Search results

This article aims to provide a comprehensive step by step plan on creating a Zombie Library, a physical collection of e‐books through the use of QR codes. Drawing on the collective authors' experience working with the QR codes creation, this article aims to help librarians interested in promoting e‐book collections and creating QR‐coded Zombie books in their libraries.

A literature review was performed using library databases, as well as consulting various online library subject guides on the use of QR codes in libraries. Between November 2011 and October 2012 Idaho State University (ISU) library executed a plan for creating QR codes for a Gale Virtual Reference Library e‐book collection.

The study found an increased usage of the e‐book collection. The actual physical production of the items was more time‐consuming than originally expected. The Zombie Library project received a lot of support and enthusiasm from the campus community. Plans are being made to expand this project to other e‐book collections and other physical media (posters, bookmarks, etc.). This article combines promoting e‐book collections with physical representations of the e‐book via QR codes.

This article is an inclusive step by step plan for promoting e‐book collections using QR codes.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the findings from the qualitative strand of the National e‐Book Observatory (2007‐2009) project, relating to the promotion of e‐textbooks in UK universities by the library, academics and publishers. A complementary paper on the ways in which students and academics locate e‐books provided by their library will appear in a future issue.

Following the provision by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK of collections of e‐textbooks, the project used deep log analysis, benchmark surveys and focus groups to develop a rich picture of library e‐collection management and use by students and academics. Focus groups were undertaken with library staff, academics and students; the dialogues were transcribed and analysed using NVivo7 software.

The qualitative studies found that libraries were using a range of promotional tools, although these were not always finding their targets. Often libraries had no formal promotion strategy for e‐resources. Although little in evidence, the value of academic commitment and promotion was emphasised. Promotion by publishers and aggregators is both to libraries and directly to academic staff. Students felt that they were largely unaware of promotion beyond the presence of e‐books in the catalogue, and in some cases stated explicitly that they thought more should be done to promote library e‐resources to them.

The paper offers pragmatic guidance on promotional methodologies.

The project describes the first major, national usage study of e‐books in higher education. The paper contributes significantly to the literature in discussing the importance of promoting e‐books to students and staff.

The purpose of this paper is to report research into the marketing and promotion of e‐books, and use this as a case study context to generate insights into approaches in academic libraries to the marketing of new services. As such it contributes to the limited empirical research on both the introduction of e‐book services and on marketing in academic libraries.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 25 academic librarians, in seven case study libraries, holding the following posts: subject librarians, e‐resources librarians, or cataloguers. Interviews focussed on: the existence of a promotion/marketing strategy for e‐books; the marketing and promotion tools used to promote e‐books; promotion via academics; the issues and challenges in promoting e‐books; and future plans for the promotion of e‐books.

None of the libraries had a marketing communication strategy relating to e‐books, yet, on the other hand, most interviewees were able to point to a range of tools used to promote e‐books, and some had plans for improvements in their promotion activities.

This study demonstrates a laissez faire approach to the marketing of potentially significant new services from academic libraries – providing access to e‐books. Recommendations for development focus on taking a strategic approach to marketing and promotion, managing tensions between promotion and supply, innovation in promotional tools, and influencing word‐of‐mouth.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of the acquisition of e‐books in libraries in institutes of technology (ITs) in Ireland undertaken in 2009.

Web sites of the libraries of the 15 ITs were studied and this was followed by telephone interviews, using a structured set of questions, with the acquisition librarians. Tables are provided showing the e‐book suppliers used, reasons for acquiring (and not acquiring) e‐books, links with virtual learning environments and methods of promotion.

Librarians from 12 of the 15 ITs agreed to be interviewed giving a response rate of 80 per cent. The ITs are using e‐books from a wide variety of suppliers and teaching staff in the ITs had little, if any, involvement in the selection of e‐book titles. Staff in the libraries find that business models for the acquisition of e‐books causes difficulties. Most of the IT libraries were investigating a consortial arrangement for e‐book acquisition. Better liaison with lecturers and improved promotion of e‐books is necessary.

The paper provides a baseline study of acquisition of e‐books in one sector of a country.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether a sufficient number of e‐books is available in science streams from different publishers to satisfy the need of an academic library to develop an e‐book collection based on its collection development policy. This study aims to identify e‐book equivalents for print books acquired by Central Science Library, University of Delhi.

This study provides the in‐depth quantitative analysis according to title‐by‐title selection of e‐books from various international publishers compared to the recommended books for different science courses of the University of Delhi. The study was conducted following that of Price and McDonald which shows that around 30 per cent of print books have e‐book equivalents. The data collected were analyzed by using a simple method of calculation and percentages were calculated to interpret the results of the study.

The results show that only about 17per cent of print books have e‐book equivalents available from different publishers, fulfilling only 9‐15 per cent of the requirements of most of the courses – something that does not match the library's collection development policy.

The present study is based on the books recommended in the curriculum of different science courses of the University of Delhi for the academic year 2009‐2010. According to subject‐wise distribution of e‐books variation of about 2 per cent in the findings occurred, as some books are mentioned in the curriculum of more than one course. This study provides some constructive suggestions which may help librarians to explore ways to spend the budget for collection development of e‐books in a more appropriate way.

As this paper is based on in‐depth quantitative analysis of availability of e‐books according to need of a particular academic library, generalization about availability of e‐books cannot be made. However, it contributes to trace the growth of e‐books and suggests some alternatives to develop e‐book collection. Further studies can be done for different library settings to find out their need for and availability of e‐books.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the practical experience of managing e‐books in an academic library.

An overview of the three main e‐book collections used (netLibrary, Taylor & Francis, and Ebook Library via Dawson) is provided, along with details such as the acquisition, cataloguing and maintenance of e‐books; funding, licensing and authentication; varying interfaces; publicity, promotion and user education; subject coverage, statistics and usage.

Variations in approach and services by the suppliers of e‐books can provide challenges for those managing e‐books.

The paper provides practical details of managing e‐books in an academic library that might be of relevance to others.

The paper illustrates the experiences of both academic and support staff in the use of electronic books within a higher education setting. The case studies report upon practice at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, which has allowed for successful e‐book development strategies to be employed in teaching and learning within the college. The paper will deal particularly with e‐book marketing, implementation and evaluation strategies, as well as embedding e‐books into virtual learning environments (VLEs).

The paper reports upon two significant chapters within e‐book development at the college. The first of these is an initial evaluative e‐book research project, from which strategy and policy were formulated. The second part of the paper introduces case studies in which the findings of the initial research impact upon the embedding of e‐books into teaching and learning and subsequently into the college's VLE.

User evaluations provide qualitative analytic data into the benefits and disadvantages of using e‐books in higher education teaching and learning activity.

The findings are limited to one particular higher education institution and specific curriculum areas within.

The evaluative data, as well as particular e‐book strategies identified, make the paper of value to those researching e‐book usage and activity, in particular within online learning.

E‐books are a relatively recent addition to the online electronic resources market, and commentators are still debating their efficacy. Access to e‐books continues to develop, with numerous platforms available, and lack of standardisation an ongoing problem. However, there are potential advantages to e‐books, including easier access, speed of publication, space‐saving, and lower costs. Many university libraries are beginning to have e‐books in their collections. A research project being undertaken at Liverpool John Moores University is investigating the provision of e‐books in 127 academic libraries in the UK. Many academic libraries are providing access to e‐book resources that are free‐of‐charge, and those libraries offering e‐book subscriptions are using the World Wide Web for their platform. There are similar issues in the take‐up of e‐books to those regarding the take‐up of other electronic resources, such as e‐journals. These include changes in professional and management skills, such as collection development, marketing and evaluation, user education, technological skills and communication skills.

The purpose of this paper is to present the second part of three inter‐related studies investigating the use and usability of e‐books in higher education based on experiments conducted at the University of Strathclyde.

The research discussed here involved two analyses: an analysis of two e‐book collections in the libraries of the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow and an analysis of a follow‐up study to a web survey into user interactions with e‐books in one of the library's collections.

The follow‐up study found that in general students found that interacting with e‐books in the library collection was easy. Students indicated that their preferred book formats varied depending on the context of their information need. Despite their positive reaction and attitudes towards e‐books, students commented that e‐books needed to be promoted more strongly and that there were limitations with respect to their use.

The study presented here was a small‐scale study based only on e‐book collections from one supplier (NetLibrary) and involved only 18 respondents. While this is considered sufficient based on the discount usability testing concept, generalisation of the results should be made with caution.

The findings should be of value to academic libraries in terms of improving e‐book collection management. This study highlights current attitudes of students towards e‐book in terms of how they interact with them, the features they value and their preferences between e‐books and paper books in a university library.

This paper provides useful information on students’ attitudes towards e‐books.

This paper aims to review the literature dealing with e‐books to identify trends.

The review is based on the literature published during January to December 2010. For this purpose, literature on e‐books was searched and retrieved from LISA, LISTA, Emerald, Science Direct and J‐store. E‐books, electronic books, digital books, e‐book reader, were the keywords used for searching the literature in these databases. The literature is analyzed and reviewed under various broad categories. Most of the literature reviewed is in English. Non‐English literature reported in the LISA is also considered.

In spite of the unconcluded debate of print versus electronic, popularity of e‐books is increasing and thereby the e‐book market is growing at a very fast pace. User friendliness, cost, portability are some of the reasons for the increased use of e‐books. Varieties of e‐book readers are produced with different features. Copyright and DRM are the challenging issues. New e‐book pricing models are evolving with their own merits and demerits. Libraries are carrying out e‐book usage studies and are adopting innovative practices to promote e‐books.

The paper is useful for LIS researchers, practitioners, e‐book publishers and aggregators for understanding current trends and for framing prospective policies.

The paper identifies trends based on published literature.