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The purpose of this paper is to present the results from a quantitative analysis comparing usage between collections of individually purchased e‐books and collections of e‐books purchased as part of large consortially negotiated bundles. The aim of this study is to determine if individually purchased e‐books have recorded a greater level of usage than e‐books purchased in large packages and, consequently, which of the two acquisition models is best suited for the library.

Usage rates of e‐books purchased individually from NetLibrary and MyiLibrary were compared to usage rates of e‐books purchased in large bundles from the same aggregators. Usage of e‐books purchased in large bundles directly from SpringerLink was compared to usage of e‐books on NetLibrary and MyiLibrary. The number of e‐books was obtained by simple count. Additional statistics tracked include the number of viewings.

Initial results indicate that individually purchased titles from both NetLibrary and MyiLibrary have consistently recorded a greater level of usage than the bundled titles on their respective platforms. A second quantitative analysis comparing two aggregated collections of individually selected titles to a very large bundled collection acquired directly from SpringerLink yielded somewhat different results. For the most part, SpringerLink bundled e‐books have recorded a greater level of usage when compared to bundled titles on NetLibrary and MyiLibrary.

This research is one of very few studies systematically and quantitatively comparing usage levels between e‐monographs individually selected and acquired as large bundles by a Canadian academic library.

The purpose of the study is to review the e-books collection, namely, Ebrary Academic Complete, by understanding its features, cost and usage at Vikram Sarabhai Library, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA). The study attempts to understand the usefulness of Ebrary in terms of its currency of titles, publishers, subjects and cost.

The paper is based on five-year usage data of Ebrary Academic Complete at Vikram Sarabhai Library, IIMA. The data on usage of Ebrary was downloaded and analyzed on different parameters to find out the overall value or use of Ebrary Academic Complete package from the perspective of a management library.

The research concluded that there was an increase in usage of Ebrary Academic Complete over time. The subject analysis revealed that titles from “Business and Economics”, “Computers” and “Social Science” were the highest used. The publisher analysis indicated that John Wiley & Sons topped in both the highest number of titles in the package and highest used titles. The annual subscription fee model of Ebrary Academic Complete adopted by Vikram Sarabhai Library was working well with a gradual increase in usage bringing down the per title access costs.

The study helps in understanding the approach to evaluating e-book collections in terms of currency of content, subjects covered, publishers included and costs involved. The detailed analysis would assist libraries in decision-making with regard to e-book collection development.

This paper aims to identify patterns, trends and potential implications related to post-checkout non-usage (material that is checked out by a user, but subsequently never opened and/or downloaded) of library digital content.

A large urban Canadian public library’s data (2013-2017) from Rakuten OverDrive was analyzed. Pending items (items that are checked out, but neither opened nor downloaded) were compared with total checkouts to determine post-checkout non-usage rates.

Checkouts and overall rates of post-checkout non-usage of e-books and e-audiobooks have risen significantly and consistently. Juvenile and non-fiction e-books demonstrate higher post-checkout non-usage rates than adult and fiction e-books, respectively. The library spends up to US$10,700 per year on metered access e-books that are never opened by users. This number has grown significantly over the years.

E-materials in libraries have been growing rapidly, but their current lending models are still largely a direct application of concepts in traditional library services that have developed based on physical materials, such as checkouts, due dates, renewals, holds and wait times. However, e-materials do not have the limitation of physical materials that prevents other users from accessing a checked-out item, which makes many of the traditional concepts no longer applicable. New concepts and lending models should be developed that allow users to access any library e-materials at any time, and are financially functional and sustainable for both libraries and e-content providers.

This paper aims to extend the use of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to faculty acceptance of e-books at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in the Sultanate of Oman. Electronic books (e-books) are becoming increasingly important in society in general and among academic faculty, concomitant with the growth of portable electronic devices that facilitate the reading of e-books.

The effects of language and personal characteristics (gender, age and field of study) in relation to perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use and usage of e-books for academic work among respondents are examined using data derived from a survey of 332 faculty members at SQU.

Findings were that participants who perceived that electronic books were easier to use also tended to be those who used them more; younger male faculty whose first language was Arabic tended to have higher levels of usage than females, older faculty or faculty whose first language was not Arabic. Faculty in the social sciences and the life and health sciences tended to have lower levels of usage behaviour than those in the arts and humanities, business or law or physical sciences or engineering.

Implications are that e-book acceptance among faculty at SQU is similar to that of faculty in Western universities and that the TAM is a relatively good predictor of e-book usage regardless of geographical location.

The value of the present study is that identification of factors affecting scholars’ e-book usage behaviours may provide library managers with a better understanding of the way in which they can support faculty. Further, by focusing on e-book adoption by faculty in a non-Western country, results of the research help to fill a gap on an under-researched population.

The purpose of this paper is to present the first 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.

A self‐selected sampling method was employed from undergraduate and postgraduate instructional students registered with the University of Strathclyde for academic year 2005/2006. An announcement email was posted to the student web portal for a period of three weeks inviting them to participate in the survey.

This survey found that e‐book awareness and the level of e‐book usage amongst students was lower than anticipated: 57 per cent of students were not aware of the availability of e‐books from the library and 60 per cent of them had not used an e‐book. Non‐users commented that e‐books were not widely advertised or promoted. Despite the low levels of e‐book awareness and usage non‐e‐book users indicated their desire to learn more about e‐books.

This survey was dependent on self‐selection and, therefore, there was no central control over the sample profile (e.g. gender, level of studies, academic discipline); hence, generalisation of the results should be treated with caution.

This survey is beneficial in terms of obtaining a better understanding of e‐book usage among students and the reasons why students do, and do not, use e‐books. The findings should be of value to academic libraries in terms of emphasising the need to increase e‐book awareness and usage amongst students.

The findings should be of value to academic libraries in terms of emphasising the need to increase e‐book awareness and usage amongst students.

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.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the significance of e-Books in universities, by looking for critical issues and practices which contribute enormously to enhancing its effectiveness.

The study adopted a descriptive research study design. The use of survey was efficient for this study because it was possible to obtain answers to different variables such as attitudes, personal characteristics and behaviors on usage of e-Books. Survey questionnaires were used on a student sample population at United States International University-A. The study was guided by three independent variables: technological factors, individual factors and institutional support factors. The dependent variable was the usage of e-Books.

The findings established that a majority of the student are computer literate as a whole and have a clear understanding of e-Books. The results further established that students encounter problems when carrying out searches in e-Books and that there is lack of knowledge of the e-Books subscribed by the university library. Support from the university management on the introduction of e-Books by financing its subscription was one of the factors enhancing the access and use of e-Books.

Knowledge of the significance of e-Books can assist libraries restructure their e-Books policies and hence hasten the adoption and implementation of e-Books usage in academic libraries in Kenya.

This study aims to investigate and analyze the usage patterns of electronic book (e-book) users and their perceptions of e-books from various perspectives. Recently, e-book usage and subscriptions at university libraries in South Korea have significantly increased.

The authors conduct an extensive survey of 959 e-book users at the five major university libraries, which subscribe to the most e-books in South Korea. The survey contains structured questions as well as fields for open commentary to acquire various opinions. The authors also apply diverse analysis techniques, depending on the characteristics of the survey questions.

Since the early 2000s, when e-books were first introduced, there has been a considerable change in perception and increase in usage of e-books at South Korean university libraries. Despite this progress, most functions of e-books are not fully utilized. The authors find the role of the library to be very important, as most users learn about and access e-books through the Web sites of university libraries, not through such portal sites as Google. The remarkable result is that users with higher education more easily recognize and have better experiences with e-book services.

This study draws extensive samples and objective questions compared to previous research. The authors also contrast our research results with the other studies conducted within and outside of South Korea. The research shows the changes and differences in perception and usage of e-books by period and country. More importantly, the authors suggest strategies to boost e-book use based on user demands.

The purpose of this study is to examine the evidence-based use patterns of Higher Education Commission (HEC) subscribed e-books databases by the academic community at institutions of higher education in Pakistan. The study also investigates the differences in usage based on points of access, scholarly disciplines and gender of users.

A transaction log analysis (TLA) method was used to explore the use patterns of HEC e-books databases at the University of the Punjab, utilizing the SAWMILL analytical software and MS Excel.

The results of the study showed that the use of e-books was at a growing stage at the university. Male boarding students of the university were more active users of e-books as compared to their female counterparts. The Central Library of the University of the Punjab, the Department of Zoology and the Institute of Communication Studies were the most frequently used access points for the e-book users, and the Faculties of Sciences, Life Sciences, Economics and Management Sciences had the most active e-book readers. Furthermore, it was found that the HEC e-books databases were only being used during the four months of summer vacations at the university.

The study provides only descriptive use frequencies rather than a deep log analysis of e-books usage.

This research provides important practical implications for examining the evidence-based use patterns of e-books databases' users at the higher educational level. The research suggests that HEC should maintain subscriptions of the most required e-books databases and that the information professionals should conduct orientations and information literacy programs to enhance the utilization of these subscribed databases among female boarder students and those faculties where they were being used less frequently.

The study is the second part of the first phase of a Ph.D. project. This is the first large scale study conducted in a developing country which reports the close to actual, approximate use patterns of e-books based on raw transaction logs of local cache servers at the higher academic level.

This article describes the e‐book program of the University of Texas, surveys the state of the e‐book market and e‐book technology, provides e‐book usage statistics for three different consortia, and offers guidelines for e‐book acquisitions, as well as e‐book issues to be considered. Relevant specification, standards, and working groups are explained, as are the future e‐book plans of The University of Texas. The author concludes that e‐books are to printed books, as television is to radio and movies: another format with its own strengths and weaknesses.