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The purpose of this paper is to show how e‐book readers are used in an academic library setting.

The approach takes the form of a literature review and e‐mail survey to academic library administrators.

Although the survey sample responding was not large, it was felt that it represented a microcosm of intelligent academic library administrators that might be involved in the eventual decision‐making process to acquire these devices for their libraries.

It would have been better if the sampling were larger. It would also have been beneficial to get a sample involving students and faculty.

This is an interesting technology that has great potential for the future of book publishing and has great academic library possibilities.

This is a possible paradigm shifting event.

This paper shows only the tip of the iceberg. There are much more data shortly yet to come about the novel uses this technology will present to academia.

The study aims to analyse library user preferences in the willingness to read and pay for e-books, using a sample of both active readers (users of public library services) and non-users (the general population).

Two empirical surveys were conducted from August to November of 2019; the research sample consisted of 1,334 users from the Municipal Library of Prague and 1,101 non-users from the general Czech population. The research was focussed on e-book user preferences. The willingness to pay (WTP) for e-book services and the determinants that affect this willingness were also examined.

The results show the specific approach of Czech readers, whose main determinant of WTP is not the content, but the price and method of its payment (allocation). Some people prefer a cheaper annual lump sum, whereas others may prefer a charge of small regular fees. The decision to pay depends on their reading or payment habits.

This study also aims to clarify the demand for various types of digital media in Czech libraries and the preferred distribution models. Furthermore, the study determines the dependence of the preferences of library users in their WTP for e-books using different evaluation models. The originality of this study is in the evaluation of the determinants of WTP for e-books, which makes this study unique, and the findings should contribute to the expansion of existing knowledge in the field of information science.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the adoption process of e-book readers and examine how the perception concerning the advantages of this technology and its incompatibility with consumer values determine the pleasure felt and its effective use. The authors also propose that consumer involvement with information and communication technologies (ICTs) moderates these effects.

Hierarchical moderated regression analysis is used to test the proposed model with survey data from a sample of e-book reader owners.

Appraisal of the device’s reading features and the possibility for free downloading increases the pleasure found with its use and the extent to which it is actually used, whereas attachment to paper books decreases the emotional feeling, with some of these effects being moderated by the individual’s involvement with new ICTs. Pleasure mediates the influence of perceived advantages and attachment to the older technology on the use of the e-book reader device.

Two challenges to practitioners are suggested: to overcome the rejection of users who are less eager to experience pleasure and to use the e-reader, and to find the product’s objective or sensory characteristics that provide pleasure and promote long-lasting use.

The study extends previous studies on e-book readers by emphasizing the need to go beyond adoption intention. It analyzes effective use as a crucial measure of the true adoption of this technology and incorporates the perspective offered by the appraisal theory of emotion, which explains the key role of pleasure in this process.

Due to the rapid pace of development and innovation in information technology, the dedicated electronic book (e‐book) reader has become a new trend in reading. However, at present there is only a limited understanding of what factors drive user attitudes/willingness to use this new device for reading. Hence, this paper aims to explore what factors drive users to use dedicated e‐book readers for reading.

The study proposes a causal model that explores how convenience, compatibility, and media richness affect users' attitudes towards the dedicated e‐book readers for reading.

The results of this study suggest that convenience, compatibility, and media richness all significantly contribute to dedicated e‐book reader acceptance.

The study extends previous theories: the Technology Acceptance Model, Innovation Diffusion Theory, media richness theory and convenience. This helps one to better understand what factors affect usage of the dedicated e‐book readers, an important topic for current and future research.

The findings outline and describe how the dominant factors affect users' attitudes towards adoption of the dedicated e‐book readers for reading. By considering factors such as ease‐of‐use, usefulness, convenience, compatibility, media richness, etc., in the stage of product development, practitioners can provide dedicated e‐book readers that customers will readily accept.

These findings will enable development of a more robust understanding of attitudes toward dedicated e‐book readers and will be helpful to developers researching e‐book hardware and software as well as to researchers interested in testing related theories.

Mobile handheld e-readers, such as the iPad and Kindle, have gained increased attention in schools and are becoming useful as a tool to attract students to learn and read. Although the benefits of mobile learning are clear, few studies have delved into the specific factors impacting the adoption and use of e-readers among elementary students. Moreover, the question of whether learning with e-readers can enhance reading comprehension remains unanswered. Given these facts, the study has a dual purpose. In order to explore the above-mentioned factors, the authors base the proposed research model on the task-technology fit (TTF) and self-efficacy theories, along with the technology acceptance model. Second, the authors examine the relationship between reading with e-readers and reading comprehension. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A sample of 60 third grade children participated in the study. The reading material used in this research was an e-book edition of the Chinese printed storybook Missing Grandmother. The causal model was validated using SmartPLS 2.0. In addition, this research used the SPSS statistical software package (SPSS for Windows, 17.0) to conduct a t-test and analysis of variance with a confidence level of 95 percent.

All eight study hypotheses were supported. The results indicate that TTF and mobile learning self-efficacy have the most significant influence on intention to learn with e-readers. The authors also found that children’s reading comprehension is enhanced in an e-book reading group. The analysis revealed no gender differences in reading comprehension.

This study explored factors which increase children’s intention to learn with e-readers. The proposed model helps the authors to understand the influence of mobile learning self-efficacy, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and TTF on this intention. The authors also compared e-books and p-books in regards to usability and found that e-book reading can improve third grade children’s reading comprehension. The authors found no gender differences in either the p-book reading group or the e-book reading group.

Though electronic books (e‐books) are not new, they are slow in their uptake compared to other types of e‐publications such as journals, newspapers. The possible reasons for this could be because the technology for creating/accessing e‐books (both hardware and software) is not yet matured. However, the recent involvement of many commercial publishers and aggregators in publishing and marketing of e‐books has triggered their use. This trend suggests making an analytical comparative study of the e‐book access model. The main purpose of this study is to analyse and compare offline and online e‐book access models.

In this paper an attempt is made to analyse and compare three offline and three online e‐book access models by identifying various specific e‐book access model features. The access models are evaluated based on three‐point scale.

It is observed that among offline access models Microsoft Reader has most of the features well defined and among online access models, Ebrary has most of the features well defined.

Many publishers and aggregators have started producing and marketing e‐books using different types of access models. There are several access models available and each one has its own merits and demerits. However, there has been no study carried out in comparing and analyzing these models. Hence this study is useful for all the stakeholders of e‐book industry viz., creator (author), publisher, aggregator, librarians and users of e‐books.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the driving factors of e-books’ illegal downloading and price acceptance from a theoretical perspective that embraces ethical and technological aspects. The diffusion of e-readers and tablets has led to a spate of pirated copies of books.

The proposed model holds that normative and value consciousness, as well as the self-efficacy, the usefulness and the use of the new technology, are determinants of the trend towards free downloads and the maximum acceptable price for e-books. Data are collected from a sample of 227 users of e-book reader devices.

The results provide evidence that individuals are inclined towards piracy when they use and control the technology, whereas value consciousness mitigates illegal downloading and is basic to the individuals’ acceptance of a higher price.

Bearing in mind that the spread of electronic devices has led to an increase in downloads, raising awareness of the norms among individuals is essential if piracy is to be curtailed. In addition, actions aimed at endowing electronic books with value would encourage consumers to pay a higher price for them.

Few attempts have been made to apply ethics theories and the technology acceptance model to the context of e-books’ piracy, and even less effort has been devoted to analyse consumers’ price acceptance in the e-book industry.

This paper aims to evaluate initial user perceptions and use of Amazon's Kindle DX e‐book reader.

The web crawler software LocoySpider was first applied to extract the Kindle DX customer reviews from Amazon web site, then 100 records randomly selected from the 1,358 customer reviews were analyzed with QSR NVIVO 8 software to code the pros and cons of the Kindle DX.

Data analysis indicates that Kindle DX is a great e‐book device. However, customers expressed their requirements for the next generation Kindle e‐book reader.

This is one of the first research papers of its kind to collect customer reviews of the Amazon Kindle DX with web crawler software and use NVivo 8 qualitative data analysis software to explore user perceptions of the Kindle DX e‐book reader.

The continued presence of electronic books or e‐books has significantly affected the publishing industry in recent years. The growing popularity of the Web and public acceptance of new e‐book technologies is facilitating their spread. However, initial optimism about the growth of the medium has been tempered by a measured uptake of the medium and the withdrawal of some e‐books products from the market. This paper attempts to update the position with e‐books and provide an overview of e‐book technologies by defining types of e‐books, listing their implementations, their advantages and disadvantages, hardware, software, management software and their future. The paper concludes that the success or failure of e‐books depends not only on acceptance by users but also on the publishing industry's ability to see beyond traditional business models. The e‐book readers are still in early stages of development but the hope is that common industry standards will soon be adopted and the medium will reach its full potential.

Although the functional benefits of e-books have been discussed in the emerging literature on the e-reader platform, the hedonic/emotional aspects of e-book usage have not been explored. This study aims to explore the impact that e-readers have on consumers’ connections with books. Relying on self-concept theory and possessions as the extended self, the authors address the following two questions: What are the hedonic differences between e-books and printed books, and, if the functional benefits of e-books are so compelling, then why do some people still use printed books?

The researchers pursue a qualitative design through the use of semi-structured interviews, with a combination of base questions and follow-up questions tailored to the individual respondent.

The results reveal six primary themes: convenience, change, community, collection, connection and children. Within each, functional benefits are identified, confirming prior literature on these benefits, and hedonic/emotional themes emerge, revealing that e-readers are capable of changing consumers’ connections with books. Namely, while e-books offer functional benefits over printed books, consumers feel less connected to books read using an e-reader platform and prefer to purchase the printed versions of books that hold special meanings for them. These findings align with self-concept theory and indicate that printed books are an extension of the self, one that cannot be completely replaced by e-books.

This research adds to the emerging literature on e-books by demonstrating that e-readers have emotional implications for consumers as components of the self-concept/extended self. Prior literature has focused solely on the functional benefits associated with e-books but has not directly addressed the role of books in the self-concept.