How E-books Are Used

A literature review has, in fact, recently been published by Robert Slater: "Why Aren't E-books Gaining More Ground in Academic Libraries? E-book Use and Perceptions: A Review of Published Literature and Research," Journal of Web Librarianship 4, no. 4 (2010): 305–31. However, since Slater's piece is motivated by a desire to explain, as its title makes clear, why e-books have not been more enthusiastically embraced in academia, it leaves out many studies that do not necessarily accord with his expectation that the e-book will soon achieve "its long-anticipated supremacy" and replace physical books as "the cornerstone of the academic library" (303, 326). There is a need for an examination of the existing studies that does not proceed from the assumption that e-books are an optimal product whose failure to win wholehearted acceptance by students and faculty can be explained only by reference to extrinsic factors such as the barriers to access erected by publishers.nHamid R. Jamali, David Nicholas, Ian Rowlands, '"Scholarly E-books: The Views of 16,000 Academics. Results from the JISC National E-book Observatory,"' Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives 61 no. 1 (2009): 33-47nPeter Hernon, '"E-book Use by Students: Undergraduates in Economics, Literature, and Nursing,"' Journal of Academic Librarianship 33 no. 1 (2007): 3-13nAaron K. Shrimplin, '"Contradictions and Consensus—Clusters of Opinions on E-books,"' College & Research Libraries 72 no. 2 (2011): 181-90nCynthia L. Gregory, '"‘But I Want a Real Book’: An Investigation of Undergraduates’ Usage and Attitudes toward Electronic Books,"' Reference & User Services Quarterly 47 no. 3 (2008): 266-73nWendy Allen Shelburne, '"E-book Usage in an Academic Library: User Attitudes and Behaviors,"' Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 33 no. 2–3 (2009): 59-72nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 289.nShelburne, 61; Levine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 289.nHernon et al., 7; Nicholas et al., 325–26; Shelburne, 61.nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 289.nHernon ., 7.nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 290.nRowlands et al., 18.nOn the other hand, Slater contends that "the hypothesis that more instruction is the answer ignores the more serious problem—that the platforms themselves and their limitations… are a barrier that e-book providers have, for the most part, failed to address" (Slater, "Why Aren't E-books Gaining More Ground in Academic Libraries?" 319).nAlain Lamothe, '"Electronic Book Usage Patterns as Observed at an Academic Library: Searches and Viewings,"' Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research 5 no. 1 (2010): 14nNancy Sprague, Ben Hunter, '"Assessing E-Books: Taking a Closer Look at E-book Statistics,"' Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 32 no. 3–4 (2008): 154nIbid., 156.nShelburne, 61.nLeo Appleton, '"The Use of Electronic Books in Midwifery Education: The Student Perspective,"' Health Information and Libraries Journal 21 no. 4 (2004): 250nMichael Levine-Clark, '"Electronic Books and the Humanities: A Survey at the University of Denver,"' Collection Building 26 no. 1 (2007): 11nGregory, 270.nSelinda Adelle Berg, 'Kristin Hoffmann, and Diane Dawson, "Not on the Same Page: Undergraduates’ Information Retrieval in Electronic and Print Books,"' Journal of Academic Librarianship 36 no. 6 (2010): 521nEdward W Walton, () "Faculty and Student Perceptions of Using E-books in a Small Academic Institution," paper presented at ACRL Thirteenth National Conference, Baltimore, MD. March 29–April 1, 2007, nMillie Jackson, '"What Faculty Think: A Survey on Electronic Resources,"' Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship 20 no. 2 (2008): 114nHernon, 8.nNicholas, et al., 322.nAbdullah Noorhidwaati, Forbes Gibb, '"How Students Use E-books—Reading or Referring?"' Malaysian Journal of Library and Information Science 13 no. 2 (2008): 5nIbid.nNicholas, et al., 312.nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 293.nEdward W. Walton, '"From the ACRL 13th National Conference: E-book Use Versus Users’ Perspectives,"' College & Undergraduate Libraries 14 no. 4 (2007): 25nNoorhidawati and Gibb, 9.nGregory, 269; Walton, " From the ACRL 13th National Conference," 24.nShelburne, 65.nCarol Simon, '"Just the Facts: An Examination of E-book Usage by Business Students and Faculty,"' Reference Librarian 52 no. 3 (2011): 272nSprague and Hunter, 155.nYuening Zhang, Roger Beckman, '"E-book Usage among Chemists, Biochemists and Biologists: Finds of a Survey and Interviews,"' Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 65 (2011): 8nRusty Kimball, Gary Ives, Kathy Jackson, '"Comparative Usage of Science E-book and Print Collections at Texas A&M University Libraries,"' Collection Management 35 no.1 (2012): 15-28nCatherine S. Herlihy, Hua Yi, '"E-books in Academic Libraries: How Does Currency Affect Usage,"' New Library World 111 no. 9–10 (2010): 378-79nTimothy Bailey, '"Electronic Book Usage at a Master's Level 1 University: A Longitudinal Study,"' Journal of Academic Librarianship 32 no.1 (2006): 52-59nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Books and the Humanities," 13.nJamali, Nichols, and Rowlands, "Scholarly E-books," 37.nShelburne, 62.nRosey Croft, Corey Davis, '"E-books Revisited: Surveying Student E-book Usage in a Distributed Learning Academic Library 6 Years Later,"' Journal of Library Administration 50 no. 5 (2010): 559nQuoted in Shelburne, 63.nSlater, "Why Aren't E-books Gaining More Ground in Academic Libraries?" 315.nThe trouble with screen-reading is cited in Shelburne, 64; Hernon et al., 8; Walton, "From the ACRL 13th National Conference," 30; Berg et al., 523; and Jamali, et al., 41; difficulties of navigation and annotation are cited in Shelburne, 64; Hernon et al., 8; Appleton, 249; Jackson, 114; and Berg et al., 522.nShrimplin et al., 186.nLevine-Clark, "Electronic Book Usage," 284.nQuoted in Jamali, Nichols, and Rowlands, "Scholarly E-books," 44.nIbid.nIbid., 45.nCarlock and Perry, "Exploring Faculty Experiencs with E-books," 251.nJ.D. Salinger, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (New York: Bantam, 1981 [1963]), 123.nShelburne, 64.nCarlock and Perry, "Exploring Faculty Experiencs with E-books," 251.nBerg et al., 522.nGregory, 272.nWalton, "From the ACRL 13th National Conference," 33.nWouter van der Velde, Olaf Ernst, '"The Future of eBooks? Will Print Disappear? An End-User Perspective,"' Library Hi Tech 27 no. 4 (): 583nCarlock and Perry, 253.nJamali et al., 47.nShelburne, 65.nHernon, 8.nHernon, 8; Shelburne, 65.nShelburne, 59.nHernon, 8; Michael Levine-Clark, "Electronic Books and the Humanities," 11.nWalton, "From the ACRL 13th National Conference," 27.nThomas Mann, '"The Importance of Books, Free Access, and Libraries as Places—and the Dangerous Inadequacy of the Information Science Paradigm,"' Journal of Academic Librarianship 27 no. 4 (2001): 270nNick Anderson, '"The Crisis in Research Librarianship,"' Journal of Academic Librarianship 37 no. 4 (2011): 290nSlater, "Why Aren't E-books Gaining More Ground in Academic Libraries?" 308. The research Slater cites is from study of how people use print sources done by Gordon and Sabine in 1986 and a more recent study of members of the American Academy of Pediatrics. More research would be needed to solidify support for his position.nGregory, 270.nNina Gielen, '"Handheld E-book Readers and Scholarship: Report and Reader Survey,"' Reference Librarian 52 no. 1 (2011): 22nMartin Zimerman, '"E-readers in an Academic Library Setting,"' Library Hi Tech 29 no.1 (2011): 91-108n