E-books in the Sciences: SLA 2009 Presentation

The results of the e-book survey are summarized below. Details of the results are in the presentation.

1. High level of interest in e-books amongst graduate students:

• Graduate students have used some form of e-book and are aware that the University subscribes to e-books
• Many faculty members are not aware that the library subscribes to different e-book packages

1. Online reading behaviour and features desired:

• Graduate students and faculty spend minimal time reading an e-book on the computer screen
• Very important features required: Ability to copy, paste, print, & download and the capability to e-mail chapters. Citing, exporting to bibliographic management software, and highlighting searched text are some of the other important features desired

1. Some challenges:

• Academic community not aware of the value-added features available in e-books
• Complete MARC records from e-book publishers/content providers are required
• Access/Digital Rights Management issues
• Difficulty in reading from the screen