Successful Take-up of E-books at the University of Portsmouth

Anne WordenFaculty Librarian:

Humanities and Social Sciences

February 2012

Background

• Trial of networked e-books began in 2004• Since 2005 use of e-books at Portsmouth has

increased by over 1000%• Number of e-books increased from 15,000 to

75,000• Books from Ebrary, MyiLibrary, DawsonEra • UoP has the highest use of e-books in the UK

Ebrary Use by Year

0500000100000015000002000000250000030000003500000

How often do you use e-books?

05

1015202530354045

Not

at a

ll

Very

little

Occ

asio

nally

Often

HSS

Tech

HSSInternational

Frequency of use by percentage

Where do you access e-books?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

OnlyUni

MostlyUni

Equal Mostlyhome

Onlyhome

HSSTech

48% of HSS & 51% of Tech students responding access e-books mostly or only at home

How do you normally read info from e-books?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Screen Print Both

HSSTech

67% of HSS & 72% of Tech students responding read e-books only on screen

Is there a gender difference?

Female• More frequent use of

e-books• More likely to find

e-books via catalogue than male students

• Higher percentage find e-books very useful for their course

• More put off by technology

Male• Less aware of e-books• More likely to find out

about e-books via lecturers than female students

• Higher percentage only read e-books on-screen

• Slightly higher percentage indicate they read more as a result of e-books

Why do you use e-books?

05

101520253035

Conv

enie

nt

Easy

to sea

rch

Print

take

n

Prefe

r on

line

Oth

er

HSSTech

Student Views – Advantages 1

They’re great because

you can access them

from home

Politics Yr 2

So useful especially if it’s a book everyone on the course needs and there are not enough hard copies

Languages Yr 4It is easy to bookmark pages and highlight so that you can go back to research easily Eng Lit Yr 3

Great – really useful, especially when all books in library on loan

Childhood Yr 2

Really convenient to use

Languages Yr 1

Student Views – Advantages 2

E-books are easier to flick through to find the right chapters relevant to assignment

Languages Yr 2

The word search is very useful and often saves time reading irrelevant pages Sociol Yr 3

Copy and paste saves a lot of time when using quotes in any essay

Languages Yr 2

You don’t have to pay fines!!

Languages Yr 4

Brilliant, life saver! Extremely useful and easy to use

Eng Lit Yr 3

Given a choice, I would prefer to use:

13

23

59

44

17 21

11 12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

e-book print no pref depends

HSSTech

59% of HSS & 44% of Tech students responding would prefer to use a printed book

Discriminating consumers

• For reading a novel, I would have a printed version, but for research and other I would use an e-book Eng Lit Yr 1

• Prefer printed books for long articles, e-book for short references Eng Lit Yr 2

• For reading I prefer printed copies. For extracting quotes, e-books are better Politics Yr 1

• Large books are better to read from paper copy - foreign language sources are easier to read from paper copy Languages Yr 2

• Whether it’s for pleasure or research Eng Lit Yr 1

Views from medics

• University of Pittsburgh survey of around 1000• 86% of interns, residents & fellows used e-

books to support clinical care• Preference for print for textbooks & manuals• Preference for e-books for research protocols,

pharmaceutical & reference books

Folb, B. et al. (2011). Clinical and academic use of electronic and print books: the Health Sciences Library System e-book study at the University of Pittsburgh. Jnl of the Medical Library Association, 99(3), 218-228

Top student concerns re e-books

• More e-books should be made available– “Would be even more useful if there was more

available on Ebrary” Languages Yr 1

– “It would be nice if crucial resources were made available in electronic format” Languages MA

• Printing should be cheaper– “Can’t afford to keep printing” Sociol Yr 2

• Computer access should be easier– “Constant computer access problems” Languages Yr 2

– “I find it a lot harder to access Ebrary at home and it often takes ages to load up” Sociol Yr 2

Top 10 UoP Ebrary books accessed• 70,131Sage dictionary of criminology• 34,669Biosocial Criminology : New Directions In Theory• 26,254Contemporary Leadership Theories• 20,857Future Savvy : Identifying Trends to Make

Better Decisions & Manage Uncertainty• 19,464Constitutional and Administrative Law• 19,099Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry• 18,009How to Price : A Guide to Pricing Techniques and

Yield Management• 17,205Doing Your Research Project : A Guide for First-

Time Researchers in Education• 17,123Introduction to Early Modern English• 15,174Afghanistan : How the West Lost Its Way

Top UoP science e-books accessed (Ebrary)

• 4,154 (No.80) Challenges in colorectal cancer• 3,940 (No.89) Integrated coastal & ocean management• 3,457 (No.98) Soil mechanics• 1,566 (No.281) Olympic encyclopedia of sports

medicine• 1,554 (No.283) Clinical periodontology & implant

dentistry

• In other subjects 27 e-books had results over 10,000

Top UoP science e-books accessed (MyiLibrary)

• 10,769 (No.3) Drug delivery & targeting for pharmacists

• 1,124 (No.74) Sports development: policy process & practice

• 437 (No.167) Food, nutrition & sports performance

• In other subjects 4 e-books had results over 10,000

Why is use so high at Portsmouth?

• Sheer number of e-books available• Students value convenience of e-books• Copy+paste & word searching tools assist

students who are short of time• Increased no. of students but lack of space

and money to increase no. of multiple copies• E-books give fair access to all, regardless of

how late they leave it to look

• Promotion of e-books by lecturers & librarians

Top Tips

• Get to influential people first

• Run sessions showing how easy e-books are

• Make sure the books are integrated into the catalogue

• Buy to meet particular needs