E-Books and E-Textbooks

1. E-Books and E-Textbooks Tara Radniecki & Niamh McGuigan Possibilities and pitfalls of academic digital monographs Focus on Teaching and Learning Loyola University Chicago Spring 2012

2. E-books • Sales worldwide in 2011: $3.2 billion • Predicted up to 50% of all books sold in the US will be e-books by 2014 • Sales worldwide predicted at $9.7 billion by 2016 • 2011 Horizon Report name e-books as an emerging technology poised to enter mainstream higher education within the year.

3. History of the e-book • 1971: Project Gutenberg Internet as a syndication tool 100th e-book in 1994 Over 36,000 titles today • 1987: Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University) • 1990: Library of Congress begins American Memory Project • 1991: First CERN web servers go online

4. History of the e-book • 1996: Internet Archive 2,355,344 items in text collection (as of 1/11/12) • 1998: NetLibrary is the first commercial publisher • 2004: Google Book Project • 2011: Amazon sells more e-books than print

5. Print: advantages Print is easy to use: • No power or Internet connection required • Nothing can break, crash, shut down, become unresponsive • No need for accounts or passwords • People don’t need to be taught how to use books

6. Print: advantages Clear ownership rights: • When you own a book, you can do what you want with that book. • Lend it to someone else, write in it, carry it around, use it whenever you want. Preservation: • Books are durable • Books are easy to store

7. Print: advantages Reading Experience: • Research indicates that print formats may promote a higher quality reading experience • Books allow physical interaction - note taking, bookmarking, flipping back and forth

8. Print: disadvantages Preservation: • Despite being durable, books do get worn, damaged, written in • Books take up a lot of space Limited format options: • Books only contain material that can be printed on a page

9. Print: disadvantages Access: • One reader at a time • Time needed for libraries to order and process books • Time needed for patrons to retrieve a book from the stacks Portability: • Books are heavy!

10. E-book: advantages Access: • Multiple users (in most cases) • Quick or immediate purchasing and processing for libraries • Quick or Immediate access for patrons

11. E-book: advantages Portability: • There’s no need to carry an e-book around with you • In most cases, an e-book can be accessed from any computer and from different types of devices. • In many cases, e-books can be loaded onto a portable device and used without an Internet connection.

12. E-book: advantages Reading Experience: • Searchable • Format allows inclusion of content in multiple media • Potential for more interactivity • Format allows linking to other resource

13. E-book: disadvantages Not always easy to use: • Requires a device of some sort - computer, tablet, e-reader, etc • Requires Internet access • Requires a lot of administration in the form of accounts, passwords, proxy access • Concerns about e-books and the visually impaired • “Digital Divide”

14. E-book: disadvantages Ownership isn’t so clear: • Restrictions on how e-books can be used • Limits on the number of users or the number of uses • Limits on the ability to print, copy, or download • Restrictions on what type of patron can use the book

15. E-book: disadvantages Preservation: • Libraries face many unknowns in preserving e-books • Will archived e-book files always be usable?

16. E-book: disadvantages Reading Experience: • Screen reading may not match print reading experience • Many users, including students, prefer long form reading in print Cost: • In the library world, e-books usually cost more than print books • E-books can also come with hidden administrative costs

17. Academic e-books • Content type varies: Reference to fiction to serials to anthologies to technical manuals and more. • Loyola ended FY2011 with over 350,000 e-books • Continues to grow with patron driven acquisition and subject specialist collection development • E-books @ Loyola University Libraries • E-books Subject Guide

18. Scholarly e-books: possibilities for the future • University presses are exploring new models: • Institutionally supported open access publishing • Free online/pay for print • Digital Culture at University of Michigan • University Press e-books consortia • Project Muse and JSTOR

19. Scholarly e-books: possibilities for the future E-book creators exploring new formats and content: • Woolf Online • Mark Twain Project Online • Rotunda from UVA Press • Butterflies and Moths of North America

20. Textbooks: characteristics • Content • Dense, complex ideas • A small slice of a much larger topic/discipline • Images: tables, illustrations, etc • Format • Chapters & Sections: digestible portions • Indexes: Allows for quick reference work • Built-in Study Aids: summaries, quizzes, further readings

21. All Important Format • With other e-books, consumers are generally most concerned with getting the same content as the print counterpart. • With textbooks, the format is just as important. Structure is need to create a desirable learning experience.

22. Print Textbooks: Advantages • No power or internet required • Physical Interaction • Bookmarking • Highlighting • Making notes • Flipping back and forth • Research says print may support a higher quality reading experience • Students often report they do not retain the information as easily reading from a screen.

23. Print Textbooks: disadvantages • Lengthy publication schedule for textbooks • Inevitably include outdated information • Passive medium for transmitting information, requires no active role on the part of the student • Limited by their physical form. Large, heavy, no multimedia. (O’Shea, Onderdonk, D. Allen, D.W. Allen, 2011) • Expensive • Average student spends $1168 on course materials this year (collegeboard.com)

24. With the disadvantages to print textbooks, publishers have long tried to utilize technology to make a better digital version.

25. Where are we & how did we get here? • Experimentation: 2000-2003 • Textbook publishers created non-PDF, non-standard, custom-reader products • No market and technology could not support them • Early Markets: 2004-2006 • Many publishers returned to PDF format • Flash became a predominant technology

26. Where are we & how did we get here? • Proliferation & Integration: 2007-2008 • Cost of e-textbook production drops • Major publishers support multiple formats & readers • XML becomes more prominent • Profitability & Social Learning: 2009-2011 • For-profit virtual universities (e.g., U of Phoenix) drive e-textbooks’ growth • Widespread adoption of mobile devices • E-textbooks begin to offer multimedia features and integration within social learning networks.

27. Where are we & how did we get here? • Standards & Disaggregated Distribution: 2012-2014 • Emergence of a common standard textbook XML • Move from a single book to collection of malleable content assets which can be mashed up with other digital products • Greater focus on design for smartphone and tablet use • Open textbooks • More integration of social features (Rob Reynolds, http://blog.xplana.com/2010/09/the-five-waves-of-e-textbooks-in-the-u-s-200-2014/)

28. E-textbooks: The Future • Must incorporate dynamic and interactive features • Social reading features (like Subtext or Readmill) • Tools to highlight, take & share notes, discussion forums • Embedded links to outside resources, such as pre-defined searches in library databases

29. E-textbooks: The Future • Fully customizable in content and format without publisher constraints • Integration with online CMS • E-textbooks will be less like books and more like e-learning environments. • They won’t be cheap. • E-textbooks save many students only $1 (chronicle.com)

30. E-Textbook Options

31. Loyola’s e-textbooks • CourseSmart • Major textbook publishers, including Pearson,McGraw-Hill, and John Wiley & Sons launched CourseSmart in 2007 • More than 20,000 digital titles • Available from University Bookstore • Rental options only

32. CourseSmart Features • Offline reading (currently in beta) • Note taking and highlighting ability • Search features • Print 10 pages at a time • Send information from text to classmates • App • Cost • About half the price of a new hardcover

33. Open model • Aims to bring students free, or inexpensive, e-textbooks by using or creating open-access educational materials

34. Open model • Washington State: Open Course Library • Funded by Washington state legislation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Faculty course designers selected through bid process • Resources for 42 courses • Students pay no more than $30

35. Open model University of Massachusetts at Amherst: • Open Education Initiative • University funded: 10 faculty grants • Created and used freely accessible materials • Worked closely with Library to integrate subscription online sources & create hosting platform • Estimated to save 700 students $72,000 in 2011-2012

36. Open model • Flatworld Knowledge • Company recruits scholars to build peer-reviewed texts • Creative Commons license allows anyone to edit and customize • Currently 3,000 instructor users • 55 e-textbooks available

37. Vendor level customization • AcademicPub • Arranges payment of royalties and compiles material for publication • ~ E-text for $15, print for $27, hardcover for $45 • 2 million items of content from 75 publishers • Instructors can pull in any open web content

38. Vendor level customization • McGraw-Hill Higher Education: Create • Allows instructors pick and choose from the company’s textbooks • Macmillan Publishers: DynamicBooks • Allows instructors to add freely available content to their existing e-titles

39. Kno • Non-customizable • Rented 6 months, some can be purchased • Available on web, iPad or Facebook • Over 100,000 titles • Cost • Renting: ½ the purchase price • Purchase: Varies, but more expensive than hardcover print version

40. Kno: features • Journal • Transfer any highlights, pictures, stickies or notes from your textbook into a digital notebook. • Pen • Quiz Me • Turns any diagram in your textbook or PDFs into an instant quiz • Smart Links • Maps instructional videos, images, and photos to formulas & concepts in your book – includes Khan Academy • Kno 3D • Lets you rotate, spin and zoom objects • Dropbox Integration

41. Inkling • Creates multimedia e-textbooks versions for the iPad • Currently 111 publications – new partnerships with Pearson and McGraw-Hill will grow • Engineers and designers work with content and education experts to reimagine existing print textbooks

42. Inkling features • Less Search • Search text, glossary, and personal notes • Test Prep • Images, audio, video • Social features • Follow others using your book – see their notes & highlights, have discussions

43. E-books and E-Textbooks:Possibilities and pitfalls of academic digital monographs Questions? Tara Radniecki tradniecki@luc.edu twitter.com/tradniecki Niamh McGuigan nmcguigan@luc.edu