Successful Take-up of E-books at the University of Portsmouth Anne Worden Faculty 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 20 04 /5 20 05 /6 20 06 /7 20 07 /8 20 08 / 20 9 09 20 /1 0 11 2 01 /1 2 (to 0/11 Ja n 12 ) 3500000 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000 0 How often do you use e-books? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 HSS Tech O ft en n al ly O cc as io le lit t y V er N o t at al l HSS International Frequency of use by percentage Where do you access e-books? 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 HSS Tech Only Uni Mostly Equal Mostly Only Uni home home 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? 80 70 60 50 HSS Tech 40 30 20 10 0 Screen Print Both 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 P to r re fe t on lin e O th er ta ke n rc h se a ie n n n ve ri n t y P Ea s C o Why do you use e-books? 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 HSS Tech Student Views – Advantages 1 So useful especially if it’s a book everyone on the course needs and there are not enough hard copies Really convenient Languages Yr 4 to use Languages Yr 1 It 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 Student Views – Advantages 2 E-books are easier to flick through to find the right chapters relevant to assignment Languages Yr 2 Copy and paste saves a lot of time when using quotes in any essay Languages Yr 2 Brilliant, life saver! Extremely useful and easy to use Eng Lit Yr 3 The word search is very useful and often saves time reading irrelevant pages Sociol Yr 3 You don’t have to pay fines!! Languages Yr 4 Given a choice, I would prefer to use: 60 59 50 44 40 30 20 23 HSS Tech 17 21 13 11 12 10 0 e-book print no pref depends 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 ebooks 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 • • • • 70,131 34,669 26,254 20,857 • 19,464 • 19,099 • 18,009 • 17,205 • 17,123 • 15,174 Sage dictionary of criminology Biosocial Criminology : New Directions In Theory Contemporary Leadership Theories Future Savvy : Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions & Manage Uncertainty Constitutional and Administrative Law Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry How to Price : A Guide to Pricing Techniques and Yield Management Doing Your Research Project : A Guide for FirstTime Researchers in Education Introduction to Early Modern English Afghanistan : How the West Lost Its Way Top UoP science e-books accessed (Ebrary) • • • • • 4,154 3,940 3,457 1,566 1,554 (No.80) (No.89) (No.98) (No.281) (No.283) Challenges in colorectal cancer Integrated coastal & ocean management Soil mechanics Olympic encyclopedia of sports medicine 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