A recent survey commissioned by ebrary who operate in the library and publishing sectors, has found users of e-books don’t rely on Google to search for content. They received responses from 552 individual libraries, the majority of which were academic. The survey revealed that of these, 88% said they own and subscribe to e-books, while 45% confirmed they have access to a library of more than 10,000 e-books. The various themes examined included the usage of e-books, purchase drivers and inhibitors, digitisation and distribution platforms.
The results confirmed what many librarians may have suspected in that they and their colleagues are often the drivers when it comes to pushing users towards e-books, whether that’s through recommendations or the libraries cataloguing system.
One of the key findings suggested “Respondents ranked Google and other search engines as the least common ways that patrons find e-books". It went on to say "Google and other search engines were also indicated among the least prevalent factors that drive e-book usage, while the library’s catalogue and professor and staff recommendations were indicated as most prevalent”. This also confirmed that the primary path to e-books for students and faculty members is via OPAC, the Online Public Access Catalog used throughout libraries world-wide.
Other findings of the study show:
• 78% of respondents described usage of e-books at their libraries as fair to excellent.
• 81% of respondents indicated that integration of e-books with other library resources and information on the web is “very” important.
• The number of respondents who chose subscription and purchase as their models of choice for acquiring digital content was almost equal.
• 56% of respondents are digitising their own content or actively considering it, and 81% indicated that they will digitise their materials in-house.
• Price, subject areas, and access models were indicated as the most important factors when subscribing to or purchasing e-books.
The study also examined the frequency of use for e-books, how often they were chosen as an information resource over their traditional paper counterparts. The results indicated that they were under-utilised. On average e-books made up 15% of a collection but were only used 11% of the time. The study’s interpreters believe that this could be in part due to frustrations of students having to use different procedures when accessing print or digital formats. “A lack of understanding of the strength of the research nature of the e-book collection” is also cited for the rather weak take-up.
Less surprising was that cost and quality of content were cited by the librarians as two of the most important factors they consider when purchasing electronic titles.
Interpretation of the results was conducted by Allen McKiel, Director of Libraries, Northeastern State University.
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