UWE Bristol “It’s about convenience, ease, time and comfort”: preliminary outcomes from the LIRG/Elsevier e-book usage

1. UWE Bristol “It’s about convenience, ease, time and comfort”: preliminary outcomes from the LIRG/Elsevier e-book usage project Presentation by Jackie Chelin, Elspeth Williams and Greg Ince Members of e-books research project group, Library Services, UWE

2. Aim and objectives of project • To find out more about how staff and students are using e-books for learning, teaching and research, i.e.: • Whether e-books are meeting users’ needs • What place there is for e-books within the context of a multidisciplinary academic library collection • By doing so, to discover more about the distinct drivers and barriers to use of e-books • Can offer insights at a particular point in time

3. Definition of e-books for project • Electronic versions of titles that are, were, or could be available as hard copy books, and therefore resemble books in their structure and presentation, e.g.: • Textbooks • Reference books (dictionaries, encyclopedias) • Law texts

4. Research design • Web-based questionnaire aimed at UWE students – December 2007 • Interviews with academic staff from a range of schools – February to May 2008 • Observation of students undertaking a task online – April/May

5. Key findings from survey • Users of e-books = 62%, non-users = 38% • First year UG students are most likely to be non-users • Law students reported using them most frequently • First year UG students are more likely to use them for recommended reading than other levels of student • Library catalogue is most frequently used method for finding them • Rated as easy or very easy to use by 91% of users • Major appeal is their accessibility, i.e. available 24 hours, instant online access and no visit to library necessary • Preference of e-books users for print (32%), for electronic (17%), no preference (51%) • Main reason for non-use was not knowing about them (56%)

6. Key findings from interviews • Issues relating to pedagogy, e.g. VLE, reading lists, spoon feeding • Content, e.g. availability appropriateness, primary-secondary material • Types of user, e.g. off campus, distance, international, print disabled • Purpose of use – e.g. complementing print, textual analysis, reference, research • Issues relating to technology – e.g. hand held devices • Social, cultural and political issues

7. Key findings from observed tasks • Students demonstrated a variety of ways of finding an e-book • Most would be happy to read on screen if it were just a chapter or two of an e-book • Although the bookshelf / notes facilities were impressive to the students, one realised that with multiple e-book providers it would not be possible to keep them all together • Predilection for copy and paste often meant students used control keys • Functionality was not always evident, although, some particularly liked the highlight feature • Two commented on the need for training on using e-books • The difference in the look of the same book in the two interfaces provoked interesting responses from 2 students who indicated they preferred the one that looked more like a book (less like Word) • Some students worried about losing access to their retrieved book when they used different bits of functionality

8. Use of funding • Digital Dictaphone equipment • Transcription of interviews • Prize draw for online survey (to encourage students to provide contact details for follow up observed tasks) • Incentives for observed tasks

9. Members of research group • Jason Briddon – Faculty Librarian – Health and Life Sciences • Jackie Chelin – Deputy Librarian • Greg Ince – Collection Management Librarian • Jane Redman – E-learning co-ordinator • Alastair Sleat – Subject Librarian, Bristol Institute of Technology • Elspeth Williams – Faculty Librarian, Bristol Business School • Advised by: • Ian Beeson – PG Scheme Co-ordinator, BIT • UWE’s Research Business and Innovation team • Aided by • Judith Stewart – Faculty Librarian, Education, Sociology and Politics (interviews) • Library Administrative Services team (admin)