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Out with the Old?The Future of the Print Book in Academic LibrariesRachel Owens, Faculty Services LibrarianDaytona State CollegeApril 21, 2015
Let’s talk about…• What are students’ attitudes toward e-books?
• What are academic libraries’ experiences with e-books?
• What is the status and future of e-textbooks?
• What are publishers up to?
Survey says…Love ‘em
• Cost (sometimes)
• Portability and weight
• Numerous books, one device
• Searchability
• Sharing capabilities
• Purchase allows use of pictures, graphs, etc. without copyright concerns
Hate ‘em
• Reading from screen creates eyestrain
• Takes too long to open the book, turn pages, find a section
• Too many distractions when reading on the Web
• More difficult to navigate
• Tethered to internet
• Inability to highlight or make notes
But wait! There’s more!Love ‘em
• Interactive components that assist student comprehension
• Ability to access on any computer
• Ability to share notes and highlights with instructor
• Accessible to multiple concurrent users
• Content currency
• Perceived as more environmentally friendly
Hate ‘em
• Restrictions on number of pages that can be printed
• Inability to cut and paste on some platforms
• Limited download period
• Incompatibility across devices
• Images difficult to view
• Difficulty browsing
• “Cold” feeling – print is “warm”
Reading Comprehension Comparison
• Scientific American reviewed studies on reading comprehension in paper vs. screen (Jabr, 2013):– Navigating long texts on screens may subtly alter reading comprehension
– Screens may drain more of our mental resources while reading, making it harder to remember when we’re done
– People approach computers and tablets with a mindset less conducive to learning when compared with paper – we play games on tablets
– We remember where in written text a piece of information appeared; form a mental map as we read – not possible with seamless scroll of words
– Screens impair comprehension by limiting the way people navigate text
– Students recognize this; print out long articles from databases
The Ultimate Outcome…
• Getting a job.– Employers find that new graduates’ IT applications
knowledge is excellent (Conference Board, 2006).
– Employers find that new graduates’ reading comprehension and communication skills are poor.
– How would academic e-books contribute to this?
What do students want?
• 92% prefer print for serious reading– They can concentrate best with a hard copy
– They get distracted on screens: apps, Facebook, etc.
• They want to know how far they’ve gone in a book
• They want to save the environment, but are concerned about how many e-books they have to buy to make up for the environmental production cost of a tablet
• They want to save money – not always the case, particularly with e-textbooks
• They want to be able to sell textbooks back
Robb, 2015 – interview with Naomi Baron, American University, author of Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World
Can e-books replace print in academia?• Not yet.
• Study in a mid-sized academic library: how many of current holdings are available electronically? (Anderson and Pham, 2013)
Available
Buyable
33% 26%
Studies on Preferences in Academic LibrariesE-books preferred for/by:
• Reference books
• Commentaries
• Reserves
• Research protocols
• Pharmaceutical information
• Postdoc researchers
• Physical sciences/engineering
• Search and discovery
Print books preferred for/by:
• Textbooks
• Manuals, style guides
• Research methods, statistics
• Undergraduates
• Arts and humanities students
• Faculty
• Reading, note taking, text comparison, deep study
Patron-Driven Acquisition• Concerns (student and faculty):
– Seminal/specialist works with small audience will not be purchased
– “Trendy” titles will be purchased but not used long-term
– Staffing cuts due to decreased librarian workload
– Lessened importance of library as physical space
Hewlett-Packard Study (Tan, 2014)
Prefer print textbooks• 57% overall• 62% age 18-35
Reasons for choosing print• Ease of use, note-taking ability,
physical feel, costReasons for choosing e-text• Light weight, convenient access,
search function, cost, interactivity
• San Jose State, 527 students
• 75% age 18-35
• 57% graduate students
• 29% LIS students
• 21% preferred e-text; 21% preferred both
• Willing to pay more to get both formats
• Conclusion: not so fast with the all-digital classroom
2012 study in Texas (Sun, Flores and Tagama)
• Compared e-text use in classroom (computer lab) vs. assigned e-text used in regular classroom
• SLOs enhanced, perceived usefulness increased when e-text used in class – recommend a computer classroom when using e-text
DSC E-Text Pilot Study – 2 years• http://
www.educause.edu/ero/article/study-four-textbook-distribution-models
• Economics and English classes (had to change courses involved)
• Classes assigned to print purchase, print rental, e-text rental or e-text rental with device (had to change device chosen from Kindle to Dell notebook)
• E-text problems:– Instructors spent class time troubleshooting tech issues
– IT infrastructure not robust enough to support in-class textbook access
– Only saved $1.00 over print
– Lack of basic computing skills in students
Hardware-Software Compatibility• Buell (2013): not all e-devices are compatible with all e-
textbook software platforms
• Current e-textbook companies (CourseSmart, Inkling, Kno, Amazon) work best with iPad or laptop– Two of the most expensive e-devices
• A device must also support offline reading for e-textbook adoption; not all do
Bottom line:
• 60% of students will buy a print textbook even when the e-version is free (James Madison University, 2014).
• And, most e-textbooks are NOT free.
• Students want lifetime access to e-textbooks (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012).
Current status• Students spend $1,100/year on textbooks
• 70% of students have not bought a textbook because of price
• 20% in FL use textbooks on library reserve (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012)
• E-texts simpler for publishers
• 54% FL students spent >$300 on textbooks Spring 2012 (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012)
• Publishers make 77 cents per dollar on print text sales – no incentive to change! (Waller, 2013)
Open-source textbooks
• Lindshield and Adhikari (2013): – More F2F students used the e-version; more online
students printed out the PDF (Why? Online students more often work during the day and don’t want to read from a screen in the evening for school.)
– F2F students do not like animations, links, etc. – most of them are used in class
– Faculty reluctant to create open-source material without compensation
Open-source textbooks• Prasad and Usagawa (2014):
– Found high level of acceptance toward open texts
– Greatest barrier for adoption is students’ preference for reading printed material
– Greatest motivator: FREE!
– Students perceive open-source as possibly lower in quality
• Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas (2012): Most FL students have never heard of open-source texts.
Final thoughts• Digital literacy ≠ information literacy
• Reading an e-book for enjoyment is very different from reading an e-textbook on which you will be tested in the future
• We may be reaching a tipping point (Marques, 2012)– As tech delivery of e-content improves
– As compatibility across devices improves
– As K-12 schools keep moving toward e-text use