academic e-books by university students in Nigeria. Results showed that a majority of students were aware of electronic books but only 44.5% of students used them often. Despite the availability of these resources, more than 50% of students did not use e-books, also surprising was that majority of students discovered e-books from their lecturers. The study further revealed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions were major determinants in the adoption of e-books by undergraduate students. However, social influence and gender did play a significant role in the intention to adopt electronic books by undergraduate students. This study has practical implications on academic institutions and electronic book publishers in encouraging e-book use and improving e-book features to align with the needs of the millennial students and also providing reliable internet facilities and improving lecturer and institutional support in driving e-book adoption by undergraduate students.

Comparing content and overlap in two large academic eBook collections

This article discusses the difficulties Kutztown University’s Rohrbach Library- and many libraries- face when evaluating eBook collections, and the process used to overcome some of the obstacles to making meaningful comparisons. Two multidisciplinary eBook subscription packages, EBSCO and ProQuest, are the focus of this study. Data collected from COUNTER reports and the integrated library system were input into Excel to examine the data. The authors show a comparison of the two collections while including the tremendous challenges and limitations involved in the process. This article emphasizes the need for COUNTER standardization, more consistent data reporting, and collection quality evaluation methods.

Perspectivas do e-book acadêmico de acesso aberto

Apresenta-se reflexões a respeito das mudanças do livro, do formato impresso para o digital, o e-Book no contexto do acesso aberto, as vantagens e desvantagens do livro no formato eletrônico, ferramentas para autores publicarem seus próprios e-Books, assim como as perspectivas para o futuro da produção e usos do e-Book acadêmico em âmbito internacional. O estudo, de cunho exploratório descritivo, verificou o perfil das bases de dados de e-Books, disponíveis no Portal Capes-Brasil. Entre os resultados, são descritas 50 bases de dados de e-Books disponíveis, classificadas como de acesso aberto ou restrito, país de origem, área de conhecimento e acervo. Para a análise das características e dados quantitativos, foram consultadas as respectivas páginas. Foi possível observar características do acervo de e-Books acadêmicos disponíveis no portal da Capes. A amostra indica a predominância por bases pagas, com acesso restrito, em sua maioria bases comerciais americanas, com acesso limitado apenas à comunidade científica. Esse cenário abre motivações para diversos questionamentos e possíveis pesquisas das mais diversas vertentes. Nesse sentido se fazem necessárias reflexões a respeito do mercado editorial de livros científicos/acadêmicos e suas perspectivas de acesso a toda sociedade.

Mama Don't Take My Codex/Tome Away: Strategies/Best Practices for Partnering New/Reluctant Users with Academic eBooks

Many readers of academic books prefer reading on paper. In many of our contexts, however, avoiding academic eBooks is becoming less and less of an option as students (as well as other users) have few viable opportunities for accessing print-on-paper information if that content is already available to them in electronic form. This session primarily considerrf ways in which librarians and information professionals can demystify and make useful the academic eBook for the (disinclined) user.
 Currently, we have a mixed bag of experiences regarding how the academic eBooks in our collections operate and we don’t yet know what the academic eBook of the future will look like or be able to offer to our readers. This session explored some options for both preparing the uninitiated for the variety of eBooks they will encounter, as well as consider some point-of-service strategies that may prevent a research conversation from ending abruptly when paper resources on a topic are scarce. How can we best help the resources that we have access to currently be more informative for our readers?

E-textbook piracy behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence the intention of students to pirate academic e-books by integrating three main theories: ethics theory, deterrence theory, and the theory of planned behavior. The study also examines the moderating role of past piracy behavior on the relationship between the factors in the previously mentioned theories and students’ piracy intention.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected using a convenience sample of 662 university students. Based on their past behaviors, the students were grouped into “no piracy” and “piracy” groups.FindingsThe result shows that the piracy intention of both the no-piracy and piracy groups has a similar influence based on the moral obligation in ethics theory. The factors in the deterrence theory, which includes fear of legal consequences and perceived likelihood of punishment, have no significant impact on the attitudes of the two groups toward piracy. While the intention of the no-piracy group is not influenced by other internal factors, such as self-efficacy, or by external factors, such as subjective norms and facilitating conditions, the behavioral intention of the piracy group is significantly influenced by these three factors.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only focuses on piracy attitude and behavior in the context of e-books.Practical implicationsIn Indonesia, the insignificant impact of factors from deterrence theory (the fear of legal consequences and perceived punishment) indicates weak law enforcement to combat digital piracy. Thus, it is imperative that law enforcement, especially regarding piracy, should be enhanced.Social implicationsThe significant role of ethics in the attitudes toward piracy indicates that morality serves as a moral compass to fight piracy behavior. The strong impact of subjective norms, especially in the piracy group, suggests that families should raise children and educate youth with beliefs that align with the concepts of morality.Originality/valueThe study integrates three theories that are most often used in piracy behavior studies: ethics theory, deterrence theory, and theory of planned behavior. In addition, the study provides empirical evidence on the moderating role of past experience in piracy behavior.

Academic E-book Usability from the Student’s Perspective

Abstract
 Objective – This article describes how librarians systematically compared different e-book platforms to identify which features and design impact usability and user satisfaction.
 Methods – This study employed task-based usability testing, including the “think-aloud protocol.” Students at the University of Colorado Boulder completed a series of typical tasks to compare the usability and measure user satisfaction with academic e-books. For each title, five students completed the tasks on three e-book platforms: the publisher platform and two aggregators. Thirty-five students evaluated seven titles on nine academic e-book platforms.
 Results – This study identified each platform’s strengths and weaknesses based on students’ experiences and preferences. The usability tests indicated that students preferred Ebook Central over EBSCO and strongly preferred the aggregators over publisher platforms.
 Conclusions – Librarians can use student expectations and preferences to guide e-book purchasing decisions. Preferences may vary by institution, but variations in e-book layout and functionality impact students’ ability to successfully complete tasks and influences their affinity for or satisfaction with any given platform. Usability testing is a useful tool for gauging user expectations and identifying preferences for features, functionality, and layout.

Format Shift: Information Behavior and User Experience in the Academic E-book Environment

This article seeks to understand information behavior in the context of the academic e-book user experience, shaped by a disparate set of vendor platforms licensed by libraries. These platforms vary in design and affordances, yet studies of e-book use in an academic context often treat e-books as a unified phenomenon in opposition to print books. Based on participant diaries tracking e-book information behavior and follow-up interviews and focus groups on troubleshooting and format shifting behaviors, this study seeks to provide a deep qualitative look at decisions that academic users make about formats when encountering e-books. It identifies reasons for noted disparities between stated user preferences for print books while often using e-books instead. It also demonstrates the importance of considering e-books as a set of formats, rather than a unified experience, when evaluating e-book platforms or providing information services around a set of platforms. While e-book studies often point to a distinction between “use” of e-books and “reading” of print books by users, this study shows much more willingness to both use and read e-books for some tasks if platforms allow for offloading reading of content to preferred reading devices and apps. This has implications for collection development, advocacy with vendors, and for marketing to or consulting with users about e-book access and use options.

The academic eBook ecosystem reinvigorated: A perspective from the USA

The development of infrastructure to support new forms of long‐form digital scholarship that go ‘beyond the eBook’ has been an active area of humanities publishing over the last 5 years. Proactive philanthropic support for this work has energized the US non‐profit publishing community, especially university presses and library‐based publishers. This article describes the various strands of work that are ongoing and identifies some common themes: an emphasis on shared values; a focus on building an ecosystem of interoperable platforms and tools; and engagement with the challenges facing new‐form digital publications (especially preservation, discovery, and accessibility). This article also considers how publishers who are looking for new platforms and processes can navigate the variety of options now on offer.

Legitimacy in Adaptive Business Model Innovation: An Investigation of Academic Ebook Platforms in China

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research is to investigate the importance and influence of seeking legitimacy from the value network for adaptive business model innovation in emerging markets. Drawing on institutional theory, it is believed that legitimacy can mitigate environmental uncertainties and risks, and help firms to survive and prosper. However, little is known about the role played by legitimacy in firms’ business model innovation. This article introduces the concept of legitimacy to examine how adaptive business model innovation responding to exogenous threats in emerging markets. By using the framework of value network, we employ comparative case studies of three foreign academic ebook platforms in China and investigate two types of adaptive business model innovation driven by legitimacy needs. Furthermore, we elucidate regulative, normative, and cognitive legitimacy in business model innovation and trace its origins, including regulatory authorities, partners, customers, and, in some cases, parent companies. Finally, we relate legitimacy seeking to adaptive business model innovation and elaborate on the process of how legitimacy needs motivate adaptive business model innovation, which would defend firms’ survival and growth in emerging markets.

A Study on the Evaluation of Publishers about the Sales Channel and Pricing Policy of Academic E-Books

학술전자책은 전자형태의 도서라는 점에서 전자책의 일환으로 분류되 기는 하지만, 일반도서와는 달리 특정한 전공 분야의 전문적인 내용을 담고 있다는 점에서 별도의 분야로 해석된다. 이 견해를 바탕으로 본연구는 학술전자책에 관한 출판인들의 평가를 살펴보기 위해 연구를 설계, 학술도서를 주로 출판하는 출판사 경영진들을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시했다. 분석결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 설문응답자들은 학술전자 책의 향후 발전가능성을 긍정적으로 평가하는 경향이 발견되었다. 둘째, 설문응답자들은 학술전자책의 활성화를 위해 주요 수요처인 대학도서 관, 연구기관 수서담당자들의 인식개선과 도서 내용의 품질 향상, 불법이 용에 대한 대책 등이 필요하다고 지적했다. 셋째, 설문응답자들은 학술전 자책 판매방식과 가격의 다양성이 필요하다는 점에 대해 다수가 동의했 다. 본 연구는 학술전자책을 이용자 관점이 아닌 판매자이자 제공자의 시각에서 내린 평가를 살펴보았다는 점에서 의의를 가진다.Although academic e-books are classified as e-books in the sense that they are electronic-type books, they are interpreted as separate fields in that they contain specific field workers or expertise, unlike general books. Based on this view, this study designed a study to examine the publishers evaluation of academic e-books, and surveyed publisher executives. First, respondents tended to evaluate the future development potential of academic e-books positively. Second, respondents pointed out that it is necessary to improve the awareness of the book holders, improve the quality of the book contents, and use illegal pirated books to revitalize academic e-books. Third, many respondents agreed that educational e-book sales methods and price diversity are necessary. This study is significant in that it examines the evaluation of academic e-books from the viewpoint of sellers and providers, not from the perspective of users.

Analysis and Reflection on the Utilization of Foreign Academic E-Book��An Empirical Study Based on 367 Users of a University

Based on the form of questionnaire, this paper explores the use of foreign academic e-books by teachers and students in a certain school from a subjective view. 367 Users’ behavior, habits and needs were analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, four suggestions are put forward to improve the overall utilization: Promote the localization of interface, pay attention to users’ advice while purchasing, improve content disclosure and subject classification, and guide users to have social sharing.

Academic e-Book Publishing in China: An Investigation of Current Status and Publishers' Attitudes

This study investigates the current status and attitudes towards academic e-book publishing by mainland Chinese academic publishers through an online survey. This study collected survey data from 49 authoritative academic publishers in China, focusing on their e-book sales profiles and their perceptions of how e-book sales affect publishers and libraries. The data reveals that China's academic e-book industry is still at an early development stage and has a relatively small market. The findings show significant differences in the willingness and attitudes towards e-book publishing between SSH publishers and STEM publishers, and also demonstrate that the enhancement of the demand for e-books by academic libraries promotes the process of the digital transformation of academic publishers. This study then argues that Chinese academic publishers need to further improve the quality of academic e-books, accelerate the transition from academic content providers to academic content service providers, and strengthen their cooperation with stakeholders.

Legitimacy in Business Model Adaptation: An Investigation of Academic Ebook Platforms in China

The purpose of this research is to investigate the importance and influences in seeking legitimacy from the value network on adaptive business model innovation under the context of emerging market. Drawing on the institutional theory, legitimacy is believed to mitigate the uncertainty and risks in environment, and help firms to survive. However, little is known about how legitimacy generated from and lead to business model innovation from the value network approach. This paper employs the concept of legitimacy from the institutional theory as well as the value network approach to examine the adaptive business model innovation in response to exogenous threat in the context of emerging market. Based on comparative case studies on foreign firms in Chinese academic ebooks market, we find that firms required legitimacy from different players in the local value network, including regulatory authorizes, partners, customers and in some cases their parent company. The legitimacy geared adaptations are conductive to adaptive business model innovation towards defending the survive and grow in emerging market.

STEM and Non-STEM Library Users Have Increased Their Use of E-Books

A Review of:
 Carroll, A. J., Corlett-Rivera, K., Hackman, T., & Zou, J. (2016). E-book perceptions and use in STEM and non-STEM disciplines: A comparative follow-up study. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(1), 131-162. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0002 
 
 Abstract
 
 Objective – To compile a set of usability and collection development suggestions and to examine a possible statistical correlation between visiting the physical library, online resource use, and e-book use. 
 
 Design – Online questionnaire survey. 
 
 Setting – Major public research university in Maryland, United States of America.
 
 Subjects – 47,209 faculty, students, and staff. 
 
 Methods – This survey is a follow-up to a similar 2012 study at the same institution. Survey respondents completed 14 multiple-choice and up to 8 open-ended questions about academic e-book discovery, perception, and usage patterns for both STEM and non-STEM respondents using the Qualtrics online research platform. Seven of eight open-ended questions were conditional (i.e., dependent on answers to multiple-choice questions), thus the number of questions answered by respondents could vary. The survey was available from October 1 to November 22, 2014, and promoted across a variety of communication channels (email, library website, social media, print flyers and handouts). Incentives for completing the survey included one iPad Mini and eight U.S. $25 Amazon gift cards. 
 
 Main Results – 1,911 (820 STEM and 1,091 non-STEM) self-selected students, faculty, and staff from a total campus population of 47,209 faculty, students, and staff (4.2% response rate) participated in the survey, excluding 277 additional responses representing library personnel (70) and individuals not affiliated with the institution (207). 
 
 64% of respondents indicated more e-book use than three years before, with only 21.9% of respondents noting they never use e-books for academic purposes compared to 31% in 2012. 32.5% of respondents noted daily or weekly use of e-books for scholarly pursuits, with undergraduates reporting the most frequent use: 38.6% daily/weekly use versus 37.2% for graduate students, 16.2% for faculty, and 14.2% for staff. 38% of respondents reporting daily/weekly use were from STEM disciplines; 31.3% were from non-STEM fields. 
 
 Computers, not e-readers, were the primary devices used for accessing e-books: 72.5% of respondents reported using laptops or desktops to this end versus tablets, 37.9%; mobile phones, 36.7%; Kindles, 25.6%; Nooks, 5.9%; and other e-readers, 3.3%. Top “mixed device access” responses were tablet/mobile phone/computer (98 responses); mobile phone/computer (93 responses); and tablet/computer (81 responses). 
 
 The top three discovery tools respondents reported using for finding e-books were commercial sites (35.9%), free websites (26.8%), and the library website (26.2%). A weak-positive Spearman’s rho rank correlation of 0.25 provides some evidence that respondents who visit the library often are likely to use online resources and e-books. 35% of respondents reported they use e-books online “most of the time,” and 67% of respondents indicated they print out e-book content for use. Responses to the question “What, if anything, would make you more likely to use e-books for academic purposes?” included easier access via the library website (48% of respondents), better functionality for highlighting/annotating (44%), reduced cost (43.2%), easier downloading (38.5%), more e-books in area of research interest (37.3%), more textbooks (37.2%), and ownership of a dedicated e-reader (35.6%). 
 
 In 2012, 52% of respondents reported never having downloaded an e-book for offline use. This percentage dropped notably in this study, with only 11.5% of respondents indicating they had never downloaded for later use.
 
 Conclusion – While this study indicates both STEM and non-STEM respondents at this institution are increasingly using e-books, preferences for electronic versus print format varied according to content type and type of user (e.g., STEM or non-STEM, undergraduate or graduate, student/faculty/staff). Key recommendations for usability and collection development include: improving discovery and awareness mechanisms, purchasing some content (e.g., references works, style guides) in e-format while ensuring multiple simultaneous use, taking advantage of print plus electronic options to serve users with different format preferences, and encouraging vendors to allow digital rights management free downloading and printing.

Academic e-books: publishers, librarians, and users

Academic e-books: publishers, librarians, and users

Longitudinal Analysis of Undergraduate E-book Use Finds that Knowledge of Local Communities Drives Format Selection and Collection Development Activities

Longitudinal Analysis of Undergraduate E-book Use Finds that Knowledge of Local Communities Drives Format Selection and Collection Development Activities

Inconsistencies between Academic E-book Platforms: A Comparison of Metadata and Search Results

This article presents the results of a study of academic e-books that compared the metadata and search results from major academic e-book platforms. The authors collected data and performed a series of test searches designed to produce the same result regardless of platform. Testing, however, revealed metadata-related errors and significant variation in search results that could impact the user experience. This article describes how other libraries could perform this type of testing and how this information could be used to inform the selection of e-books that are available on multiple platforms.