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This paper aims to explore the recent history of the Encyclopedia Britannica: how its contents evolved over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, how technological changes almost led to its demise and its transformation from a print to an online source.

This paper traces Britannica’s history during most of the twentieth century to today using relevant literature. It also examines how Britannica’s editors used continuous revision to edit numerous print editions throughout most of the twentieth century. The author used both print and online versions of the Britannica to track how particular entries changed or remained the same over a 106-year span.

Although many Britannica entries did not change for decades, it still managed to update numerous encyclopedic articles in an age before computers and instant editing. Britannica persisted despite challenges to its existence that resulted from technological changes and imprudent business decisions. On the eve of its 250th birthday, Britannica has managed to survive as an online product that continues to educate new generations of researchers.

This paper examines a subject that has been explored in the past but not in recent years. Despite previous missteps and competition from Wikipedia and other online reference tools, this paper argues that Britannica still has relevance today.

Academic libraries continue to invest in eBooks to ensure access to content in various formats. This paper aims to examine eBook acquisition models, including patron-driven acquisitions, one-time purchases, focused collection subscriptions or large-scale subscriptions, to better understand how users engage with this content based on usage data.

Usage data provide insights into eBook acquisition and how access models influence use. This study defines the acquisition model for each eBook purchase. Data were examined to determine usage by acquisition model and cost-per-use.

This paper finds that for a large suburban community college, a large-scale subscription model has the lowest cost-per-use and serves the largest portion of students. Focused collection subscriptions supported small, specialized programs in the Allied Health, Emergency Services, and Nursing fields.

This paper examines how eBooks are acquired to determine which model best serves an academic library community, specifically a community college library, which is currently underrepresented in the literature.