E-books: What Have We Learned? Where Are We Going? ©2003 Janis Bandelin & James Rettig What Have We...

e-books: What Have We Learned?Where Are We Going?

©2003 Janis Bandelin & James Rettig

What Have We Learned?

Where Are We Going?Janis Bandelin, Furman UniversityJim Rettig, University of Richmond

e-books:

with reactions by

Leland Park, Davidson College

Brad Norris, netLibrary



What Have We Learned?Where Are We Going?

©2003 Janis Bandelin and James RettigAll rights reserved. For permissions:

e-books:

[email protected]

[email protected]



Associated Collegesof the South

• 16 liberal arts colleges– http://www.colleges.org

• Spring 2000 consortial purchase– 3 lead institutions– 10 others joined– 500 titles selected



SOLINET Collections

• SOLINET 1 in 2000: 16,355 titles– Purchased by 4 ACS shared collection

participants

• SOLINET 2 in 2001: 11,311 titles– Purchased by 7 ACS shared

collection participants

• All 3 collections purchased by 4 ACS schools



The OPAC Effect

• ACS collection– 9 of 13 have

loaded MARC records

• SOLINET 1 – 3 of 4 have loaded

MARC records

• SOLINET 2 – 6 of 7 have loaded

MARC records

The OPAC Effect—ACS

21

160

113

137 141

34

244

105

16 14 104

67

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

MARC RECORDS NO MARC RECORDS

The OPAC Effect—ACS

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

MARC RECORDS 0.042 0.32 0.226 0.274 0.282 0.068 0.488 0.134 0.21

NO MARC RECORDS 0.032 0.028 0.02 0.008

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

The OPAC Effect—SOLINET

1923

350

2326

131

541

1006

845

252150

39

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1 2 3 4 5 6

MARC SOLINET 1 MARC SOLINET 2 NO MARC SOLINET 1 NO MARC SOLINET 2



e-book and Print Use Compared

At one

institution:

12.3% of e-

books used

At the same institution:

12.7% of printed books used in same period



Words Spoken at Fall Convocation 2000

Furman Libraries… • Have embraced proven

technologies• Are investigating new

technologies



Furman E- book Use Survey 2001

Majority of respondents were:– Faculty– Checked out 1-2 books– Had read 10-20 pages online– Preferred the print format



Survey Findings - 2001

Disadvantages• Response time –

discouragingly slow

• Setting up account is cumbersome

• Uncomfortable to read online

Advantages• Access from

desktop• Ability to search



Lessons Learned in 2001

• Strategy for promotion paid off• Success of e-books tied to

robustness of network • Print was preferred



Furman E-Book Use

Time Frame #Access Titles Sept ’00 – June ’01 352 500

July ’01 – June ’02 137 500

July ’02 – Mar ’03 281 7500



E-Book Use by Furman Faculty

E-mail sent in early March• Explained our e-book “history”• Expressed interest in faculty use

and satisfaction with our e-books• “If you have used an e-book Since September 2002, please respond…”



Responses by Furman Faculty

• Out of 220 faculty • 2 responses• Assistant professors in English,

Philosophy• Described their e-book use as

positive

Click to go to book

Initiallogin

Subsequent

login

Redundantauthentication

BOOKMARK

NOTES



ACS E-Book Collection Development Survey

• 92% overall response rate• 8 purchased additional netLibrary titles• From a handful to thousands• Most purchased SOLINET collections• 4 did not purchase more titles



Purchases from Other E-book Vendors

• 3 libraries made purchases from other vendors

• 2 libraries purchased the ACLS History collection

• 1 library purchased titles from Plunkett Research



Routine Check of E-book Availability

• 9 libraries do not check• 3 libraries routinely check all titles• 1 library checks only reference titles• None indicated that the e-book was

the preferred format



Specific Requests for E-books

• 2 of 12 libraries • Requested by faculty• From vendors other than

netLibrary



Evaluation of E-Book use

• No formal evaluation of user satisfaction

• Anecdotal information from users

• 6 of 12 libraries examined use statistics



E-books will not catch on until…

“… the collection reaches a certain size…andlevel of functionality and utility.”“…there’s more bandwidth on campus.”“…the circulation model is lessuser-hostile.”“…devices for using them are more user-friendly and ubiquitous.”



E-Books

• “… are well-suited to reference works that are briefly consulted for facts.”

• “…use will grow as more titles crop up

in patrons’ searches.”• “… use would increase with more portability.”



Go Figure…

“Electronic book sales have grown 1,447% resulting in sales of 3.3

million in January 2003, up from $211,000

in 2002.” Association of American Publishers

As reported in Library Hotline, 3/31/03



• Seamless integration into the

OPAC

• Single chapters of books available

for e-reserve

• Integration into approval plans

Issues #1

PDF HTMLVS.

Old Paradigm More Flexible

Issues #2



Issues #3

Most Flexible



Issues #4

Effects of the “gobbetization” of Knowledge?

• On readers’ understanding?

• On authors’ ways of presenting Information?

• On scholarly communication in the future



Issues #5

Need to reconceptualize

the book for the new medium



e-Books: A Response

Dr. Leland ParkDavidson College



e-Books: Another Response

Brad NorrisnetLibrary



Questions

and discussion

E-books: What Have We Learned? Where Are We Going? ©2003 Janis Bandelin & James Rettig What Have We...

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