Primary Research Group has published Library Use of
E-books, 2008-09
Edition, (isbn 1-57440-101-7) and would like to share some
of the results.
Data in the report is based on a survey of 75 academic,
public and special
libraries. Librarians detail their plans on how they plan
to develop their
e-book collections, what they think of e-book readers and
software, and which
e-book aggregators and publishers appeal to them most and
why. Other issues
covered include: library production of e-books and
collection digitization,
e-book collection information literacy efforts, use of
e-books in course
reserves and inter-library loan, e-book pricing and
inflation issues, acquisition
sources and strategies for e-books and other issues of
concern to libraries and
book publishers.
Some of the report’s findings are that:
· Libraries in the sample expected to renew over
77% of their current
contracts.
* Well over 81% of the sample cataloged their e-book
collection and
listed it in their online library catalog.
· E-book spending by libraries is growing rapidly
in 2008 but by
significantly less than in 2007
* For the most part, librarians in the sample felt
that their patrons
were less skilled in using e-book collections than they
were in using
databases of magazine, newspaper and journal articles.
* The libraries in the sample had MARC records for a
mean of
approximately 74% of the e-books in their collections.
* Many libraries reported significant use of
electronic directories.
12.5% reported extensive use and 30% said that use was
significant. The
larger libraries reported the heaviest use.
* Use of e-books in the hard sciences was
particularly high. More than
30% of participants said that use of e-books in the hard
sciences (defined
as chemistry, physics and biology) was quite extensive and
another 26% noted
significant use.
* Libraries in the sample maintained a print version
for a mean of 24%
of the e-books in their e-book collections.
* Nearly 21% of the libraries in our sample have
digitized
out-of-copyright books in their collections in order to make
their contents more
available to their patrons.
* E-books account for only about 3.9% of the books on
course reserve,
with a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 30%.
* Nearly 70% of the sample’s total spending on
e-books was with
aggregators, while just over 24.6% of the total spending was
spent with individual
publishers.
Data is broken out by library budget size, for US and
non-US libraries and
for academic and non-academic libraries. The report
presents more than 300
tables of data on e-book use by libraries, as well as
analysis and commentary.
The report is available from Primary Research Group
(www.PrimaryResearch.com) and from major book distributors.
For a list of survey participants, table
of contents and sample tables view our website at
_www.PrimaryResearch.com_
(http://www.primaryres
earch.com/) .
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