What do faculty and students really think about e-books? Ian Rowlands, David Nicholas, Hamid R. Jamali and Paul Huntington. CIBER, University College London (UCL).
Einige interessante Aussagen:
- existing e-book users are relatively independent (or at least this seems to be what they claim) of formal library provision.
- For most disciplines, existing e-book users are much more likely to be male than female. This effect was by far greatest in the field of medicine.
- neither status (full-, part-time or occasional) nor regularity of use of print library collections are associated with existing e-book use.
- current users of e-books are very likely to be already aware of UCL’s e-book offerings, to be male, and to be less than wholly satisfied with UCL’s printed book collections.
- Textbooks are clearly the most popular form for academic users, followed by reference works.
- E-books clearly compare very unfavourably indeed with print titles for perceived ease of reading. The benefits of e-books cluster around convenience: ease of making copies, perceived up-todateness, space-saving, and around the clock availability.
- There is a big difference between men and women in respect of features and functionality: men tend to rate these aspects much more highly
- The main channels forming initial awareness of UCL Library Service e-books were the website and library catalogue. This is especially so for men: staff briefings and course tutors were more effective awareness-raising channels for women. Course tutors play a vital role: 68% of undergraduates said that they found out about UCL provision this way.
- Overall, the most effective marketing channels for e-books in this context are likely to be information on the library website and email user guides, but more precise targeting for different groups may well pay dividends.
(Danke, Birgit)