Ebook usage by discipline, and eBook trends.

1. Academic Libraries and Ebooks:
Models & subject based analysis of usage
Presentation to Academic Programs and Associate
University Librarian
May 17, 2011
Tina M. Adams,
Academic Programs Librarian

2. E-book Data Compiled from Academic
Institutions and Cumulative Reports
 11% of titles received more use in e-book format than the print version of the same book (a
single circulation of a print book takes up a longer period of time). 1
 At many institutions, though print circulation has gone down, e-book circulation has risen to
account for about 23% of total circulation, reaching nearly the level of print book circulation 1
 39% of titles were used in both e-book and print formats, 34% of titles were used as e-books
only and 27% were used as print titles only. 1
 27% of users have only ever used an e-book once, 10% of users use e-books frequently, most,
about 70% have used e-books occasionally 1
 40% of users, used an e-book because there was no print book available1
 42% of users like to use e-books when working from home1
 55% of users, used an e-book because they are searchable1
 71% of titles that do not circulate in print, are not accessed as e-books either1
 Reference books were especially preferred as e-books1
 More than 23% of the libraries in the sample owned some kind of stand alone ebook reading
device (Kindles, Nooks, etc) 5
Expectations are that NAU usage would be similar and we do have an upcoming pilot to test the
Purchase Driven Acquisition model of e-book purchasing which should give us some data on e-
book usage at NAU.

3. Data Compiled by a Range of Academic
Institutions and Cumulative Studies
• University of Texas at Dallas
• University of Texas at Austin
• California State University, Langston
• National University of Ireland at Galway
• Louisiana State University
• Auburn University
• University of Pittsburgh
• Primary Research Group’s, Library Use of E-books, 2011 Report
(compiled from a large sample of academic and public libraries)

4. Benefits of E-books
• Unlimited use (many e-books have multiple seats or unlimited access, so
the book is always “in”)
• Available from anywhere (Home, work, travelling) and anytime (not bound
by Library Hours) and for distance students, doesn’t require waiting for
books to be shipped to them
• Portability via e-readers, ipads, laptops etc (potentially though academic
publishers haven’t been as quick to go mobile (e-readers) as others, the
trend is beginning)
• Usable for Course Reserves and imbedding readings into Learning
Management Systems
• Integration into Library Catalog, makes e-books more “findable”
• Ability to search the full text of a book
• Ability to resize text
• Definition lookup and Annotation functions

5. E-book Use by Discipline
Who Uses E-Books? Who Doesn’t Use E-books
• Greatest use of e-books occurred in Social
Sciences, Economics & Business,
Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and
Literature.
• E-books in Education, Medicine,
Psychology and Computing were used
more than print books
• E-books in Science & Technology are used
6-17 times more than the print version of the
same book
• Computer books are used 207 times more in
e-book version than print version
• In the Social Sciences, Business and
Literature a single title was equally likely to
be used in print and e-book format
• Strong uptake overall in the use of e-books
Humanities Researchers:
• Rely heavily on the library catalog as their
starting point for research, so e-book access
through the catalog is critical.
• Are more aware of e-books because they
encounter them via the catalog, but are less
inclined to use e-books than faculty and
undergraduates in other disciplines
• Graduate students were 10% more likely to use
e-books than other Grad students.
• 55% of Humanities researches used an e-book
because there was no print book available
• 68% of all Humanities researchers say they would
always prefer the print version over an e-version
of the book, while 60% of other users state that
they would always or usually prefer print

6. 2009 NAU E-book Usage
(Ebrary & Netlibrary)
• Ebrary Usage
▫ Aug-Nov 20009 370,526 uses
▫ Many titles used hundreds or thousands of times
• NetLibrary Usage
▫ 8,000 uses
▫ Usage is lower because NetLibrary titles are olders
and uses “check out” model which means a book
can only be used by one person at a time.

7. Conclusions and Future Directions
• As Humanities publishing of quality e-book collections
continues to grow, ie Books at JSTOR publishes e-books
from prominent publishers, collections such as
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries, Oxford
Scholarship Online--Humanities researchers may find e-
books beneficial and become less averse to using them.
• Functionality and Interoperability of e-books offered to
Academic Libraries is improving.
• As more publishers increase functionality, such as more
liberal downloading and printing policies and ability to
download books to e-readers and mobile devices, we
believe student use will increase even more than it has.

8. Sources
• 1.) Cox, John (2009) Adapting to E-books, Chapter “Making Sense of E-
book Usage, p.37
• 2.) Langston, M. (2003) The California State University E-book Pilot
Project: Implications for Cooperative Collection Development. Library
Collections, Acquisitions and Technical Services, 27 (1) 19-32
• 3.) Levine-Clark, M. (2007) Electronic Books and the humanities: A survey
at the University of Denver. Collection Building, 26(1), 7-14.
• 4.) Littman, 2004 A Circulation Analysis of print books and e-books in an
academic research library. Library Resources and Technical Services, 48
(4) 256-262.
• 5.) Primary Research Group. (2010). Library use of ebooks, 2011 edition.
New York, N.Y: Primary Research Group.
• 6.) Safley. E (2006) Demand for e-books in an academic library. Journal of
Library Administration, 45(3-4) 445-457.