Analysis of E-book Use: The Case of Ebrary

Tonta, Yaşar, Al, Umut and Soydal , İrem Analysis of E-book Use: The Case of Ebrary., 2010 . In 14th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, Helsinki (Finland), 16-18 June 2010. [Conference paper]

[thumbnail of tonta-al-soydal-ELPUB2010-Analysis-of-e-book-use.pdf]
Preview
 PDF
tonta-al-soydal-ELPUB2010-Analysis-of-e-book-use.pdf
Download (276kB) | Preview

English abstract

The interest in the use of electronic media in scholarly communication is growing. Nowadays, libraries reserve much larger budgets for electronic information sources as users tend to get access to the full‐texts of journal articles and books online. The effective management of library collections is only possible through studies identifying user needs as well as studies of usage analysis showing how much of what is being used in these collections. Although e‐books are a significant part of library collections, studies on e‐book use are scarce. In this paper, we have analyzed about half a million use data of ebrary e‐book database by the users of Hacettepe University Libraries within a four‐year period (2006‐2009). We obtained COUNTER‐compliant use data identifying, among other things, book title, publisher, and publication year for each transaction to analyze the use. We identified the most frequently used e‐book titles by Hacettepe University ebrary users in each Library of Congress (LC) subject class. E‐books on Medicine (R) were used most often, followed by books on Education (L) and Language and literature (P). A small number of e‐books in each subject class satisfied half the demand, while an overwhelming majority of e‐book titles were never used. Findings of this study can be used to develop an e‐book collection management policy and understand its implications for consortial licensing of e‐book packages.

Item type: Conference paper
Keywords: E-book use, collection management, collection development, Ebrary, Hacettepe University Libraries
Subjects: H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HO. e-books.
B. Information use and sociology of information > BH. Information needs and information requirements analysis.
C. Users, literacy and reading. > CA. Use studies.
Depositing user: prof. yasar tonta
Date deposited: 31 Oct 2010
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:17
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/14696

References

[1] REITZ, JM. ODLIS: online dictionary for library and information science. 2007. Available at http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_e.cfm (4 April 2010).

[2] BROWN, GJ. Beyond print: reading digitally. Library Hi Tech, 19(4), 2001, p. 390‐399.

[3] GUNTER, B. Electronic books: a survey of users in the UK. Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives, 57(6), 2005, p. 513‐522.

[4] RAO, SS. Electronic books: a review and evaluation. Library Hi Tech, 21(1), 2003, p. 85‐93.

[5] ABDULLAH, N; GIBB, F. A survey of e‐book awareness and usage amongst students in an academic library. In: Proceedings of International Conference of Multidisciplinary Information Sciences and Technologies, Merida, 25‐28 October, 2006. Available at http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/2280/1/strathprints002280.pdf (4 April 2010).

[6] ANURADHA, KT; USHA, HS. Use of e‐books in an academic and research environment: A case study from the Indian Institute of Science. Program: electronic library and information systems, 40(1), 2006, p. 48‐62.

[7] BENNETT, L; LANDONI, M. E‐books in academic libraries. The Electronic Library, 23(1), 2005, p. 9‐16.

[8] ISMAIL, R; ZAINAB, AN. The pattern of e‐book use amongst undergraduates in Malaysia: a case of to know is to use. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 10(2), 2005, p. 1‐23.

[9] LITTMAN, J; CONNAWAY, LS. A circulation analysis of print books and e‐books in an academic research library. Library Resources & Technical Services, 48(4), 2004, p. 256‐262.

[10] CHRISTIANSON, M; AUCOIN, M. Electronic or print books: Which are used? Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 29(1), 2005, p. 71‐81.

[11] SAFLEY, E. Demand for e‐books in an academic library. Journal of Library Administration, 45(3‐4), 2006, p. 445‐457.

[12] SPRAGUE, N; HUNTER, B. Assessing e‐books: Taking a closer look at e‐book statistics. Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, 32(3‐4), 2009, p. 150‐157.

[13] COUNTER. About COUNTER. 2009. Available at http://www.projectcounter.org/about.html (4 April 2010).

[14] SHEPHERD, PT. COUNTER: towards reliable vendor usage statistics. VINE: The Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, 34(4), 2004, p. 184‐189.

[15] VAN DER VELDE, W; ERNST, O. The future of eBooks? Will print disappear? An end‐user perspective. Library Hi Tech, 27(4), 2009, p. 570‐593.

[16] LEVINE‐CLARK, M. Electronic book usage: A survey at the University of Denver. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 6(3), 2006, p. 285–299.

[17] BLUMMER, B. E‐books revisited. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 11(2), 2006, p. 1‐13

[18] ABDULLAH, N; GIBB, F. Students’ attitudes towards e‐books in a Scottish higher education institute: part 1. Library Review, 57(8), 2008, p. 593‐605.

[19] GREGORY, CL. “But I Want a Real Book” an investigation of undergraduates’ usage and attitudes toward electronic books. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47(3), 2008, p. 266–273.

[20] CONYERS, A. Usage statistics and online behaviour. In The E‐resources management handbook, v.1, 2006, p.17‐27. Available at http://uksg.metapress.com/media/5g048jxytg5xxxxtwc2l/contributions/5/5/0/u/550u5m1aku3aqjvk.pdf (4 April 2010).

[21] HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY. General overview. 2010. Available at http://www.hacettepe.edu.tr/english/ortak/universite/genel.php (4 April 2010).

[22] HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. Hacettepe University Libraries. 2009. Available at http://www.library.hacettepe.edu.tr (4 April 2010).

[23] TENOPIR, C. Library resources: An overview and analysis of recent research studies. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources. 2003. Available at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub120/pub120.pdf (4 April 2010).

[24] THOMPSON, JW. The death of the scholarly monograph in the humanities? Citation patterns in literary scholarship. Libri, 52(3), 2002, p. 121‐136.

[25] TRUESWELL, RL. Some behavioral patterns of library users: The 80/20 rule. Wilson Library Bulletin, 43 (5), 1969, p. 458–461.

[26] EGGHE, L; ROUSSEAU, R. Introduction to informetrics: Quantitative methods in library, documentation and information science. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 1990. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/1942/587 (4 April 2010).


Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
Contact us
Send email Sponsors
Sponsor: AIMS Sponsor: D&P Sponsor: UniNa CAB Get connected
Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Linkedin LinkedIn RSS RSS