Primary Research Group has published Library Use of
E-books,=20
2008-09 Edition, (isbn 1-57440-101-7) and would like to
share=20
some of the results.
Data in the report are based on a survey of 75 academic,
public=20
and special libraries.. Librarians detail their plans on
how=20
they plan to develop their e-book collections, what they
think of=20
e-book readers and software, and which e-book aggregators
and=20
publishers appeal to them most and why. Other issues
covered=20
include: library production of e-books and collection=20
digitization, e-book collection information literacy
efforts, use=20
of e-books in course reserves and inter-library loan,
e-book=20
pricing and inflation issues, acquisition sources and
strategies=20
for e-books and other issues of concern to libraries and
book=20
publishers.
Some of the findings of the 110 page report are:
*Libraries in the sample expected to renew over 77% of
their=20
current contracts.
*Well over 81% of the sample cataloged their e-book
collection=20
and listed it in their online library catalog.
*E-book spending by libraries is growing rapidly in 2008 but
by=20
significantly less than in 2007
*For the most part, librarians in the sample felt that
their=20
patrons were less skilled in using e-book collections than
they=20
were in using databases of magazine, newspaper and
journal=20
articles.
*The libraries in the sample had MARC records for a mean
of=20
approximately 74% of the e-books in their collections.
*Many libraries reported significant use of electronic=20
directories. 12.5% reported extensive use and 30% said that
use=20
was significant. The larger libraries reported the heaviest
use.
*Use of e-books in the hard sciences was particularly high.
More=20
than 30% of participants said that use of e-books in the
hard=20
sciences (defined as chemistry, physics and biology) was
quite=20
extensive and another 26% noted significant use.
*Libraries in the sample maintained a print version for a
mean of=20
24% of the e-books in their e-book collections.
*Nearly 21% of the libraries in our sample have
digitized=20
out-of-copyright books in their collections in order to
make=20
their contents more available to their patrons.
*E-books account for only about 3.9% of the books on
course=20
reserve, with a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 30%.
*Nearly 70% of the sample=E2=80=99s total spending on
e-books was with=20
aggregators, while just over 24.6% of the total spending
was=20
spent with individual publishers.
Data are broken out by library budget size, for US and
non-US=20
libraries and for academic and non-academic libraries. The
report=20
presents more than 300 tables of data on e-book use by
libraries,=20
as well as analysis and commentary.
For further information view our website at
www.PrimaryResearch.com.
James Moses
Primary Research Group, Inc.
Tel. 212-736-2316
Fax 212-412-9097
---2071850956-1762776511-1209592187=:27383--
|
