The SuperBook project:
e-book use in practice
Ian Rowlands
CIBER Virtual Scholar Programme
pratt sils summer school 2007
Context
CIBER and the Virtual Scholar programme
Action research: creating an e-book observatory
• CIBER and UCL Library Services are working together to try to understand the impact
created by a major injection of e-book resources.
• Oxford Scholarship Online, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley Interscience have made more than
3,000 e-books available free to UCL students and faculty for 12 months from October 2006.
• During this period, patterns of e-book use and acceptance are being explored in a live
research laboratory.
• Experimentation is being encouraged: on behalf of both library professionals and publishers.
SuperBook aims to ...
• provide UCL Library Services and academic staff with information on student
take-up and use of e-books;
• illuminate the issues surrounding the integration of e-books within learning and
teaching;
• inform academic staff in their choices about scholarly publishing and in the
selection of e-books for their students;
• inform the publishing industry with insights into user attitudes and the optimal
design features for e-book platforms.
Interim findings
• Benchmark survey findings
• Deep log analysis findings
Interim findings
• Benchmark survey
• Deep log analysis
Percentage distribution
Existing e-book users:
baseline data
(n=1,818)
SuperBook benchmark survey
Percentage distribution
Existing e-book users:
baseline age profile
(n=1,818)
SuperBook benchmark survey
Percentage point differences: e-books minus print ratings
Perceptions of e-books:
baseline data
(n=760)
SuperBook benchmark survey
Frequency distribution
How users found out
about UCL e-books
(n=521)
SuperBook benchmark survey
Interim findings
• Benchmark survey
• Deep log analysis
144.82.xxx.xx
59D423E0E0F85EDEA6FCEF3D1427C706 5204
[03/Nov/2006:14:39:47 +0000] "GET
/oso/private/content/economicsfinance/01
99271488/p015.html HTTP/1.1" 200 55540
"http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/lo
gin.jsp?errorMessage=You%20do%20not%20ha
ve%20access%20to%20any%20titles&forward=
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/pri
vate/content/economicsfinance/0199271488
/p015.html"
"/oso/private/content/economicsfinance/0
199271488/p015.html" "Mozilla/5.0
(Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-GB;
rv:1.8.0.7) Gecko/20060909
Firefox/1.5.0.7"
Deep log metrics
• Basic metrics
• number of pages / chapters viewed
• number of sessions and `site penetration’
• time spent online
• number of return visits
• number of print sessions
Deep log metrics
• User characteristics
• subject (of material viewed)
• subject (by sub-network)
• geographical location (e.g. hall of residence)
• referral link used (e.g. google)
Frequency distribution
Daily page views
Oxford Scholarship Online
SuperBook deep log analysis
Percentage distribution
Time spent online
Oxford Scholarship Online
SuperBook deep log analysis
Percentage distribution
Types of pages viewed
Oxford Scholarship Online
SuperBook deep log analysis
Percentage distribution
full text content =
52% of page views
Types of pages viewed
Oxford Scholarship Online
SuperBook deep log analysis
21%
21%
11%
38%
21%
11%
38%
5%
21%
11%
Some early conclusions
• High levels of interest in and take-up of e-books, especially among graduate
students, males, and heavy Google users
• Catalogue entries are very effective at driving users to e-book content:
catalogued books are more than twice as likely to be used
• Use in heavily concentrated in a few high-demand titles, the long tail, so far is
much weaker than for journal use
• Big differences in take-up between disciplines
• User uncertainty / finding their feet? (Well over one in four sessions did not
lead to a view of content)
Looking to the future: growth points for e-books
• maximising use by unblocking hard copy bottlenecks;
• creating new use by taking traffic away from from e-journals;
• creating new users by reaching out to those alienated from the library;
• stimulating user by making book content findable: for the first time, book
content is deeply indexed, linked and searchable and visible in the digital shop
window for the first time;
• building user confidence through `walled gardens’ of authoritative publisher
content