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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss some of the commonly held misconceptions about using and managing eBooks in academic research libraries and to outline what skills, abilities and knowledge are required of librarians and other library staff who work with eBooks. eBooks are an important presence in the vast majority of academic libraries. It is reasonable to expect that this presence will increase in the years to come. The value of eBooks to many students, faculty and researchers is undeniable and their availability has created new learning and teaching opportunities which were not possible with print-only library collection.

eBooks bring multiple benefits to the academic environment.

eBooks provide portable information resources for students and researchers doing fieldwork. eBooks have the potential for relieving pressure on space in some libraries. Some eBook platforms offer students new and enhanced ways for interacting with library materials, including accessibility features.

The addition of eBooks to academic library collections addresses a growing preference among some patrons for information in electronic format.

This study aims to uncover factors related to students’ preference for ebooks with hopes that understanding what drives these preferences will help librarians to figure out how to increase students’ use of ebooks.

Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, researchers developed a model of ebook preference and a survey including constructs related to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Respondents were undergraduate students from a core political science course at a large research university in the USA.

Ebook performance expectancy and ebook self-efficacy have indirect effects on ebook preference by way of ebook attitude. Ebook attitude and social influence both have direct effects.

One of the limitation include respondents being of a similar age and having a similar experience of technology and ebooks. Prior use of ebooks may partially explain the results.

Librarians should help students develop ebook self-efficacy. Vendors should consider how interfaces may impact ebook self-efficacy. Ebook attitude may be positively influenced by tapping students’ desire to utilize technology.

This research adds to the understanding about ebook preference while expanding research in libraries by applying a theory and model from another research discipline.

The purpose of this paper is to assert that libraries should actively seek and request alternatives to purchasing older ebook content rather than buying large ebook backlists. Currently publishers are offering the equivalent of the “big deal” with monographs through ebook backlists, and this is not a model that can or should be sustained by libraries.

This paper discusses experience the author gained through evaluating major ebook backlist promotional offers from 2012 and 2013, reviews library literature concerning ebook use, and reviews current purchase methods such as patron‐driven acquisition and firm ordering as alternatives to purchasing large ebook backlist packages.

There does not appear to be agreement in library literature about use and preference for ebooks, but there does appear to be a consensus that users expect the availability of ebook content. However, that expectation is not reason enough to purchase older content in large quantities in a format that still has problematic limitations. Patron‐driven acquisition and targeted firm ordering allow libraries to buy older content in ebook format with more information about the need for that content. Also, publishers should become more involved in offering alternatives to ebook backlist purchase models.

This discussion sheds light on the fact that while the ebook format may be new, the content and the purchase models often are not. Libraries need to advocate for effective purchase models now rather than becoming dependent on publishers to provide content libraries already own.

This paper aims to provide an assessment of an ebook collection in an academic library, and attempts to locate usage trends by subject and publisher.

The research was based on: three years of usage data from two e‐book packages: NetLibrary and Ebrary; two methods of purchase: NetLibrary was a one‐time purchase; Ebrary is purchased on a subscription basis. The research evaluated usage difference over time between the two packages and analyzed subject and publisher usage.

The research found that Ebrary showed increased usage over time; NetLibrary demonstrated decreased usage; subject analysis showed ebooks in health sciences and hotel had highest usage; publisher analysis results illustrated the fact that five publishers had highest usage in both ebook collections.

For circulation rate of each ebook package, two years of data were not available for Ebrary, resulting in incomplete comparison over three‐year period between the two packages.

The paper assists in identifying usage patterns of ebooks across publishers and subjects; compares two different business models of obtaining ebooks; and helps with effective selection of ebooks to support teaching and learning.

Usage data over three years provided evidence to help libraries select a business model for acquiring ebooks; the research provides assessment of ebook collections to identify trends across publishers and subjects.

This study aims to highlight practical considerations to be made when choosing an eBook package for an institution. Many academic libraries purchase eBooks bundled in packages, either as a time- or cost-saving measure or to build a new subject collection.

The authors searched the Web sites of six major publishers for information on eBook packages, including subject coverage, digital rights management restrictions and usage allowances. The analysis also includes a potential overlap between related subject collections and the ability to purchase titles individually.

Usage allowances, digital rights management restrictions and purchasing options vary considerably from publisher to publisher. There was title overlap between related subject packages found in some publishers. In response to user preferences and needs, many publishers are loosening restrictions on their eBook content, which make purchasing packages a more attractive option for libraries.

The landscape of eBook publishing is rapidly changing, which can complicate purchasing decisions. The detailed comparison provided by this study can be used to assist collections developers in making purchasing decisions best suited to their library and avoiding pitfalls such as duplicate purchases.

The purpose of this paper is to find out how much the purchasing and lending of individual electronic books really cost. Additionally, this paper investigates which kind of approach would be cheaper and less time-consuming for library staff as well as library patrons – purchase or short-term loan.

This study was conducted at the Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) Library. This is the only university library in Estonia where the Ebook Central platform is adapted on a large scale. For background information, all statistical data of expenditures and average prices of purchases and short-term loans during April 2013 and December 2018 were calculated and analysed. Through a case study, the time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) method was used – all activities related to acquisition and lending of eBooks were identified, recorded in detail and analysed. More specifically, the study concerned eBooks offered in the Ebook Central platform and covered purchasing and short-term loan processes, such as receipt of order request, communication with the patron (if necessary) making a purchase or short-term loan, and feedback to the patron.

While analysing the results, it appeared there are many additional activities libraries can avoid during the eBook short-term loan process compared to purchasing. As a normality in TalTech library, purchase is always followed by a cataloguing process which increases the time and cost of this process in turn. On the basis of the current study, it can be said that short-term loan is a cheaper way to use eBooks; many activities related to the short-term loan of eBooks take remarkably less staff time and financial resources than eBooks acquisition/purchasing activities. When analysing the literature reviewed as well as collected statistical data, the problem may arise when the decision-maker librarian is not experienced, professional or long-sighted enough to understand the future behaviour of the patron or the usage of the specific eBook. When the usage reaches a certain point, it becomes an indicator of continuing future usage and so it makes sense to purchase the eBook, as the library pays no further charges once an eBook is owned.

Most studies reviewed by the author are based on the statistical data collected about expenditure, costs, usage, cost-per-use, etc. of short-term loans and purchases. While acquisitions costs, average cost per acquired item per year and cost per usage are easy to identify, it has been difficult to measure associated costs of acquisition, cataloging and circulation. The TDABC methodology seems to be one of the best tools for understanding cost behaviour and refining a cost system for university libraries. Based on the information known to the author, there is no study carried out using the TDABC methodology for analysing costs of eBook programmes.

The purpose of this study is to examine the diffusion of ebooks among postgraduate students in arts and technology faculties of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Electronic books have become increasingly popular in recent years, but factors influencing their adoption and use are not understood in many institutions.

Guided by a sample survey design, data were collected from 1,518 postgraduate students, 438 from the arts and 1,080 from technology, using a questionnaire and an interview schedule.

Students from both faculties used ebooks, identified through serendipitous browsing of the internet, and mainly Google searching. Many of the ebooks they find are not recommended by their lecturers, while those that are recommended are not available free of charge. Students therefore use ebooks mainly to cross-validate and gain extra insights about what they have been taught. There are significant differences between arts and technology students ' use of ebooks with respect to cost, ease of use and other aspects, with technology students having the advantage. There is no programme in the university aimed at harvesting and organising ebook resources for students to access.

The study focused on only one institution.

Institutionalising ebooks could be a useful strategy to address the dearth of current and relevant texts in universities, although ebooks may pose challenges to existing library management processes.

An ebook revolution will cause great changes in information services in libraries – how would university libraries partner to benchmark this evolving practice with respect to questions about standards, technologies, licensing and pricing, particularly in the developing world?

There is no empirical study on this subject matter either in the University used in the study or in any other.

Highlights the evolution and potentiality of electronic books (eBooks) and presents a comprehensive definition from the various definitions reported for eBooks and their types, the pros, cons and users. Available eBook hardware, such as Rocket eBook Reader, SoftBook Reader, EveryBook Dedicated Reader and Millennium eBook Reader; software, viz. Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, Glassbook Reader, DocAble, SoftBook Reader, RocketLibrarian, PeanutReader, etc. is listed together with sources for eBook titles. Also briefly discusses eBook standards and copyright protection. Concludes that eBooks are rapidly becoming a viable alternative over the traditional medium and will continue to stay in one form or another.

The purpose of this paper is to review the impact on interlibrary loans presented by electronic books, and to provide a starting point for discussion.

The authors review the advantages and challenges to interlibrary loans presented by electronic books and recommend a course of action for the academic library community.

The model of providing content in electronic book format threatens one of the oldest traditions in libraries: the tradition of sharing. Now libraries must take it upon themselves to create technologies that support their tradition of sharing while accounting for the uniqueness of ebooks.

This paper aims to initiate a discussion and brainstorming process within libraries which can honor the tradition of interlibrary loans by applying it to electronic books.

The purpose is to bring together all bibliographic references of the published literature on electronic books (e‐books) and related technologies in one source so that it will save time for others in conducting literature searches and reviewing the developments.

The information included in this bibliography is collected systematically from all the published sources in the world such as journal articles, conference papers, conference proceedings, books, reports and PhD theses on e‐books until the last quarter of 2004. Mainly it covers e‐books, e‐books publishing, the impact of e‐books on different types of users, e‐book publishing techniques and trends, e‐book user interfaces and other technologies related to e‐publications.

As computer usage continues to grow exponentially, the desire of users to use electronic publications (e‐publications) has also increased tremendously. This has led to the publication of materials in electronic form as e‐publications on both CD‐ROMs and web. The e‐book is one of the several forms of e‐publications and its popularity has been growing steadily for the past decade.

This bibliography will be useful to all researchers conducting research in any areas related to e‐books and e‐book publishing.