Users and usage

Notes on a talk by Chris Armstrong of Information Automated Ltd from the E-Books & E-Content 2007held at University Central London, 8th May 2007

The JUSTEIS project analysised the promotion & usage of e-books and concluded that at the time, no-one used e-resources and that it was viewed in terms of Google.

Purpose of the e-book is that it is intended to be read on the screen. Technology has been lagging in making this feasible but this year will see new readers hitting the market.

Issues still arise with the range, type, cost and locating existing e-books. Global books in print is currently considered about the best for sourcing e-books. It covers current publications, out-of-print and forth coming titles.

There still exists problems with different suppliers using different interfaces and different software. Locally there is often problems with access & IT support.

Management issues include:

• Selection/ acquisition
• Budget allocation
• New skills required for evaluating e-books
• There is need for approvals and publisher trials
• Cataloguing issues (MARC records)
• Adequacy of collection development policy
• Issues still exist with use on virtual learning platforms

Study shows that e-books are more likely to be used from catalogues. It is also felt that libraries do not promote usage as a whole. Some tried techniques include: staff information sessions, e-book champion, newsletters, posters, current awareness, VLE announcements, orientation of new users.

Other problems are created by hardware or networking:

• LAN / Intranet
• Firewalls
• Compatibility
• Access to work stations & ergonomics
• Liaising with IT support
• Disenfranchised students
• Printer access

Superbook project: e-book usage in practice

Notes on a talk by Dr Ian Rowlands from the E-Books & E-Content 2007
held at University Central London, 8th May 2007

University of Central London (UCL) is working in conjuction with the library, students, faculty and publishers, to use it’s facilities as a laboratory to investigate e-books.It is focusing on different methods of e-book promotion, publishing models and how it is used.

The study is utilising benchmarking techniques to measure awareness & perceptions of e-books at the start and end of the study. Deep log analysis is being applied to gain an insight on how the content is accessed. This collects data on users latitude and longitude, by what route they found it, how long it was accessed for, print outs, number of visits, how deeply was the site explored.

Findings to date:

• Users are typically undergraduate, male and use Google.
• The catalogue is the strongest method of locating the e-book at 38% over Google 21%
• Usage was concentrated on a few high demand titles
• Large difference in take up between the disciplines

Growth points for e-books:

• Unblocks hardcopy bottlenecks
• Reaches out to new library users
• Takes traffic from e-journals
• More searchable than books
• Builds user confidence if 'walled gardens' are used

Further information on the Superbooks Project.