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C&RL Article: Factors Influencing the Usage of an Electronic Book Collection: Size of the E-book Collection, the Student Population, and the Faculty Population

Some very interesting inisghts here into the differences among grad, undergrad and faculty usage and acceptance of e-books. I know the heaviest user of e-books in my family is the PhD student which I suspect is a factor of volume of reading required, cost-savings, availability, and his tendency to be an iPad demon. It could be genetic on his mother’s side. She comes in a close second as an e-book reader by preference. Ironically, I’m third and the my daughter the artist has the fewest options since her inspiration is visual (which is a current weakness of e-book publishing – probably driven by rights issues) and instructor-written or -driven instruction manuals. Quite a variety of usage scenarios in my family alone.

Research Article: Factors Influencing the Usage of an Electronic Book Collection: Size of the E-book Collection, the Student Population, and the Faculty Population

Via at LJ InfoDocket

“Note: What follows is the recently released published version of an article we first shared on infoDOCKET more than a year ago when it became available as a preprint.

Title

Factors Influencing the Usage of an Electronic Book Collection: Size of the E-book Collection, the Student Population, and the Faculty Population

Author

Alain R. Lamothe J.N. Desmarais Library Laurentian University Sudbury, Ontario

Source

College and Research Libraries January 2013 Vol. 74 No. 1

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a quantitative and systematic investigation exploring online e-book usage at the J.N. Desmarais Library of Laurentian University over a 9-year period. The size of an e-book collection was determined to show evidence of an extremely strong relationship with the level of usage e-books experienced. Of all factors examined during the course of this study, it was the size of the collection that exhibited the strongest association to usage levels and would suggest just how important the size and content of a collection can be to patron acceptance and utilization. Of all student academic levels, doctoral students exhibited the strongest relationship with e-book usage, while undergraduate students showed signs of the weakest. Faculty demonstrated the overall weakest relationship with e-book usage.

Direct to Full Text (21 pages; PDF)”

Stephen

 

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Posted on: January 10, 2013, 6:57 am Category: Uncategorized

By: stephen

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