This document summarizes a faculty development institute presentation about e-books. Rebecca Miller and Carolyn Meier discussed the history and current state of e-books, how they are used in higher education, and how to access e-books through the university libraries. They covered topics like e-book packages available, searching the catalog, accessing content, using different reading devices, and issues around digital rights management. Resources for free e-books online or through the public library were also mentioned.
1. Rebecca K. Miller
Carolyn Meier
Faculty Development Institute
Virginia Tech
March 2012
2. About Us
Rebecca K. Miller is the College Librarian for
Science, Life Sciences, and Engineering
Carolyn Meier is the First Year Experience Librarian
3. Session Overview
The current state of e-books
E-books in higher education
Searching for e-books in Addison
E-book packages at University Libraries
Accessing University Libraries e-books
Beyond University Libraries
4. E-Books: A History
Let’s look at an infographic:
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2011/03/17/the-40-
year-history-of-ebooks-illustrated/
E-books have been around for 30 years
The advent of devoted e-readers has changed the game
6. Recent Bowker Study
Australia, India, UK, and US are world leaders in e-
book adoption rates—20% of respondent have
purchased an e-book in the past 6 months
1/3 respondents in the US and UK indicated they
would be buying an e-book soon
In UK and US, purchase rates are highest among 24-35
year olds
Genre: in UK and Australia, concentration on adult
fiction; in India and South Korea, concentration on
professional and academic
7. Libraries & E-books
Libraries want to deliver resources to users, no matter
where they are; e-books aid in this endeavor
E-books also play a role in libraries’ new visions of way
that library space can be used
E-books are often purchased in packages
Recent LRG report: 64% of libraries are reporting
rising demand from patrons for e-book access (up
from 41% last year)
8. Three Layers
A recent EDUCAUSE review article (see “resources”)
identified three layers of e-reading:
Hardware
Software & controls
Content
9. Hardware
What do you read e-books on?
Computer? Dedicated e-reader? Tablet?
Study v. “Trade” Reading
Optimal “study” reading device:
10 in. or larger color screen
at least 5-8 hours of battery life
adequate “entry” mechanism (keyboard, mouse)
32 GB or more memory
multitasking
In short…a laptop!
10. Software & Controls
Highlighting
Tagging
Full text searching
Accessibility (visual and physical)
Also includes:
DRM
Special software needed to read book (e.g. Adobe Digital
Editions or Schubert)
11. Content
Currently, less than 20% of content requested by
faculty is available in a digital format
The content that IS available is mainly static
reproductions of the print textbook—not at all the
vision of the “future” e-book
What’s more: some content that is available for
individual purchase is not yet available for
institutional purchase
12. Students Using Textbooks
Another infographic!
http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/a-look-at-
students-using-etextbooks-infographic_b21348
14. A word on Addison…
When we receive e-book updates from these
packages, sometimes there can be a backlog in adding
the records to Addison (the library catalog).
If you’re looking for a tech manual, for example, or a
SpringerLink book, check Safari and SpringerLink
before requesting a book via ILL
15. E-Book Packages at University
Libraries
ACS Symposium Series
APA PsycBOOKS
Gale
Center for Research Libraries
EBL
Ebooks on EBSCOhost
ebrary
CRC Engineering Handbooks Online
HathiTrust Digital Library
Knovel
National Academies Press
Safari Books Online
SpringLink eBooks
Synthesis Digital Library
And even more…
http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/byformat/ebooks.html
16. A word on users & accounts
Multi- v. single-user
Creating an account
“Checking out” a book
17. E-book packages at University
Libraries:
http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/byformat/ebooks.html
18. HathiTrust & Summon
HathiTrust Digital Library full-text indexed in
Summon
About 20% is fully accessible (no subscription needed)
Several browsable collections:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb
19. Digital Rights Management
Essentially restricts the way you can interact with a
PDF’s content:
Printing
Downloading
Viewing
“Checkout” period
20. Adobe Digital Editions
Is required by some e-book providers, like Ebsco E-
books
Is used to manage the e-b0oks, and recognize the
DRM restrictions placed on this content
Is available:
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/?aut
oPrompt=true
Our recommendation? Go ahead and install it if you
think you may use any type of e-book soon
26. PDFs and Documents on Kindle
Add through USB
Add through “free” personal document service:
“yourname”@free.kindle.com (Kindle’s email address)
Will not work on free Kindle applications
27. PDFs and Documents on Nook
Need Adobe Digital Editions
Drag & drop
Will sometimes be distorted
28. Nook and Kindle on iPad
The Kindle and Nook apps have some restrictions
With Kindle, cannot use the new Lending Library or the
free Personal Document Service
Basically, allow you to sync with what you are reading
on your dedicated e-reader
29. More on the iPad
Reading e-books from University Libraries on an
iPad, or other tablet, should be relatively simple.
Simply pull up the material (PDF, html), and then read
it as you would on another computer.
Tablet v. dedicated e-reader
30. Final Thoughts
We will only be adding more and more e-content in
the coming years
Most, if not all, can easily be accessed through a
desk/laptop, but we’re still seeing how publishers work
with tablets and dedicated e-readers
Right now, the e-book landscape is incredibly
diverse—no two platforms are alike!
If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact one of
us at University Libraries!
31. Resources
EDUCAUSE. (2011). E-books: Overview. Retrieved from
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/EBooks/30539
McCarthy, D. (March/April 2011). E-reading: the transition in higher education. EDUCAUSE
Review, 46(2). Retrieved from
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume46/iMobilePers
pectivesOnebooksibr/226161
Head, A.J., and Eisenberg, M.B. (October 2011). Balancing act: how college students manage
technology while in library during crunch time. Project Information Literacy Research Report.
Retrieved from http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2011_TechStudy_FullReport1.1.pdf
Keller, M. (7 Mar., 2011). Library consortia begin to vote against HarperCollins ebook checkout policy.
Libraryjournal.com. Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889582-
264/library_consortia_begin_to_vote.html.csp
Li, C., et al. (May 2011). Springer e-book pilot project: reader assessment subcomittee. Retrieved
from http://www.cdlib.org/services/uxdesign/docs/2011/academic_ebook_usage_survey.pdf
Polanka, S. (27 Mar., 2012). Bowker releases results of global ebook research. Retrieved from
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/2012/03/27/bowker-releases-results-of-global-
ebook-research/
Polanka, S. (20 Mar., 2012). New LRG study. Retrieved from
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/2012/03/20/new-lrg-study-74-of-libraries-report-
increased-demand-for-electronic-offerings/#more-4528