E-books: yes or no? A case study of undergraduate students at the University of Namibia
ISSN: 2514-9326
Article publication date: 1 July 2019
Issue publication date: 1 July 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to determine how undergraduate students at the University of Namibia perceive and use e-books. This paper aims to report on the result of a study that investigated the adoption of, views about and use of e-books at the University of Namibia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed-method approach. It used three methods, namely, focus group interviews, observation combined with the think aloud and a survey to investigate how undergraduate students use e-books.
Findings
Major findings of the study indicated that students use and prefer e-books for course and research purposes. But they mainly use non-library search engines such as Google, Yahoo and commercial sites. Lack of searching skills, slow/unreliable internet and limited or lack of relevant content of e-book collections were the major hindrances affecting e-book use.
Originality/value
The findings of the study could be used to understand the use of e-books at the University of Namibia and at academic institutions with similar context to Namibia. The study contributes to the knowledge base of library and information science (LIS) by providing a detailed analysis on the views and use of e-books at the University of Namibia. The recommendations of this study can be adopted by libraries in other countries with similar socio-economic conditions like Namibia.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This article is a short extraction and summary from the thesis on “Views about, adoption and usage of e-books at the University of Namibia” that was done at the University of South Africa. The thesis link could be found at: http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/23180
Citation
Leonard, A. and Snyman, M. (2019), "E-books: yes or no? A case study of undergraduate students at the University of Namibia", Collection and Curation, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 78-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-08-2018-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited