Promotingebooksreportb

1
Promoting the Uptake of E-Books

in Higher and Further Education
Contents
Page
Contents
Contents
Lists of Figures and Tables
Preface: A note on the structure of this report and how to use it.
Executive Summary
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Chapter One: Academic e-books: an overview of the current commercial,

technological, educational and social context
1.1: Definition, history and evolution
1.2: E-books: basic technological information
1.3: E-book readers
1.4: Finding e-books
1.5: Buying e-books
1.6: E-books and e-learning within the current academic context
1.7: Teaching, learning and study factors: social and cultural issues
1.8: Broader cultural and technological factors
1.9: E-books: comparisons with other publishing technologies
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Chapter Two: Who are the stakeholders, and how does the e-book supply chain
operate?
2.1: Active Stakeholders
2.2: Passive Stakeholders
2.3: Influencing Stakeholders
2.4: The print and e-book information supply chains: a comparison
Chapter Three: The stakeholders: e-books issues considered: the perceived
advantages of and barriers to using e-books; where users find them and for what
purpose they use them. Anticipations of future usage
3.1: Do e-books need promoting?
3.2: Active stakeholder viewpoints: What are the advantages of e-books,
either instead of or as well as print books? What are the barriers to
promotion?
3.2.1: Authors
3.2.2: Publishers
3.2.3: Distributors of e-books: Aggregators
3.2.3a: Examples of e-aggregator pricing models
3.2.3b: Publishers pricing models
3.2.4: Booksellers
3.2.5: Self-Publishers
3.2.6: Librarians 1: Higher Education Institutions
3.2.6i: Why Librarians would like to purchase more ebooks and encourage greater use of them, and their
concerns
3.2.6ia: Access
3.2.6ib: Stock Maintenance and Administrative
Tasks
3.2.6ic: Quality of Stock
3.2.6id: Economic Considerations
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3.2.6ii: Librarians prioritisation of e-book acquisition,

with reasons
3.2.6iia: High demand
3.2.6iib: Material types sought
3.2.6iic: Target subjects
3.2.6iid: Specific user groups
3.2.6iie: Constraints
3.2.6iii: Advantages of e-books given by the
questionnaire respondents
3.2.6iv: Neutral comments given by the questionnaire
respondents
3.2.6v: Barriers to uptake given by the questionnaire
respondents
3.2.6vi: Barriers to uptake for librarians from previous
published and unpublished work, as summarise for the
panels
3.2.7: Librarians 2: FE Colleges
3.2.7i: FE Librarians: perceived advantages of e-books
3.2.7ii: FE Librarians: perceived barriers to uptake
3.2.7iia: Materials available
3.2.7iib: Technological problems
3.2.7iic: E-books offer no advantage over print
3.2.7iid: Other reasons
3.2.8: Librarians 3: Consortia
3.2.9: Academics and Lecturers: perceived advantages and barriers to
uptake
3.2.9i: Academics
3.2.9ia: Academics: the questionnaire responses
3.2.9ib: Notes on questionnaire analysis
3.2.9ic: Academics: comments from questionnaires
3.2.9ic1: Web resources used for teaching and
studying purposes
3.2.9ic2: Other uses for e-books
3.2.9ic3: Where most likely to obtain e-books
3.2.9ic4: On recommending to students
3.2.9ic5: Technical problems
3.2.9ic6: Future use of e-books
3.2.9ic7: Reasons for not using
3.2.9ic8: Views on e-books as a resource for
teaching, learning and research
3.2.9ii: Academics: additional information contributed by
the focus groups and in-depth interviews
3.2.9iia: Pedagogical and cultural issues
3.2.9iib: Further comments on technical / access
issues
3.2.9iic: General issues
3.2.9iid: Price and Publishing issues
3.2.9iii: Middlemarch in-depth academic interview
responses: extra information
3.2.9iiia: On future use of e-books
3.2.10: FE Lecturers
3.2.10i: FE lecturers: the questionnaire responses
3.2.10ii: Notes on questionnaire analysis
FE lecturers: comments from questionnaires
3.2.10iia: Web resources used for teaching and
learning materials
3.2.10iib: Technical problems
3.2.10iic: Other problems
3.2.10iid: Comments on future use
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3.2.10iie: Views on e-books as a resource for

teaching, learning and research
3.3: Complementary / Supplementary Support Materials for Print
Books
3.4: Social and Cultural Issues
3.5: The Students
3.5.1: Group 1: UWE Postgraduate Management Students
3.5.1i: Responses from the e-book users
3.5.1ia: Types of work for which ebooks were used
3.5.1ib: How e-books were obtained
3.5.1ic: Functions of e-books which
were used and appreciated
3.5.1id: Technical problems
experienced
3.5.1ie: Estimates of future use of ebooks
3.5.1if: Other comments from this subgroup
3.5.1ii: Responses from the e-book non-users
3.5.1iia: Comments
3.5.1iib: Functions of e-books which
might be used and appreciated: non-user
group
3.5.1iic: How e-books would be likely
to be obtained
3.5.1iid: Estimates of future use of
e-books
3.5.1iie: Comments from this subgroup
3.5.2: Group 2: First year undergraduates at the
University of Middlemarch
3.5.2i: Use of e-books: use of web resources
3.5.2ii: Comments
3.5.2iii: Types of work for which e-books were
used or thought likely to be used; how they
would be obtained; technical problems; reasons
for not using, opinions of future use of e-books
and likelihood of buying in preference to print if
cheaper
3.5.2iiia: Comments: Technical
problems
3.5.2iiib: Other problems
3.5.2iiic: Will use of ebooks increase in future?
3.5.2iiid: Summary
comments
3.5.3: Group 3: Six newly graduated third year Business
students at Huddersfield University
3.5.3i: Summary of questionnaire responses
3.5.3ii: Comments
3.5.4: The focus groups
3.5.4i: Middlemarch focus group: extra
information
3.5.4ia: Opinions on print books
accompanied by electronic materials
3.5.4ib: On part books and slice-anddice
3.5.4ic: On how e-books should be
promoted to students
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3.5.4ii: Huddersfield focus group: extra

information
3.5.4iii: Edgehill focus group: extra information
3.5.4iiia: Perceived advantages and
disadvantages of e-books
3.5.4iiib: Atttitudes to paying for
printing out and downloading
3.5.4iiic: Attitudes to hand-held readers
and use of computers at home
3.5.4iiid: Features students would like
to see
3.5.4iiie: On slice-and-dice
3.5.4iiif: Who should promote e-books?
3.6: Quantitative summary of all student questionnaire
responses
3.7: FE Students
3.8: Remaining Stakeholders: issues
3.8.1: Hardware and software suppliers
3.8.2: Systems suppliers
3.8.3: Influencing groups
3.8.4: Media
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Interchapter Summary of the key issues as they relate to the three main user
groups, taken from Chapter 3 findings
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Chapter Four: demand for e-books; library evaluations

4.1: Introduction
4.2: Assessment and comparison of the various models on offer
4.3: Assessment of demand
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Chapter Five: How e-books are currently being promoted in Further and Higher
Education
5.1: Perceived advantages and the less rosy reality
5.2: How publishers, aggregators and booksellers are promoting e-books
5.3: To whom are e-books being promoted, and by whom? To increase
effectiveness of promotion, who should be targeted, and by whom?
5.3.1: Notes on HEI librarian views
5.3.2: Notes on FE librarian views
5.4: Librarians: best practice criteria
5.5: What forms of supplier promotional materials and approaches are
available?
5.5.1: Notes on supplier practice
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Chapter Six: Cataloguing and Metadata Issues

6.1: Introduction
6.2: Mechanisms for discovery
6.3: Review of metadata and other relevant standards
6.4: Collaboration / partnerships between librarians and commercial e-book
providers
6.5: Integration of e-books into the library acquisition process
6.6: Preservation of e-books
6.7: Digital Rights Management Data
6.8: Recommendations on Cataloguing and Metadata Issues from Panel C
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Chapter Seven: E-books and Teaching and Learning

7.1: Introduction
7.2: Academics and Lecturers: attitudes to e-books
7.3: Determining the effectiveness of e-books
7.4: The use of e-books and e-learning in practice
7.5: Student Experiences
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7.6: Conclusions of this Chapter
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Chapter Eight: Conclusions and Recommendations

8.1: Introductory Notes
8.2: Conclusions
8.3: Recommendations and Future Promotional Plan
Publishers and Aggregators
Booksellers and Library Suppliers
Librarians at all levels
Academics and Lecturers
JISC
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The Case Studies

No. 1: The Academic Authors Perspective
No. 2: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a Publisher: Oxford University Press
No. 3: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a Publisher: Taylor & Francis
No. 4: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by an Aggregator: netLibrary
No. 5: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a Bookseller: Swotbooks
No. 6: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a University Library (1): the University
of Aston
No. 7: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a University Library (2): Edgehill
College
of Huddersfield
of Staffordshire
No. 10: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by a University Library (5): the
University of the West of England
No. 11: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by an HEI Consortium of Four Northern
Universities
No. 12: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by an FE College (1): Barnsley College:
a study in energy and persistence
No. 13: Best Practice in E-Book Promotion by an FE College (2): Yeovil College
No. 14: Best Practice in Sharing Resources: how Huddersfield University helps its
FE feeder colleges
No. 15: Demystifying I.T., and Promoting Undersatnding of I.T. Resources and how
to put them to Practical Use: the INFORMS Project
No. 16: Best Practice in Teaching with E-Books: the FE Lecturers Perspective
No. 17: Best Practice in Studying with E-Books: Ashleys Perspective
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Appendix One: Methodology
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Acknowledgements
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Select Bibliography (Toolkit Bibliography)
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List of Figures
Page
Figure
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Figure 1: The traditional academic print book supply chain

Figure 2: The academic print book information supply chain
Figure 3: The academic e-book supply chain
Figure 4: The academic e-book information supply chain
Figure 5: Duke Study: Titles used in print or e-book
Figure 6: Duke Study: Circulating print titles, before and after introduction
of e-book
Figure 7: Aston University: netLibrary usage, Oct. 02 May 03
Figure 8: Aston University: CRC Press usage, Oct. 02 May 03
Figure 9: Aston University: Wiley Encyclopaedias usage, Oct. 02 May 03
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List of Tables
Page
Table
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Table 1: Ebrary customer endorsement sheet: indicates advantages of

product
Table 2: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: HEI Library Analysis No. 1
Table 3: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: FE Library Analysis No. 1
Table 4: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: Academic Analysis No. 1
Table 5: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: FE Lecturer Analysis No. 1
Table 6: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: Student Analysis No. 1:
summary of responses from all students who answered the
questionnaire
Table 7: Consortium of Irish universities criteria for selecting e-books
supplier
Table 8: Consortium of Irish universities matching of supplier attributes
against their requirements
Table 11: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: Student Analysis No. 2
Table 14: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: effective routes to promotion
Table 15: Ways in which commercial suppliers promote e-books
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Preface
A Note on the Structure and Format of the Report
It has been the objective to make this report as entertaining and easy to use as
possible. As far as possible, it has been presented in book format, through a series of
chapters. Additional information that may be of interest to some groups has been
consigned to footnotes, to improve the flow. Diagrams have been used to explain
complex processes. Frequent section headings and headers have been introduced to
help the reader to navigate the contents, and the main sections are numbered.
It contains a great deal of original research. Anonymity was guaranteed to all the
questionnaire and focus group participants, except when they gave permission to be
quoted. At the same time, it was believed that the identification of as many
organisations and individuals as possible would make the report more interesting to
read, and for this reason large sections of the main text and all of the case studies have
been vetted by those whose work and organisations they feature. I am grateful to
them for their permission, and for undertaking the vetting process.
It is JISCs intention for the report to be used by all stakeholder groups (except,
perhaps, students), and since it is therefore envisaged that not many people will want
to read all of it, it is hoped that the division into sections will make it a useful working
tool. Again for ease of reading, and because addressing single issues detracts from
the presentation of a complex picture, only some of the JISC objectives (such as the
consideration of metadata, which obviously benefits from discrete treatment) have
been addressed individually. An holistic approach has been adopted when addressing
many of the issues in the central Chapter 3, and the key findings then teased out and
presented in the grid which follows it. The Methodology is explained in detail in
Appendix One.
The aim is for the narrative to tell a story, the story of the current status quo of
academic e-book promotion in the UK. The case studies, if read in sequence, tell the
more optimistic story of how it is being done at its best at the present time.
I should like to stress again my indebtedness to the dozens of people who have made
this report possible, by giving freely of their time and advice. I have tried to list them
all in the Acknowledgements, and apologise if I have unwittingly made any
omissions. Likewise, any errors that still lurk in this final version are entirely my
own, and I apologise for them.
Linda Bennett, Gold Leaf, September 2003.
Executive Summary
1. Within the context of academic publishing, there is not an adequate definition
for the term e-book, and this is a source of confusion and therefore a barrier
to uptake.
2. The wide diversity of software and hardware products associated with e-books
are a cause of confusion and therefore a barrier to uptake.
3. E-books, if adopted in a widespread fashion, would provide an answer to
some of the challenges currently being faced by higher and further education.
These include a burgeoning student population which must be supported by
decreasing per capita resources; a changing student profile, reflected in the
increasing numbers of mature, part-time and distance learning students; the
adoption of Managed Learning Environments (MLEs) and Virtual Learning
Environments (VLEs) at many educational institutions; students lack of funds
for purchasing books.
4. Social and cultural issues related to expectations of the e-book as a teaching,
learning and research resource compared with the print book constitute a
barrier to uptake. How e-books are actually being used, and how they might
in future be developed for educational use, are areas which are not well
understood. Within the contexts of usage and evolution of uptake, it may not
be helpful to compare e-books with perceived related products, for example,
audio books, electronically disseminated music, e-journals, print books.
5. The main active stakeholder groups in the e-book supply chain have been
identified as authors, publishers, aggregators, booksellers, librarians,
academics, lecturers, students and hardware / software providers. Publishers
and aggregators consider that librarians occupy a pivotal role in promoting ebooks, and concentrate less on the other user groups. This in itself constitutes
a major barrier to uptake. There are two other stakeholder groups, which have
been identified respectively as passive stakeholders and influencing
stakeholders. Passive stakeholders include digital content providers,
systems providers and the developers of MLE and VLE systems for
educational institutions. Influencing stakeholders include professional
bodies such as the PA, the BA, UKOLN, and JISC; professional standards
bodies such as BIC and OpeneBook; commercial bibliographical information
providers such as Nielsen Bookdata and Bowker; local, regional and national
training bodies, departments and individuals; the media; and social / political
influencers, including the government and its educational initiatives.
6. There are differences between the print book and e-book physical and
information supply chains. The e-book information supply chain (for the
reason given in 5 above) is imperfect. Awareness of the main user groups,
especially of academics, lecturers and students, but also, in some cases and for
some products, of librarians, is low. This constitutes a major barrier to uptake.
7. Many publishers are reluctant to make their publications available in e-book
format and / or to promote them too strenuously, because they are afraid of the
effect on their revenues. This is especially true of the major textbook

publishers, who have instead invested heavily in producing supplementary /
complementary electronic materials to support print books. These related
points constitute a barrier to uptake.
8. Both publishers and aggregators have developed a wide range of charging
techniques for e-books, some of which are difficult to understand. With many
variations, the pricing mechanisms adopt two basic approaches: a charge
which bears some relationship to the cost of the corresponding print book, and
a licensing fee, based on access by a maximum number of users over a given
period of time, which bears no relation to the print book cost. The latter
approach in particular makes it difficult for purchasers to understand whether
they are receiving value for money. This constitutes a barrier to uptake.
9. Booksellers have experimented with e-books in a limited way, but are finding
it difficult to carve out a role for themselves in the e-book supply chain
(although some library suppliers are beginning to see that their services are
needed, and have responded accordingly). As they are therefore not filling the
important role of information providers that they occupy in the print book
information supply chain, this constitutes a barrier to uptake.
10. The four major points made in 9 above should be linked to the major point
made in 5 and 6 above: promoting awareness of e-books to the right people
and through the right people is critical.
11. E-book users - librarians, academics, lecturers and students - have identified a
whole raft of barriers to uptake, as well as the advantages that e-books offer to
them, which are examined in detail in Chapter Three. It is suggested that
from this comprehensive range of issues, the following are the major ones that
need to be addressed if uptake of e-books is to reach its full potential in further
and higher education in the UK:
Availability of the publications that are required in e-book format.
Congenial and appropriate (to the subject matter) presentation of the
material, so that it is found to be equal or superior to other formats
within the context that it is being used.
A price structure which is viable for all stakeholders (i.e., all suppliers
and end-users).
Near-universal access of students to the Internet and appropriate
hardware.
12. 46 responses to the HEI librarians questionnaire were received, and of these
41 (89%) were e-book subscribers. 90% of the subscribers said that they
bought e-books for reference purposes; 61% bought e-books to provide access
to material not purchased in print; 63% bought e-books with the intention of
providing a distance-learning service; 41% bought them to provide additional
copies; and 44% to provide supplementary texts. It should be noted that some
of these responses will have been skewed by limitations of availability, and
also in some cases by librarians imperfect knowledge of what was available.
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13. Actual expenditure on e-books by HEI institution was relatively low. 30 of

the respondents gave details of their expenditure per annum on both e-books
and print books, and among these expenditure on e-books represented an
average of 3% of expenditure on print books. The average spend figure was
10,546 per institution, against an average spend of 316,394 on print books.
The highest and lowest spending old universities spent 10% and 0.03% of
their print book expenditure respectively on e-books. The highest and lowest
spending new universities spent 10% and 0.07% respectively.
14. 37 responses to the FE librarians questionnaire were received, and of these 7
(19%) were e-book subscribers. The sample of subscribers was too small for
any pattern in purpose on e-book acquisition to be identified. Of the 7
subscribers, the average spend on e-books was 5% of the spend on print
books. The average spend figure was 2,488 per institution, against an
average spend of 50,833 on print books.
15. 24 responses to the academics questionnaire were received, from six
universities. The responders were hand-picked by librarians at their
institutions, who identified them as people with an active interest in e-books.
Despite this perception, 6 of the academics (25%) did not know that the
university had an e-books collection and 9 (37%) were not using e-books.
Purposes for which the academics accessed e-books were evenly spread: 33%
were using e-books for lecture preparation; 38% to prepare course material /
handouts; 38% to carry out research; 8% to consult tables and formulae; 42%
for general reference; and 42% for private reading / pleasure.
The academics were likely to obtain e-books from a variety of sources. 75%
were likely to obtain e-books from the university library; 13% were likely to
obtain them from other libraries; 21% were likely to obtain them direct from
publishers; 21% from booksellers; and 58% were likely to obtain them free
from the Internet. Again, the results may have been skewed by availability
issues and limited knowledge caused by poor promotion.
16. 20 responses to the FE lecturers questionnaire were received, from 16 FE
colleges. The responders answered a request for help put out through the
RSCs by Paul Davy of JISC, and therefore comprised a more random sample
than the academics. Despite this, it became apparent that most of the
responders were enthusiastic users of e-learning applications, and use of ebooks by the lecturer group (55%) was only 8% lower than for the academics.
The sample was too small to be able to assess how typically they represented
the FE lecturer population.
Only 25% of the FE lecturers were aware that their college had an e-books
collection. It was without the scope of the study to conduct a check on how
many of the colleges concerned actually had e-book collections, but at least
one of the lecturers was unaware that his college held a (considerable) e-book
resource. 25% of the lecturers used e-books for lecture preparation; 45% to
prepare course material / handouts; 30% to carry out research; 5% to consult
tables / formulae; 45% for reference information; and 10% for private reading
/ pleasure.
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30% were likely to obtain e-books from the college library; 20% were likely to
obtain them from other libraries; 35% were likely to obtain them direct from
publishers; 5% were likely to obtain them from booksellers; and 60% were
likely to obtain them free from the Internet, making this by far their most
likely single source.
17. Three groups of students responded to the questionnaire, and two student
focus groups were held. These students were studying at different levels, and
in different learning environments, and therefore their responses have been
analysed separately in Chapter Three. The following is a summary of all of
their questionnaire responses:
There were 28 student respondents, from three universities. Each of the
universities had an e-books collection, and 54% of the students were aware of
this. 88% of the students had attended a library training session, and 58% of
these remembered that it included information about e-books. 88% of the
students used the web for studying and learning, and 39% of these used ebooks.
3% were likely to use e-books to prepare for lectures and seminars; none were
likely to use them to help prepare for examinations; 32% were likely to use
them to aid in the preparation of essays and coursework; 7% were likely to use
them to consult tables and formulae; 18% were likely to use them for general
reference information; and none were likely to use them for private reading /
pleasure.
The students were uncertain about where to obtain e-books. As part of the
brief for the questionnaire, they were told that the library had an e-books
collection, and 75% said that they would be likely to try to obtain e-books
from the library. 25% said that they would be likely to obtain e-books from
other libraries; 11% said they would be likely to obtain them direct from the
publishers; 11% said they would be likely to obtain them from booksellers;
18% said that they would be likely to obtain e-books free from the Internet.
Owing to the time of year at which the study was undertaken, only six
responses were received to the questionnaire from FE students, all at the same
college. This sample was too small to be of significance. However, 3 of the
responding students made the same comment: E-books should be better
publicised.
18. Some academics and lecturers use e-books in innovative ways: their ideas
could be disseminated more widely.
19. Students are confused about e-books and very imperfectly aware of them.
However, most are willing to try them.
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20. It is particularly important that e-books feature on the main vehicle of

information used by most students: the reading list. Among the academics and
lecturers consulted, most agreed that it would be a good idea to put e-books on
reading lists, but few were actually doing this.
21. Among the issues to be resolved by the other stakeholders, the greatest single
barrier to uptake with regard to software and hardware is the lack of a
common platform for e-books. The Open E-Book Forum is trying to address
this. Systems failure or breakdown is also an issue which was raised by
librarians, academics, lecturers and students. There is the further important
concern of whether there is static or dynamic linking between e-books and the
library and related systems. A JISC working group has been set up to examine
the last in more detail. Cross-industry influencing bodies such as PALS and
JISC itself could help tremendously by taking practical action to promote ebooks. Learned journals read by academics, lecturers and librarians could be
encouraged to carry out and publish reviews of e-books.
22. A summary of the key issues as they relate to the three main user groups
(Librarians, Academics / Lecturers and Students) is supplied in the grid placed
between Chapters Three and Four.
23. Assessing potential demand for e-books is difficult, because of the imperfect
information supply chain already identified, and because usage statistics
provided by publishers and aggregators are often difficult to understand, and
invariably inadequate for determining the quality and extent of usage. Some
modest successes and a few spectacular ones have been recorded by referring
to such usage statistics as are available. Of more significance in establishing
potential demand is that 71% of academics, 80% of FE lecturers and 72% of
students taking part in this study said that they would buy the e-book in
preference to the print book if it were significantly cheaper.
24. Some detailed analysis of individual e-book products has been undertaken by
separate groups of librarians; this work, some of which is reproduced in
Chapter Four, was time-consuming to produce, is very useful and could be
shared more widely.
25. Librarians, academics and lecturers promote e-books in a variety of ways,
which have been recorded in Chapter Five. Some of these constitute best
practice, and could profitably be shared more widely. Librarians, in particular,
should not blame end-users for poor uptake; should put e-books on the
catalogue; should offer targeted e-book training sessions; should work with
academics on selecting suitable e-books; and should evaluate user feedback
and usage statistics, and act upon them. Publishers and aggregators should also
adopt as wide a variety of methods to promote e-books as possible. Examples
of methods currently used are also recorded in Chapter Five. This study
suggests that the most important things to get right are:
a) to ensure that the right people are being promoted to in the right way
with the right products (i.e., that the information supply chain issues
are being addressed).
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b) that a mixture of print, personal and electronic promotional approaches

are used, as being most effective (but that it should be noted that costs
of promotion have to be borne, and by the customer).
c) that promotional attempts by all relevant stakeholders should be
underpinned by the following abstract attributes: enterprising,
pragmatic, energetic, innovative, and focused.
d) that imperfect (from the librarians point of view) provision of
cataloguing and metadata for e-books, though important, should not be
allowed by librarians to constitute a barrier to uptake in itself.
26. Despite the point made in 18c) above, there is a number of cataloguing and
metadata issues which should be resolved in order to achieve maximum
uptake. These concern the listing of what is available in e-book format, how it
should be described, and how to find it within the context of a library
collection The Cataloguing and Metadata panel, which considered these
issues, offered the following recommendations as a result of its findings:
a) Providers of bibliographic databases should be urged to include ebooks; the benefits of providing information to them should be
explained to publishers.
b) The e-book intermediary services should be encouraged to work with
the bibliographic database services to provide a comprehensive listing
of e-books available and from whom they can be obtained.
c) OPACs and other bibliographical databases should be searchable by
product form, but also provide links between paper and digital versions
of the same product.
d) AACR2 should take better account of e-books and provide more
guidance on their cataloguing.
e) The library community should be encouraged to ensure persistence of
links by using DOIs or URNs.
f) Metadata elements should include the basic Dublin Core elements,
Publisher Statement to clarify who is the actual publisher and who is
the distributor, Bibliographic History providing information on other
formats, publishers blurbs and abstracts to facilitate both selection and
subject classification.
g) The benefits to publishers of Z39.50 compliance should be
investigated.
h) The use of ONIX to expose metadata for OAI harvesting should be
explored and piloted.
i) Policies regarding deposit of corrected and updated digital products
should be articulated.
j) The work of ISO/IETC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (MPEG) in developing
standards for a Rights Data Dictionary and Rights Expression
Language should be monitored and publicised.
27. Writing on pedagogical issues, Huw Morris identified four types of academic
(defined by attitude) e-book user: synics, surface adopters, strategic users
and systemic believers. He concluded that there are at present relatively few
ardent advocates of e-books among the academic community (represented by
the last of these groups), because there is still uncertainty about which of the
14
technologies labelled e-books will become the industry standard; as a result

few further and higher education lecturing staff have explored the full variety
of ways in which the technology might be used to support teaching and
promote student learning. He foresees that it is likely that in the near future an
increasing number of educational staff and students will use e-books
alongside hardbacks and paperbacks; and says that in order to make the most
of this, there is a need for planning and development at national, institutional
and departmental levels.
28. The following is a headline summary of the recommendations of this report.
(The Cataloguing and Metadata recommendations are given separately in para.
26 above).
A. Publishers and Aggregators:
1. Drive e-book demand by making more content available.
2. Maximise e-book functional potential; follow the print book route
and e-journals.
3. Persevere with business model experimentation in immature market.
4. Persevere with usage model, avoid restrictive DRM.
5. Assuage the netLibrary, Betamax, wrong platform jitters.
6. Promote and communicate to HE / FE.
7. Exploit metadata for discovery.
8. Promote and communicate internally within publishing houses.
B. Booksellers and Library Suppliers:
1. Assert your place in the e-book distribution and information supply
chains.
2. Think innovatively in order to capitalise on the potential of e-book
sales, rather than agonising over the drawbacks.
3. Think innovatively by working with new channel partners.
C. Librarians at all levels:
1. Maximise e-book discovery and access.
2. Promote and communicate to users and patrons.
3. Focus pilot activity.
4. Remember the best practice tenets.
5. Build new partnerships.
6. Help to maintain best practice.
D. Academics:
1. Work towards greater certainty in standards and practices.
2. Promote debate through the commissioning of special features
in the educational press.
3. Encourage the establishment of senior management groups within
institutions, which bring together all stakeholders to plan
development of e-learning and e-book resources.
4. Review possibility of including e-learning specifications in
teaching and learning strategies.
5. Incentivise e-book champions among academics.
15
6. Ensure that staff are provided with continuous professional

development time and resources, including the opportunity to
review e-books.
7. Consider making funding available to promote experimentation
with use of e-books by regional consortia.
8. Encourage the sponsorship of a nationally recognised qualification
for learning technologists.
E. JISC:
1. Generally, make librarians and academics more aware of JISC and
its activities, particularly, in this context, in the e-book field.
2. Capitalise on existing e-book initiatives; support wider e-book
initiatives.
3. Commission targeted follow-up work based on the findings of this
study.
4. Lobby / negotiate within the wider community.
29. A series of case studies, including examples of best practice, has been
developed for this study. These are given in supply chain order at the end of
this report, and, if read as a continuous narrative, highlight how some of the
perceived barriers to uptake can be removed, and how e-books can be
promoted more fully by a wider range of institutions and individuals.
16
Chapter One
Academic e-books: an overview of the current commercial,
technological, educational and social context
1.1 Definition, history and evolution
What is an e-book?1 The question may seem facile, but the confusion caused by the
lack of an acceptable definition of what an e-book is has become abundantly clear
during the course of the research undertaken for this report, and this confusion in
itself also constitutes a barrier to uptake. Conventionally speaking, there are two
major types of e-book: the electronic version of a whole text (for example, of a book
that already exists in print); or a database of linked materials, some but not all of
which may exist in a print version (for example, scientific encyclopaedias which
include interactive tables). Although most librarians include database versions when
they are discussing e-books, many individuals (lecturers, academics, students, even
some publishers) assume that the term refers to electronic versions of discrete books
only. The working definition used by JISC is an online version of printed books,
accessed via the Internet; although this may provide an adequate working tool for the
JISC E-Books Working Group, it has variously been described as too broad, too
imprecise and misleadingly suggesting whole texts only by contributors to this
report. Patently, it does not apply to e-book originals. Other definitions of e-books
deliberately exclude the database versions:
Id describe them as computer files embodying the content of a book that can be viewed on
an e-book reader. What theyre not is the sort of product where material that could be
published in a book is used within some larger software package an . encyclopaedia or an
1
electronic dictionary are probably not e-books.
Non-conventional thinkers would broaden the term to include almost any electronic
resource: they would argue that a website, a CDROM, even an e-mail might in some
circumstances be described as an e-book. This report concerns itself mainly with
commercially available products that have been named e-books by those who
supply them; but it is useful when reading it to keep in mind both the lack of an
universally accepted definition, and the possibilities that the term might embrace.
Products called e-books have existed in some form for a long time, from perhaps as
early as the 1950s, but they first became widely available as a result of Project
Gutenberg, which was founded in 1971 by Michael Hart, sometimes described as a
visionary ahead of his time2, whose ambition was and is to make information,
books and other materials available to the general public in forms a vast majority of
the computers, programs and people3 can easily read, use, quote and search, at little
or no cost. The absence of cost means that most if not all of the books available from
this source are out of copyright. In 2002, Hart claimed that there were 5,000 e-books
in the Project Gutenberg collection, separated into three categories: reference works,
light literature and heavy literature.
1
E-Books: A Traditional Publishers Perspective, paper by Graham Bell, Harper Collins, delivered at
E-Books and the Supply Chain of the Future, a PIRA conference, on 26th April 2001.
2
The Second Gutenberg, http://promo.net/pg/upi_interview_05_02.html. Accessed 30/06/2003
3
What is Project Gutenberg?, http://promo.net/pg/history.html. Accessed 30/06/2003
17
After Project Gutenberg, e-book initiatives gradually gathered momentum: for

example, Oxford University Press has been selling reference material via on-line
databases since the mid-1980s. HarperCollins, the first British trade publisher to enter
the e-book market, launched with the The E before Christmas in December 2000,
shortly after the huge wave of publicity caused by Stephen Kings free e-book, Riding
the Bullet, which reportedly achieved 5,000 downloads during its first 48 hours of
availability.
Among general UK booksellers, W.H. Smiths and Amazon now sell e-books (both
via digital warehouses, which are described later in this chapter), and of the academic
booksellers and library suppliers operating in the UK, Blackwells (retail and library
supply), Coutts, Dawsons, John Smiths and Swotbooks all have e-book offerings,
though some of them are limited to links to the Taylor and Francis eBookstore and
none of them currently claims to be achieving significant e-book sales.
Commercial provision of academic e-books greatly accelerated in the late 1990s,
partly owing to the well-publicised founding of netLibrary4 in the United States in
1998. netLibrary is an e-book aggregator. Its vision is to make collections of
academic books, both those still in copyright and those out of copyright, available in
PDF electronic format to academic institutions. The first British institutional
subscriptions to netLibrary began in 2000.
Other collection-based offers from aggregators for example, books24x75 have
been developed which present the texts in XML format. Some academic publishers
have created strong e-book initiatives: for example, Taylor and Francis6, which set up
its eBookstore7 in 2001, seeks to sell e-books direct to individuals via its website, to
individuals and libraries via booksellers linking to its website and NetLibrary, and
direct to libraries via JISC initiatives8. Other academic publishers including many
of the major textbook publishers are very reluctant to get involved with the e-book
market to any significant degree. A representative from a giant international
academic publishing house, interviewed for this report, said:
Supplementary / complementary learning materials to accompany textbooks are of most
importance to our electronic development strategy. At present our aim is to secure and
improve market share for the business in what it perceives to be a weak market, suffering
from economic down-turn.9
There is a further group of academic publishers that is interested in e-books, but has
either not yet worked out its e-book strategy, or is deliberately waiting to see how the
market develops before making a commitment.
These first few introductory paragraphs already touch on some of the rich complexity
and ambivalence which, because of its mode of evolution, has permeated the e-book
4
www.netLibrary.com.
www.books24x7.com.
6
See also Case Study No. 3.
7
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
8
A JISC consultation document on licensing electronic books (Taylor & Francis Collections) was
issued in May 2003, and at the time of writing is still being assessed by potential takers.
9
Structured publisher interview No. 4.
5
18
market. In the first place (in common with other products accessed or sold via the
Internet, but enhanced by awareness of Project Gutenberg and other free e-book
initiatives such as Riding the Bullet), there is a user perception that e-books should be
either free or cheaper than print books. Secondly, whether or not they agree with this
proposition, publishers are not yet in a position to understand how e-books will affect
their established revenue streams. Academic publishers, in particular, are afraid of
losing sales in their core textbook market: and the larger ones have already invested
considerable sums of money in providing on-line support materials to print texts,
rather than making the texts themselves available in e-format. Thirdly, there is the
lack of a commonly understood definition described at the start of this chapter.
Fourthly as evidenced by the limited bookseller involvement and low bookseller
sales, and by the direct involvement of a major author (the famous example of
Stephen King has been taken from trade publishing, but some academic authors are
also experimenting with the provision of free e-books) in allowing free electronic
access to his work e-books, in common with many new technologies, have disrupted
the traditional book supply chain. One significant result of this disruption, which will
be explored in greater detail in the next chapter, is that some of the principal supply
chain targets have been displaced, but not necessarily to good effect. For example,
currently the librarian, and not the academic, is perceived by many publishers and
most e-book aggregators as the key figure to target with academic e-book products,
though academics and students, not librarians, are the main end-users of e-books.
Similarly, aggregators are the most wholehearted commercial promoters of academic
e-books, but they too are intermediaries and, unlike publishers, neither originators of
the material nor, like booksellers, able to offer specialist expertise in the fields of
knowledge that they purvey. The roles both of the librarian and the aggregator, and
the robustness of the current e-book supply chain within the academic context, will be
examined in detail in Chapter 2.
1.2 E-books: basic technological information
All of the ground covered in this section may be found in greater detail elsewhere, but
since the format and means of accessing e-books invariably baffles newcomers (a
further barrier to uptake), a brief explanation of e-book technology is included at this
stage.
1.3 e-book Readers
In order to access an e-book, a piece of software called an e-book Reader is necessary.
This may be downloaded from the Internet, or supplied by the manufacturer on an
installation CDROM.
There are several, and have in the recent past been many more, different proprietary ebook Readers. The most successful and well-known are probably Microsoft Reader
and Adobe Acrobat e-Book Reader; others have not succeeded commercially and
have therefore died examples include Versaware and Franklin eBookman.
However, there are essentially just two formats:
1. Page-based PDF formats, e.g., the Adobe Acrobat e-book Reader (formerly
called Glassbook), which preserves the look and all design elements of each
page of the print book. This has recently been re-branded Adobe Reader 6.
19
2. Stream-based XML-type formats, such as those favoured by Open e-Book

(OEB), Microsoft Reader, Gemstar (formerly called RocketBook) and Palm
Reader (formerly called Peanut Reader) which divide up the text into
screenfuls as it is read. Re-flowable text is often used to describe this type of
format, too.
E-books can be accessed via a piece of dedicated hardware, also often called an ebook Reader (the fact that this term has been applied to both software and hardware
products is responsible for much confusion device is a clearer word to use)
Gemstar is an example; via a Pocket PC or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Palm
is an example; or via a desktop or laptop PC. Early adopters are also experimenting
with access via mobile phones. At present, the academic community has concentrated
on PC access; but a number of experiments which involve using PDAs for electronic
learning are currently taking place in the UK, and the vanguard of the education
industry is exploring the potential of mobile phones10.
Some (software) Readers are bundled with the Operating System (OS) of the device;
for example, a Palm device will come with the Palm Reader on an installation CD:
this is a software distribution decision, not a functional outcome. The owner of a Palm
will not be able to run Microsoft Reader: there is a program development decision by
Microsoft not to support the Palm platform. Others are device-independent, and the
Reader can be downloaded for whichever device the user owns. Microsoft and
Adobe are all platform independent formats and can run on more than one OS.
Gemstar is an example of a software reader that will only run on one proprietary OS.
E-books which are accessed via relational databases and large (though discrete)
reference works often need specialised software, because the default software is not
sufficiently powerful: extra search and display functionality may be needed. For
example, for Wiley on-line products11 the user will usually need to be in possession of
a device or PC which runs a recent version of Windows and Internet Explorer or
Netscape, and some Wiley e-books need plug-ins these are additional pieces of
software that make applications work, e.g., Macromedia Flash, which are free with
the product and have to work in real time. The full versions of these products can be
expensive, but most institutions have a licence for them; the publisher therefore
provides a free download of a limited version that will enable access to the text.
(Plug-ins can cause technical problems, and publishers tend to regard them as a
necessary evil.)
For libraries, putting e-books on their computer systems can create complications
relating to catalogue integration and user access. Systems failure is still common in
some university libraries, which may mean that academics are reluctant to rely too
heavily on e-learning products. Technological issues relating to e-books are covered
more completely in Chapter 3.
10
See, for example, the book of abstracts published after the MLEARN 2003 Learning with Mobile
Devices conference, which was organised by the Learning and Skills Development Agency and took
place in London on 19th-20th May 2003. www.LSDA.org.uk/events/mlearn2003.
11
Wiley on-line products can be inspected free of charge at http://hecda.wiley.com/WileyCDA/section/id-100272.html.
20
Publishers wishing to sell e-books either through booksellers or direct to the customer
may choose to obtain an effective and relatively cheap way of offering product,
running a transaction and delivery service, and managing digital rights and royalties
payments by employing a digital content wholesaler. This has been well described as
a prefabricated electronic retail service.12 ContentReserve (run by Overdrive)13 and
Lightning Source14 are examples of digital content warehouses that operate both in the
UK and the US. Each has developed a slightly different model, but essentially their
function is to include content in a digital warehouse catalogue consisting of thousands
of titles in various e-book formats, from which retail sites can select the titles they
will (virtually) sell. Publishers are able to restrict access to their titles to whichever
retail sites they choose. They can also use the content warehouse to back-end their
own branded websites obviously, in this case they would only feature their own
product. Lightning Source currently supplies Powells.com and Booksite.com,
Amazon US, UK, DE and JP, and publisher websites such as wiley.com and
cliffnotes.com; ContentReserve supplies, among others W.H. Smith and Swotbooks in
the UK, and Folletts in the US. Kluwer is one example of a major academic
publisher that uses ContentReserves bespoke publisher website option.
It should be emphasised that digital wholesalers are entirely invisible to the purchaser.
Their role is limited to operating an electronic back-office facility, albeit a
comprehensive and sophisticated one. They have been mentioned here because of
their stakeholder status in the emerging e-book supply chain. Distribution issues are
discussed further in Chapter 3.
1.4 Finding E-books
It can be a major challenge for a librarian or other would-be e-book purchaser to find
out whether the book that they want is available in e-format. There are two reasons
for this: the first is that there is no comprehensive commercial bibliographical
repository for e-books15; the second is that cataloguing e-books, both from the
publishers and the librarians perspective, is a complex process for which recognised
standards have yet to be fully worked out. Chapter 6 examines cataloguing and
metadata issues in more detail.
1.5 Buying E-books
The individual who wishes to buy an e-book can purchase it either from a booksellers
or a publishers website. If it is a first-time purchase, he or she will need to download
the appropriate Reader at the same time. Failure to download the Reader properly,
either because the transaction takes too long and the purchaser gets cut off, or because
the purchaser fails to perform the action correctly, is the main cause of customer
complaints about e-books.16 Most but not all e-books are cheaper than print books,
12
By Ann Lawson of Oxford University Press, in a confidential in-house report written in 2002 which
she has kindly put at the disposal of the current project. I am also indebted to her for some of the detail
about e-book software and hardware attributes in this section.
13
www.overdrive.com
14
www.lightningsource.com
15
Nielsen BookData lists some e-books if the details are supplied to them by publishers.
16
Both a prominent publisher and a prominent bookseller concurred that complaint rates run at about
10% of all purchases. As the publisher said: This is far too high, given the small size of the market.
Publisher Interview No. 4.
21
though VAT is a complicating factor17. The role of VAT in academic publishing

itself needs to be explored more fully, as educational institutions dont pay VAT (but
private consumers do, even if they are students). Publishers appear not to have made
this distinction when establishing prices. Some publishers operate a pricing model
that varies according to whether the purchaser wishes to read only, download part of
the book or print part of the book.18 Others are considering charging a premium price
for certain publications for which they feel the e-version offers added value.19
Whatever the charging structure, it is fairly easy for the individual customer to assess
whether or not they think that they are being offered value for money. Conversely, for
libraries and other institutional customers, the situation is complex. In a relatively
short period of time, the publishing and e-aggregator industries have managed to
devise a rich proliferation of pricing models for e-book collections20. These fall into
two basic categories: price structures which per book bear a relation to the print price;
and price structures based on licensing arrangements, which bear no relation to the
print price. The publisher or e-aggregator is also responsible for supplying the library
with usage statistics, but often these are difficult to analyse. This combination of
factors can make it exceedingly difficult for the librarian to assess whether e-books
represent value for money for his or her institution. Publisher issues are discussed in
detail in Chapter 3; pricing models and usage statistics are respectively examined
further in Chapters 3 and 4.
1.6 E-books and E-learning within the current academic context

It is outside the scope of this report to consider in detail the various government
initiatives that have shaped further and higher education in the UK during the past
decade, but some pointers to the educational context within which academic e-books
are being promoted may be useful:
In 1992, the UKs polytechnics were given university status, as part of a plan
to make higher education accessible to all who wanted it (sometimes referred
to as the massification of education). Once a common funding mechanism
was established for all higher education institutions, many older universities
also expanded their student numbers, while across the board there was a
declining unit of resource (both from teaching and ancillary support services
such as libraries) available per student. More recently, the current Prime
Minister has stated that 50% participation is a government objective,
meaning that the governments aim is for 50% of the 18 30 year old age
group eventually to be graduates. Since the polytechnics achieved university
status, a number of other institutions have been given the right to count
themselves universities, and therefore to award degrees autonomously. Many
17
The original pricing principle adopted . was that e-books would be 20% cheaper than paper
books. Now they are the same price as paper, but in effect cheaper. This is because the electronic
price hides the VAT. Customers dont appreciate this. Publisher Interview No. 3.
18
[We] have a simple model. If someone wants read-only rights, they are charged 50% of the printed
books cover price. They are charged 80% of the cover price for Read, View and Print. For slice-anddice, there is a sliding scale matrix based on per-page access. Publisher Interview No. 7.
19
[We] are looking to increase the price of some products e.g., some lexical dictionaries which are
excellent compared to their competitors. Publisher Interview No. 9.
20
The fact that they are expected to buy e-books in collections at all is an issue for some librarians.
22
colleges of further education have also begun to teach to degree level under
the auspices of a host or parent university. At the same time, they
continue to teach a wide range of courses at a lower level, including Basic
Skills courses, A levels, National Certificate and Higher National Certificate
(HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND), and numerous vocational courses.
Conversely, some universities (mainly the new ones created in 1992) also
teach HNCs, HNDs and some vocational courses.
In 1997, Sir Ron Dearing presented a report commissioned by the National
Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education, Higher Education in the
Learning Society21. It recommended the use of Information Technology as a
key way forward in addressing the time and cost challenges created by the
burgeoning university student population.
Similar points were made by Helena Kennedy in 1997 in a report
commissioned by the Further Education Funding Council22.
Also in 1997 came the Fryer Report on lifelong learning.23 This and a
government White Paper24, issued the previous year, together represented the
British response to the challenges highlighted during the European Year of
Lifelong Learning (1996). In the latter paper, lifelong learning is described as
follows:
Lifetime learning is not a Government programme, or the property of one
institution. It is a shared goal relating to the attitudes and behaviour of many
employers, individuals and organisations. Government has a part to play but
governments alone cannot achieve the cultural changes involved in making a reality
of lifetime learning.25
The letter sent out to institutions at the time that the report was published
highlighted three main points:
a growing awareness of the importance of lifetime learning in
maintaining competitiveness and employability
the effectiveness of government policies in working with
partners to promote a culture of lifetime learning
the effort and commitment at all levels to deliver lifetime
learning on the ground.26
Academic institutions that wished to make lifelong learning a serious objective
also noted that it meant working in closer partnership, and in more innovative
ways, with business and industry. Once again, I.T. was invoked as a principal
enabling instrument.
21
National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. Higher Education in the Learning Society:
the Dearing Report. London, HMSO, 1997.
22
Further Education Funding Council. Learning Works: Widening Participation in Further Education:
the Kennedy Report. Coventry, FEFC, 1977.
23
National Advisory Group for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. Learning for the
Twenty-First Century: First Report of the National Adviser Group for Continuing Education and
Lifelong Learning: the Fryer Report. NAGCELL, 1997.
24
Department for Education and Employment. Lifetime Learning: a Policy Framework. DfEE,
London, 1996.
25
Ibid., p.4
26
Quoted by Elliott, Lifelong Learning: the Politics of the New Learning Environment, Jessica
Kingsley, London, 1999, 1 85302 580 1. p.33
23
In 1998, the government introduced annual university tuition fees of 1,000

(thereafter index-linked to inflation), payable by all but the poorest parents of
students. By this time, the student maintenance grant had been phased out,
except for those from very modest backgrounds or studying in circumstances
of especial difficulty, and replaced with a loan, to be repaid in instalments
after the student graduated and reached a certain earning level. The effect of
this on students ability and willingness to purchase books and other learning
resource materials has been widely debated, and will be returned to later in the
report.
As the twentieth century drew to a close, some of the new universities founded
in 1992 and later, and indeed some of the older foundations, found it
increasingly hard to remain out of debt. This is a problem that has worsened
during the first three years of this century, to the point where some institutions
face the prospect of bankruptcy and closure. Temporary teaching contracts,
long a feature of the further education landscape, and of pre-1992 universities
focused on research, have become increasingly common in higher education,
and enforced staff redundancies (almost unheard of in the past) have been
made at some institutions. Universities have responded by trying to attract
students from more diverse backgrounds, and by offering them more flexible
study options. Mature students, part-time students and distance-learning
students based both in the UK and overseas have all been targeted, and some
have been able to choose courses which involve little or no attendance at the
awarding institution.27
As a response to many of the issues and challenges outlined above,
universities have become increasingly interested in developing Managed
Learning Environments (MLEs) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)28.
For a time, there was a confusing proliferation of these, but it would now
appear that Blackboard and Web CT are emerging as the two market leaders.
Installation of these applications heralds an opportunity for new approaches to
learning and teaching methods, including the incorporation of (usually in the
form of chapters or excerpts) e-books into learning materials.
This very brief account attempts to paint the commercial and educational
backdrop against which academic e-books first began to be promoted in the UK in
2000. It is interesting to note that most of the seminal papers on academic ebooks written in this country date from the years 2000 and 2001, shortly after their
launch.
27
It is perhaps worth pointing out that the Open University pioneered such methods of study in the
1960s. This report will include some insights obtained from its long experience.
28
A brief definition of each may be obtained at http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/learninglink/resources/vle/.
The JISC definition of each is as follows: the term Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is used to
refer to the online interactions of various kinds which take place between learners and tutors the
term Managed Learning Environment (MLE) is used to include the whole range of information systems
and processes of a college (including its VLE if it has one) that contribute directly, or indirectly, to
learning and management of that learning. JISC Briefing Paper No. 1: MLEs and VLEs Explained.
http://www.jisc.a.cuk.mle/reps/briefings/bpl.html Accessed 05/11/2002.
24
1.7 Teaching, learning and study factors: social and cultural issues
Response at the institutional executive level to political directives and economic
trends by the purchase of enabling technologies and technological products does
not, of course, automatically lead to immediate adoption and acceptance from
those expected to use the products to carry out their everyday business in this
case, academics, lecturers and students - of teaching, learning and study. The
factors which may influence the successful (or otherwise) transition from
traditional teaching and learning methods to virtual ones are complex. As well as
general issues of time, awareness and training, these include more profound
considerations of culture and social interaction and hence of the long-term effect
of new technologies on the teaching and learning process29. As an unpublished
proposal for a study into the use of handheld readers at the University of
Huddersfield (the results of which are referred to in Case Study No. 8) states:
It is now universally acknowledged that technical innovations by themselves do not
create learning gains for students, and that before the benefits of using a new technology
can be leveraged, there must be close attention paid to the organisational and cultural
impacts The use of PDAs along with the Internet and other digital technology to which
students have access creates the condition sometimes referred to as ubiquitous
computing. In such a rich digital environment, understanding the social and cultural
implications of a technology is of paramount importance 30.
Chapter 7 looks at pedagogical issues in much more detail.

1.8 Broader cultural and technological factors
There have also been broader relevant cultural and technological factors at work,
some of which have helped to promote e-books, and others which have militated
against their adoption. The launch of amazon.co.uk in 1999 resulted in a major
increase of on-line purchases of books by people from all walks of life, including
students, and encouraged many people who had not purchased on-line before to
become familiar with the concept. Most universities, and a growing number of
private homes, now have broadband, which makes access to the Internet easier
and faster. 54% of UK adults now live in a household containing a PC31 and most
of these have Internet access (though comments from students who contributed to
this report suggest that at many universities among the second and third year
undergraduates, who tend to occupy non-university-owned accommodation,
incidence of ownership of PCs or laptops and Internet access are both low.
According to librarians and academics, distance-learning students suffer from the
same problem more often than they had anticipated.32) Mobile phones are a fact
29
There is a growing body of work which examines this. The following two journals offer some good
insights: Association for Learning Technology Journal. www.alt.ac.uk. Published three times yearly.
British Journal of Educational Technology. www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/journals/BJET.
30
Pearson, M. Researching the Use of E-Books for Teaching and Learning: a Pilot Study. The
University of Huddersfield 2002. Unpublished. Accepted and funded by the University. Due to be
completed in August 2003.
31
Crabtree, Nathan and Reeves. Reality IT: Technology and Everyday Life. The Work Foundation.
July 2002. 1843730022. p.32.
32
Explained perhaps in both cases by income levels: Getting on for two-thirds of those in households
above the mean income have access, but fewer than a quarter of those in below-mean-income
25
of student life (a recent report published by the National Union of Students

suggested that the average student spends 300 per year on mobile phone bills),
and although they have yet to be capitalised upon to any significant degree for
learning purposes, their future potential lies dormant but in place.
Less helpful factors include the dotcom bubble burst which began in 2001, and
made many people mistrust activities connected with the Internet,33 particularly
when they were allied to a new and unfamiliar product, with the attendant risks of
volatility and some casualties that all new products experience before the market
shakes out. Technophobia, or feelings of helplessness, inadequacy or even an
overtly reactionary response in the face of the relentless waves of online
information to which they consider that they are being subjected, is perhaps more
common among academics, but also not insignificant in the increasingly
heterogeneous student community.
Such feelings may indicate that, although to advocates of the use of new
technologies in colleges and universities, progress seems maddeningly slow,
sometimes attempts may be being made to move too far too fast, with
counterproductive results. A little personal reflection will easily test this
statement. How many people in your circle had a PC / mobile phone / Internet
access / used e-mail ten years ago? Five years ago? Today? Or, to put it more
elegantly:
The adoption of new technologies is similar to all change, and may be characterised in
the phrase slowly, then suddenly. While change is underway, progress always seems
to be extremely slow. Looking back at change, its effects seem often to be precipitate.
Change will almost always appear to be incremental and sometimes frustratingly slow
whilst one is in the midst of it, but looking back five, ten and particularly twenty years
from now the effect of that change will prove to have been very dramatic indeed.34
1.9 E-books: comparisons with other publishing technologies

It is common when exploring the opportunities and problems attendant upon new
technologies to compare their development with that of others which seem related
or relevant, and e-books have proved not to be an exception to this practice.
What are e-books like? Do the characteristics and promotional development of
other products really offer insights into how e-books and their use will be
developed, and how issues such as e-book promotion and marketing should be
addressed?
In the last year of the twentieth century, when corporate excitement about e-books
reached its peak, very senior jobs were created, particularly in the US, for
executives who were going to storm the world with the product. Now, some of
these executives have already become impatient with the slowness of the market,
households, and there are negligible levels of ownership in households below the official half-median
income poverty line. Crabtree, Nathan and Reeves. ibid., p.32.
33
Several librarians have ascribed their cautious approach to e-books to the fact that NetLibrary nearly
went into liquidation in 2002, before it was rescued by OCLC.
34
Bide, M. and Others. The Scale of Future Publishing in Digital and Conventional Formats. The
British Library. London, 2000. p.11. Available from http://www.bl.uk/concord/otherpubblpu.html
26
and moved on. The product does not feel glamorous any more. Within this
context, e-books have been compared to that most staid of publishing products,
the audio tape:
The marketplace for e-books will be like the marketplace for audio books twenty years
ago. The publishers refused to publish because they thought it would take sales away
from paper books. Now audio books represent a comfortable 10% of the industry and
are either bought by people who would never buy paper books, or people who buy the
paper book as well.35
Some librarians and authors of published articles have compared the development
and distribution of e-books with that of e-journals. On the face of it, this would
appear to be a useful analogy, both because of the close similarity of the
technology employed and because the advent of e-journals introduced similar
complexities into the supply chain. However, comments gathered from a group
consisting of two librarians, two publishers and two academics made the
following points:
E-books differ from e-journals, because (with a few exceptions) academics

dont expect to buy e-journals themselves: they are bought either by the
main library or the departmental library
A book is conceived as an entity, whereas a journal consists of a series of
small discrete entities which do not benefit from being read in conjunction
with each other
The reason that e-journals gained such popularity with academics was
because of their fundamental purpose as both toolkit for research and
display window for work-in-progress. Academics used to keep a box of
offprints from journals on their desk, and give or post them to each other,
both to inform others working in the same field of their progress, and to
ensure that they claimed credit for new work. Being able to send
offprints electronically made this process simpler and less timeconsuming. Journal articles are used for teaching, but this is secondary to
the main purpose (not as applicable to books) described above.
The possible commercial hazards of disseminating e-books have been

compared, especially in the press and by some publishers and authors, with the
pitfalls associated with downloading music from the Internet. Comparisons
have been made with Napster and instances cited of the pirating of academic
material, particularly in the Far East.36 Comparisons like this are calculated to
make the most innovative publisher turn Luddite!
Finally, e-books have been heralded as the greatest publishing revolution since
the invention of moveable type by Johann Gutenberg, circa 1445. It may be
that this is a valid comparison, but it is also one which can backfire. The
invention of printing made books more widely accessible, more portable, more
sharable, and less expensive. It could be said that e-books also achieve all of
these things. However, the reference to Gutenberg is a reminder that the
35
Bookseller Transcript No. 1.

This was a particular concern of Academic Interview No. 1, a heavy e-book user and published ebook author who was otherwise enthusiastic about e-books. He listed in detail examples of pirating.
36
27
printed book has thrived for five and a half centuries: it has bewitched
approximately twenty generations. In every period since its invention the
book has both symbolised and provided the key to civilisation, learning,
progress. Contributors to this report have frequently remarked on their love of
the printed book as a physical product.37
From reflecting on what they like about print books, it is but a short step to
making adverse comparisons with e-books. They hurt my eyes, is a
common complaint. It is uncomfortable being hunched over a screen. I
cant read anything of length from a screen I have to print it out.
E-books offer different characteristics from all of the publishing products
listed above. Use of them, and therefore experience of how best to make use
of them, is in its infancy. Comparing them with other products and how they
are used is likely to hinder progress towards this goal. To end this chapter on
a note of controversy, this report suggests that, within the academic context, it
is particularly unhelpful to assume that there are close analogies between how
the printed book is of necessity used and how the e-book is or may be used38.
The issues touched on in this chapter attempt to offer an overview of some of the
reasons why adoption of e-books by the academic community in the UK has been
slower than an optimist might have anticipated in 2000. This report will now identify
the stakeholders, examine the barriers to uptake in more detail, and consider how they
might be addressed.
37
I like the weight of a book.[Academic, Swansea] I like to read a book in bed or in the bath.
[Academic, Huddersfield] I like to have a shelf of books they make me feel safe; they make me
look clever. [Student, Huddersfield]
38
E-books were never intended to be read wholesale sitting at the computer screen. Publisher
transcript No. 1.
28
Chapter Two
Who are the stakeholders, and how does the
e-book supply chain operate?
The stakeholders who influence the dissemination and promotion of academic ebooks are diverse more varied, in fact, than the stakeholders of print books, because
the technology and distribution mechanisms that have been developed for e-books
require extra stakeholder groups. Some of these groups, particularly where promotion
is concerned, are much more influential than others. It is therefore possible to identify
active stakeholders, whose role is or should be to promote actively; passive
stakeholders, whose role is to give seamless support to the e-book supply chain
procedure; and influencing stakeholders, whose advice and decisions affect the
actions and attitudes of the first two groups.
2.1 Active Stakeholders
1. Authors. Authors of academic e-books are often academics, and therefore
also e-book users. Authors may publish e-books through conventional
publishing channels, or they may decide to publish them themselves. The ebooks they publish may be electronic versions of print books, or e-book
originals.
2. Publishers. They sit somewhere on a spectrum whose two extremes are
occupied by major international publishing conglomerates and one-man-band
enthusiasts.
3. Distributors 1: Aggregators
Distributors 2: Publishers
Distributors 3: Booksellers, including library suppliers
Distributors 4: Self-publishers
These are listed in order of prominence in the current e-book supply chain. It
will be noted that booksellers, who represent the most important seller
interface between print books and their buyers, only occupy third place in the
e-book distribution chain.
4. Librarians. Important of course in the print book dissemination process, they
currently occupy a pivotal role in its e-counterpart. Assumptions made by
aggregators and publishers about how e-books should be sold and distributed
are a major reason for this.
5. E-book Users. In the context of academic e-books, these are students at all
levels, academics, lecturers, researchers, some industry professionals,
librarians.
6. Software and hardware providers: for example, Microsoft, Adobe Acrobat,
dedicated e-book manufacturers, such as Palm, manufacturers of PDAs and
mobile phones.
29
2.2 Passive Stakeholders

1. Digital content providers. These may simply be companies who put text into
digital format; or they may offer a complete back office service for publishers
and booksellers (see Chapter One; prominent examples are Lightning Source
and Overdrive).
2. Systems providers. These include both suppliers / maintainers of university
and college systems, such as OCLC and GEAC, and in-house systems run by
publishers and booksellers.
3. MLE / VLE systems providers to universities: for example, Blackboard, Web
CT.
2.3 Influencing Stakeholders

1. Professional bodies whose duties are to promote and defend the interests of
their members. Examples are the Society of Authors; the Publishers
Association; the Booksellers Association; UKOLN; their legal advisers; and
JISC itself. Leaders of library consortia also come within this group.
2. Professional standards bodies and the standards that they ascribe. Examples
of the former are BIC and OpeneBook; examples of the latter are ACCR2 and
MARC.
3. Commercial bibliographical information providers: for example, Nielsen
Bookdata; Bowker.
4. Training bodies, departments and individuals. Examples include the UKs
four main postgraduate library schools; trainers at all levels in colleges and
universities whose job it is to demystify technology for users; bodies such as
the Regional Support Centres [RSCs] and FERL, set up to provide
technological support for colleges.
5. The Media, interpreting the term within the academic context: publications,
conferences, seminars and other fora which discuss, analyse and publicise ebooks.
6. Social / Political Influencers. The government and its educational initiatives
at all levels; the current and developing cultures of further and higher
education; the impact of general social trends upon e-learning and e-books.
Chapter Three examines the attitudes, perceived advantages and perceived barriers
to uptake of e-books in detail, concentrating especially on the group that has been
identified as Active Stakeholders.
30
2.4 The print and e-book information supply chains: a comparison

In many industries, there are two separate but interrelated supply chains at work: the
physical distribution supply chain, and the information supply chain. Figure 1
illustrates the print book physical distribution supply chain. The solid lines show that
there are several different routes to the end user, and that these are well established.
But there is also an information supply chain; this mechanism (which extends the
concept of promotion of the product beyond the narrower sense of commercial
marketing to include all the methods by which potential customers find out about
books and make their decision to buy or use specific titles) can be complex.
Different sectors of the book industry have different information supply chains. In the
spring of 2001, Gold Leaf was commissioned to carry out a piece of research for
Cambridge University Press39 on six university campuses40, to find out how the
information supply chain worked in the academic print book sector. Librarians,
academics (from a wide range of disciplines) and booksellers were interviewed on
each campus in order to understand better how buying and selection decisions are
made; how the key parties relate to each other; and the impact of commercial
marketing initiatives from publishers and booksellers on academics and librarians.
Figure 2 illustrates the academic print book information supply chain.
The findings of the Cambridge study may be summarised as follows:
1. At only half of these universities was the librarian responsible for the final
decision of whether or not to purchase a book41. At the rest, responsibility lay
with the academics. At those universities where the librarian was responsible,
s/he was influenced by, in order of importance:
(i)
academic requests
(ii)
student requests
(iii) publishers material sent by post
(iv)
reviews.
2. All of the bookshops sent out reading list requests to academics. On average
they sent out 469 reading list requests per year, and on average 75% of these
were returned.
3. In order of likelihood, the academics advised students to buy books from:
(i)
the campus bookshop
(38% likely)
(ii)
secondhand
(18% likely)
(iii) sharing with other(s)
(15% likely)
(iv)
online
(13% likely)
(v)
direct from the publisher
(10% likely)
39
I am indebted to Cambridge University Press for allowing me to make extensive use of this piece of
research.
40
The universities chosen were Aston, Birmingham, East Anglia, Essex, Durham and Lancaster. They
were all old universities, because Cambridge draws its customers mainly from these institutions.
41
There is evidence that librarians in some new universities have a greater input to what is bought for
the library than librarians in old universities. Nevertheless, they are unlikely to influence reading list
recommendations; and the point should be made that old university libraries, on the whole, have
much larger resources funds than new ones.
31
(vi)
preferred not to recommend
(6% likely).
4. When the academics chose books to recommend, they were most likely, in
order of importance, to be influenced by:
(i)
Personal or library copy
(21% likely)
(ii)
Publishers posted materials
(19% likely)
(iii) Publishers proofs or inspection copies
(18% likely)
(iv)
Recommendation from a colleague / student (17% likely)
(v)
Reviews
(16% likely)
(vi)
Publishers reps visits
(5% likely)
(vii) Bookshop recommendation
(1% likely)
(viii) Other
(3% likely).
5. The academics interviewed were very confident book-buyers indeed, and on
average (including books for recreation) bought 57 books per year each:
typically, 22 from the campus bookshop, 13 from a High Street bookshop, 12
from an online bookseller, 3 direct from the publisher, one by mail order, one
or less as an account holder and 5 (mainly secondhand) from other sources.
The information supply chain was felt to work best where there was strong cooperation between faculty, library and bookshop. Durham was a prime example of
this. At all the campuses there was strong evidence that the academic was the main
driving force behind book selection decisions made by the students, the bookshop and
the library.
A separate survey of 300 students undertaken by Gold Leaf in autumn 200142 showed
that the reading list was the main vehicle for students information about the books
that they bought. 79% received their reading lists after arrival on campus. 87% of the
books bought were described as essential reading (i.e., mostly textbooks). These
books were, of course, recommended by academics. 56% of the students said that they
would be prepared to order the print book from the campus bookshop if it was not in
stock; 32% said that they would buy it elsewhere; 12% said that they would not buy it
at all. 75% said that they would borrow from the library and 63% said they would use
information from the Internet as an alternative to purchasing books (though this did
not imply that they would not purchase some books). 22% said that they would be
prepared to buy the book in electronic format as an alternative; these respondents
assumed that the e-book would be cheaper.
Two conclusions may be drawn from this: that recommendation from academics is the
most significant way of getting students to buy or access print books; and that two
years ago, almost two thirds of students from a random sample43 were receptive to the
idea of e-learning, although this was linked in their minds with spending less.
The academic e-book physical (perhaps virtually physical is a better description)
distribution and information supply chains work in quite a different way. The former
is illustrated in Figure 3. The diagram shows that, in common with other e-book
supply chains, some of the stakeholders in the academic e-book supply chain can and
42
A Survey of Student Book Buying, 2001 / 2002, Gold Leaf, 2002.

Or almost random: they were interviewed as they left the campus bookshop. Therefore, the views of
students who did not use the campus bookshop were not captured.
43
32
do choose to ignore some of the others when carrying out their transactions. (Similar
choices can be made by stakeholders in the print book supply chain, but they are
likely to prove less effective and therefore less routinely chosen, because of the
logistical challenges posed by true physical distribution channels.) Thus, e-book
authors can choose to supply their works direct to the end-users, by-passing
publishers and booksellers; publishers can choose to by-pass booksellers, or they can
sell direct to e-aggregators without involving themselves in the rest of the supply
chain; or they can use digital platform providers to carry out most of the behind-thescenes transactions on their behalf. The e-aggregator becomes a major player, similar
in function to but even more important than the wholesaler in the print book supply
chain, and his key customer is the librarian, not the end-user. The bookseller, who in
the traditional print book supply chain features as the most important channel to the
end-user, is a minor figure in the e-book supply chain. The nature of the e-book
transaction itself may not be commercial in some cases: for example, if the author is
more interested in dissemination of his work than in generating income, the book is
out of copyright, or the author, publisher or e-aggregator think that it will help other
sales, the e-book may be supplied free of charge; and (though e-books do generate
costs, for example, of digitisation, rights management, platform provider charges)
providing e-books free is nevertheless more practicable than in the print supply chain,
with its inescapable production and distribution costs. It is also worth noting that,
although both print and e-book supply chains are supported by similar bibliographical
bodies, and influenced by similar professional bodies, support for e-books from the
former is at present very limited and incomplete. Influence from the latter upon ebooks is dictated by a mixture of commercial, political and pedagogical concerns, key
ones among which have not at present been resolved to the point where a state of
harmony or even of compromise has been reached hence the conflict symbol. (The
nature of these concerns will be explored in more detail later.)
Figure 4 illustrates the information supply chain for academic e-books. The solid
lines indicate good information links, and the broken ones indicate imperfect or
incomplete ones. Imperfect information links are of course to be expected in any new
industry. What immediately strikes the eye, however, is first that the academic has
been replaced by the e-aggregator, followed by the librarian and then the publisher as
the key driver in this information supply chain; and second that, although information
links between e-aggregators, librarians and publishers are (on the whole) strong, the
only strong information link to academics is from librarians, if they choose to use it;
and the academics e-book information links to students are not strong. The academic
is only imperfectly in receipt, or not in receipt at all, of information on e-books from
his accustomed information channels of review copies, reviews, peer group and
student recommendations and information from publishers and booksellers. The
student is at present unlikely to receive information about e-books via the reading list,
which is the single greatest influencer upon student print-book reading; receipt of
verbal information from academics about e-books is marginally more likely; but
students are unlikely to obtain information on e-books from the campus bookshop,
other bookshops or direct from the publisher. Aside from the library, the students
and academics other main route to information about e-books is likely to be via
websearches, if they choose to carry them out.
The supply chain diagrams have been introduced at this point both for the sake of
clarity, and so that the reader can have an overall picture of the issues that are raised
33
when the barriers to uptake and current approaches to promotion of e-books are
discussed at micro level, stakeholder by stakeholder, in the next chapter. The
assumptions made above and illustrated by Figure 4 will be substantiated during the
course of Chapter Three by detailed reference to the primary research undertaken for
this report.
34
35
36
37
38
Chapter Three
The stakeholders: e-books issues considered: the perceived
advantages of and barriers to using e-books; where users find them
and for what purpose they use them. Anticipations of future usage.
3.1 Do e-books need promoting?
It is perhaps appropriate to begin this central chapter by asking whether e-books need
to be promoted at all! In the words of one publisher, isnt advocating the promotion
of e-books a little like advocating the promotion of fish?44 To put it another way, are
not e-books just a commodity which will promote and sell themselves?
There is some evidence to support this view, most of it from the United States, where
e-learning technologies and general use of the Internet are more ubiquitous than in the
UK. For example, in the public libraries arena, Cleveland Public Libraries
(http://dlc.clevnet.org) launched an e-book collection in 2002, using Overdrive as its
e-book platform provider, and achieved more than 1,000 downloads of e-books in the
first twenty-four hours after the launch, without engaging in any specific promotional
activity beyond advertising the e-book collection on its homepage.45
An example immediately relevant to academic e-books is provided by a study made
by Justin Littman at Duke University library in 200246, which compares the issues of
e-books with issues of print books of titles available in both formats over a given
period, and concludes:
Of the 7,880 titles that were available in print and e-book, 3,158 e-book titles were accessed
and 2,799 print titles were circulated during the study period. 1,688 titles were used in print
and e-book. 1,484 titles were used in e-book, but not print. 1,125 titles were used in print,
but not e-book. 3,597 titles were used in neither format. The results for the titles that were
used in either format only are represented in Figure 5.
..During the study period, print books circulated 6,998 times, averaging 0.88 circulations
per print title held or 2.48 circulations per print title that circulated. E-books were accessed
10,821 times, averaging 1.37 accesses per title held or 3.43 accesses per e-book title that
circulated. Results were also computed to permit the evaluation of the impact of the
availability of e-books on the circulation of print books. There were 6,139 circulations of
print books in the year prior to the introduction of the e-book. This fell to 4,738 circulations
of print books in the year after the introduction of the e-book. This represents a decline of
22% in print circulations.
Of the 7,490 print titles available in the year prior to the introduction of the e-book, 1,571
titles circulated in the year before and the year after the introduction of the e-book. 1,149
titles circulated in the year before, but not the year after the introduction of the e-book. 820
titles did not circulate in the year before, but did circulate in the year after the introduction of
44
Comment from one of the publishers attending project launch at the British Library, 27th March
2003.
45
This information was supplied by Loree Potash of Overdrive.
46
Littman, J. A Circulation Analysis of Print Books and E-Books in an Academic Research Library.
Capstone Project presented to the Faculty of the College of Education, University of Denver. Denver,
2002. I am indebted to Stephanie Bean of NetLibrary for drawing my attention to this work, and for
obtaining permission to quote from it.
39
the e-book. And 3,932 titles did not circulate in the year before or the year after the
introduction of the e-book.
Fig 5. Titles used in print or e-book

Used in print,
but not eBook
27%
Used in print
and eBook
39%
Used in eBook,
but not print
34%
Fig 6. Circulating print titles, before and after

introduction of e-book
Circulated in year after, but not year

before
23%
Circulated in year before, but not

year after
32%
Circulated in year before and year

after
45%
Overall, Littman concludes that e-books at Duke achieved 11% higher circulation
than print books when the title was available in both formats. This usage was entirely
spontaneous on the part of the users, without extra promotional effort having taken
place on the part of the library.
One of the e-aggregators who was interviewed for the current study47 remarked on the
ease with which e-books are adopted and accepted in Scandinavian academic
institutions. She said that Scandinavian countries seemed to be very comfortable with
the medium, in part she believed because the academic communities are smaller and
talk to each other more. Scandinavia also spends more money on its students, and
there is a commitment to make all higher education learning virtual, which means that
all students have laptops fitted with cables, so that they can log on anywhere. This
47
Aggregator Interview No. 5. Several attempts were made to get responses from Scandinavia to the
questionnaires, but without success.
40
aggregator tried to organise a seminar for academics in the UK, in the same way that
she has organised similar seminars in Scandinavia in the past, but she found it hard to
get people to attend, largely because she felt that prospective delegates did not know
each other. An English professor interviewed for the study pointed out that if British
universities had the technological resources of Scandinavian ones, students and
academics attitudes to e-books and e-learning would be fundamentally altered.
For the launch of the present study, Gold Leaf conducted a straw poll of 68
academics48 teaching in five different disciplines and based at a range of universities
throughout the UK, contacted because they had already carried out work with two
publishers to help to establish demand for publisher websites to support print
textbooks with e-learning materials (and were therefore not unaware of or antipathetic
to the latter). The academics were asked whether they used e-books; if not why not;
and to add any general comments that they cared to make. Of these 68, only one was
an e-book user. Nine had been meaning to use e-books. 38 said that they were totally
unaware of the existence of e-books (Whats an e-book? was a frequent response).
27 said that they did not know how to find out if the material they wanted in e-book
format was available. 30 said that they were interested in finding out more about ebooks.
Putting together the evidence offered in these opening paragraphs, it seems to be clear
that, although e-books do sometimes seem to sell themselves, the culture and / or
the formal and informal information networks that currently prevail in British
universities do not foster the spontaneous promotion of academic e-books. Therefore,
in order for the medium to reach its maximum potential, it follows that it will have to
be actively promoted.
3.2 Active stakeholder viewpoints: What are the advantages of e-books, either
instead of or as well as print books? What are the barriers to promotion?
3.2.1 Authors
Although it was beyond the scope of this project to carry out a representative survey
of authors, each of the twelve publishers interviewed was asked about author reaction
to electronic publishing and electronics rights deals, and four of the academics
interviewed gave their views on e-books as authors; two of these had been published
electronically, and one was an experienced producer of his own e-publications.
The response from each of the publishers was similar. Most said that they have now
changed author contracts to include electronic rights, and that the royalties offered for
e-books are the same as for print book royalties. Occasionally problems arise when
the publisher wishes to produce an electronic version of a book that was originally
published before the contract included electronic rights, and the author refuses; and a
minority of authors do wish to opt out of the electronic royalties part of the contract.
Publishers appear to respond to such objections in a range of ways, from the
accommodating to the draconian! Several pointed out that trade publishers can make
it difficult for academic publishers by quoting e-book royalties at a much higher rate
48
Hereafter referred to as Launch Straw Poll. 107 academics were actually contacted; 68 responded.
41
than print, and said that academic publishers are unable to do this, because the
economics of trade publishing (often involving heavy discounting on the cover price)
are different. Publishers are also aware that the Society of Authors has been less than
happy with the principle that the royalty should be the same for all formats.
The Society of Authors has produced a pamphlet49 which offers its members
guidelines. It sums up the issues and its own stance succinctly:
E-books differ from traditional books in that a range of costs is eliminated . and they are
often priced lower than their printed equivalent. We therefore believe that royalties should be
substantially higher than on traditional books, for example:
Sold through the publishers own website: 35% of the e-book retail price.
Sold through third party online retailers: 50% of the publishers net revenue.
Academic and professional publishers may propose e-book royalties of less than 50% some only pay the same royalties as on the volume-form edition. The reasoning is that
digitising often an entire backlist is expensive, but doing so ensures that slow-selling works
remain available furthermore, the publishers will be including word search and other
manipulation facilities, and they believe that in their areas of publishing, e-book sales may
compete significantly with conventional book sales .[but] In our view, if the author has to
accept less than 50%, a compromise figure might be in the region of 35%. The publishers
should confirm that the e-book will not be used as a premium offer or sold at a retail price
which is less than, say, 80% of the volume form retail price, without the authors
agreement.50
The publishers interviewed have naturally not disclosed the actual percentages paid to
their authors; but they seem to have resolved the issue in the majority of cases, though
they say that working on the backlist has been hard work and time consuming. Few
are selling e-books at less than 80% of the print cover price.
The academics interviewed who were also authors (none of whom was a major
blockbuster textbook author the views of this affluent minority might be different)
were happy with seeing their work published as e-books. Of the two authors already
published in e-format, royalties were not a major concern. One said that his publisher
had asked permission to make his books available in e-format, and he was happy to
agree; he added that he was now pleased to see a payment line from netLibrary on his
royalty statement.51 The other is himself actively involved in producing e-books that
people want to read on the screen.52 He is therefore an example of an author who will
supply e-books direct to the academic community, by-passing the other stakeholders
in the supply chain.
The two academics who were authors but not published in e-format were both
receptive to the idea. One said that, although she did not expect to write any more
books, she would be delighted if a book I had written was issued as an e-book.
49
Quick Guide 14: Electronic Publishing Contracts. Society of Authors. London, 2002. Free to
members, 10 post free to non-members (from Society of Authors, 84, Drayton Gardens, London
SW10 9SB).
50
Ibid., pp. 2-3.
51
Academic Interview No. 4.
52
Academic Interview No. 5. Bruce Ingrahams template for a user-friendly e-book will be reproduced
in the manual that accompanies this report.
42
Knowledge has got to be shared. Academics cant make much out of publishing
books anyway most people are more interested in kudos.53 The other was rather
annoyed that he knew so little about e-books, and that his own publisher had not
asked him to make his work available in this format. He said: Im writing a book
for [Publisher X] over the summer, and they havent mentioned putting it in eformat.54
The advantages of e-books to authors are therefore that they may be able to reach a
wider audience than by just publishing in print, that they may be able to encourage
new readers by producing e-books in an attractive format, that they will gain kudos
from the wider dissemination of their publications, and that they will gain revenue
from e-books. The main disadvantage would seem to be the possibility that overall
their royalty may be reduced, because the e-book may be cheaper than the print book,
and e-book sales may erode print sales. However, for many academic authors,
payment may not be the first consideration.
3.2.2 Publishers
In Chapter One, it was briefly mentioned that a major barrier for publishers to
making books available in e-format and then promoting them is a lack of
understanding and therefore fear of the effect that e-books will have on their revenue
streams. Will e-books cannibalise or augment print sales? Will they lead to fewer or
more overall sales? Will they lead to a reconfiguration of the supply chain in which
publishers are frequently by-passed? These are all questions that have been raised by
publishers many times, both in published interviews and articles and in the publisher
interviews carried out for this study. There is also the question of the investment
involved. E-books have been slow to catch on in academia; some publishers reason
that they may always be a marginal resource. Therefore, is the considerable
investment of time and money required to develop and promote them worthwhile?
Agnostic publishers say that the medium itself is still in transition, and its useful
application to further and higher education not fully understood:
We are still at the transitional phase. The consequences of being pure e have not really
hit the market. There is no genuine e-publishing that does not replicate the [print] market. Is
the pendulum swinging too far one way? On-line is right for reference, but it is not right for
everything. The trick is to put the things that are best for the medium on-line.55
That there is significant ambivalence both among publishers and within publishing
houses in their approach to e-books became apparent as the twelve publisher
interviews were carried out. Analysis of these indicates that five of the publishers are
currently committed to an e-publishing strategy (but this does not imply a
commitment to making all of their publications available in e-format); one is
definitely averse to the idea, but releasing a few e-books; three are undecided, and
adopting cautious toe-in-the-water approaches which specifically exclude making
their big-selling textbooks available as e-books, two have yet to come to a company
policy decision on e-books; and one has developed its own very specific customisable
e-book model which is unlikely to represent a threat to standard text sales. Even
53
Academic Interview No. 1.

Huddersfield focus group.
55
54
43
committed e-publishers adopt safety tactics such as making the e-text available only
after the publication of the print version. The publications that these publishers are
currently offering in e-book format are mainly intended for the higher education
market, and, to a lesser extent, for the professional market. Currently, relatively few
e-books offered by the main academic publishing houses are suitable for the further
education market.
The major textbook publishers are particularly wary of e-books. This is not just
because of their fear of cannibalisation, with the adverse effects that it could have
on the major revenue streams generated by the big textbooks, but also because the
largest textbook publishers have spent big sums of money on developing websites that
host complementary or supplementary learning materials to support print texts. These
are made available to purchasers of the texts by means of a password. Sometimes,
extra materials are available to cohorts of students whose lecturers make
recommendation of the book as the main text for the module. There may also be
special resources available to lecturers only. In the words of one very large
(conglomerate) academic publisher:
Supplementary / complementary learning materials to accompany textbooks are of most
importance to [our] electronic development strategy [our] long-term aim is to derive an
income stream from electronic learning materials in their own right. At present, the shortterm aim is to secure and improve market share for the business in what [we] perceive to be a
weak market, suffering from economic down-turn.56
A second very large textbook publisher (also a conglomerate) expressed a similar

view:
[Our] overall strategic approach is to use on-line materials to increase sales of paper
books.57
These two publishers were actually the least upbeat about hoping to make a profit
from electronic learning materials. Others, whether their approach was wholehearted,
toe-in-the-water, or as yet undecided, said that it was their intention, and the
expectation of their shareholders, that on-line learning materials, including e-books,
would deliver an independent revenue stream in their own right. Of the five
publishers committed to an e-book strategy, three said that they were already making
money out of e-books sales. One of these said that the revenue stream from e-books
was not yet significant, but that the company had recouped its investment over a twoyear period. The other two had been offering large, expensive (in print) reference
works on-line for some time, and selling them primarily to institutions via licensing
models. A fourth committed publisher sells publications in a specific subject area
which require frequent updates. All of its titles are available in e-book format, and
new titles are published simultaneously in print and e-book. This publisher regards
delivery of e-books as primarily a customer service which also delivers spin-off print
sales it estimates that 25% of customers who buy all or part of one of its books in eformat will subsequently buy the print version. However, its year-on-year sales
growth of e-books has been modest between 15% and 20% - and the initial
investment on e-books of 250,000 has been written off as a sunk cost. This
56
57

44
publisher has also deliberately resisted allying itself with any of the e-aggregators,
because:
When aggregators first set up, they took all the problems away from publishers by scanning,
digitising, etc., free of charge. Now they are charging publishers to scan and digitiseIt
doesnt make sense for [us] to go to an aggregator when [we know our] market it is
bringing a middle person into the supply chain for no good reason.58
In fact, most of the toe-in-the-water publishers have started their e-books initiatives
by making a certain number of publications available via an e-aggregator. A curious
result of this, which illustrates their general ambivalence about e-books, is that they
often dont advertise the fact that these publications have been produced in e-format.
It is as if these publications belong to the aggregators brand, rather than their own.
As there is no central bibliographical catalogue of e-books, would-be buyers therefore
have difficulty in discovering whether the publication they are looking for is available
as an e-book or not; they have to resort to searching the aggregators catalogue.
Other intermediaries besides aggregators can work effectively in partnership with
publishers to promote e-books, notably those engaged in developing VLEs and MLEs.
Ten out of the twelve publishers interviewed either had licences with Blackboard and
/ or Web CT, or were actively engaged in discussions with one or both companies.
VLEs and MLEs are rapidly being set up in British universities, although few are yet
using these applications to their full potential. They offer an ideal opportunity for
publishers to sell chapters and other slice-and-dice material from e-books for online course packs, teaching and study aids, etc.
Pricing is a complicated issue for publishers. This has already been touched on in
Chapter One, and will be considered in more detail later in this chapter. Of key
importance for the publishers is getting other stakeholders to accept that they perform
a service for which they are entitled to charge appropriately, and that making their
lists comprehensively available in e-book format is inextricably linked to this.
Otherwise, unproductive conflict between the publishers and other stakeholders is
bound to result. To give two examples:
There is .. an uneasy feeling that librarians are trying to get something for nothing shortsighted, as in the emerging models, publishers will still have to make a living if they are to
continue to occupy their current role of information providers and quality controllers.
Refereeing materials, editing copy, etc., all still have to be paid for, unless librarians and
academics are prepared to sacrifice these features in the interests of economy, and just pick
up the plethora of free stuff on the net.59
I think that the availability issues are appalling: publishers should be ashamed of
themselves. Theyre not supporting the potential [of e-books] properly for disabled
students, etc.60
Publishers are aware of the technological issues that impede customer uptake of ebooks. Chief among these are the confusion caused by the various types of Reader,
which can result in the customer purchasing a book which he or she cannot then read;
58

60
Academic, Huddersfield focus group.
59
45
and problems with downloads taking too long or failing. It is for this reason that
many publishers prefer to outsource to a one-stop digital platform provider; but they
acknowledge that this removes contact with the customer. One publisher said that
how to conduct an effective customer service for e-books is an issue for which he
does not have the answer.61 Another publisher said that, although its sales of ebooks were tiny, one in ten of these resulted in customer complaints about Reader
or download difficulties, a figure which is too high, particularly on the current sales
volume.62 Most of these problems relate to sales to individuals, rather than to
libraries and institutions.
Bibliographical issues concern some publishers more than others. Most look at the
specific cataloguing and metadata issues connected with e-books from a publishing
point of view rather than from a librarians point of view, which may be why some
said that they thought that they had addressed issues that librarians still consider to be
a problem (What is all the fuss about? E-books need a unique identifier. Archiving
is the big barrier not metadata)63. Others are more engaged ([Metadata] is a
minefield. [We] are still trying to get to grips with it. It is a constantly moving set of
problems)64. These issues will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Six.
From this mishmash of related concerns and complexities, it is easy to perceive the
barriers to promoting e-books as experienced by publishers, rather than the
advantages to them. The main barriers are clearly fear about the effect of e-books on
their revenue stream, closely connected with fears of cannibalisation of print;
investment costs; and attractiveness and consequent saleability and viable pricing
structure for the e-book medium. Technological and cataloguing / metadata
shortcomings definitely belong to a second league of publisher-perceived barriers, but
may still cause publisher reluctance to commit to e-publishing. There is not publisher
consensus on whether the intermediary role of the aggregator is a good or bad thing.
The advantages to publishers of promoting e-books can, however, still be discerned
within this rich picture: in the first place, if the publisher can find a way of
developing and promoting the e-book to new or existing markets so that the product is
attractive but does not compromise print sales, the revenue streams can be
considerable. As one publisher put it, For the publisher, the electronic version has
the advantage that, no matter how many people are being sold to worldwide, the
economics of publication are not affected. On the other hand, the costs of a paper
print run would be small anyway since only an easily estimated number would be
sold and the electronic development costs are considerable.65 In the second place,
the nature of teaching and study is changing. MLEs and VLEs, as they become used
in a more widespread fashion, will act as a catalyst for this change, thus providing
those publishers who are able to offer materials to be incorporated within them either
new sales opportunities, or replacement opportunities for print sales which will be
lost, not because of e-books, but because the academic community is already or will
in the near future be demanding a different type of product to suit its changing needs.
61

63
64
65
62
46
Therefore, both push and pull imperatives are at work upon publishers to develop ebooks.
3.2.3 Distributors of e-books: Aggregators
It was stated in Chapter One that e-aggregators target librarians as their main
customers. A few also target the end user, with models that allow the download of
whole books or chapters for relatively small payments. For all the aggregators
interviewed, acquiring new customers is a slow process: for example, netLibrary66,
probably the most well-known e-books aggregator, currently has twenty-three library
subscribers in the UK and Europe (most but not all of these are academic libraries and
more than half of them responded to the HEI questionnaire circulated to inform this
study); others have far fewer: Knovel67 has five UK academic library subscribers;
Ebrary68 has only one subscribing academic library customer (Staffordshire) in the
UK (though it has between thirty and forty in Scandinavia and also sells direct to the
end-user in the UK).
The e-aggregators themselves try to understand the reasons for the slow uptake of
their products. Foremost among barriers to uptake with librarians is a connected
cluster of issues relating to cost, the pricing model employed, and lack of flexibility
on how much or little to purchase. Connected to these are librarians concerns about
value for money, in turn associated with the adequate and regular provision of clear
and comprehensible usage statistics, availability of publications from key publishers,
currency of the publications on offer, ease or difficulty of placing the collections on
the library catalogue and difficulties of access for some users. The different pricing
models operated by different e-aggregators and publishers regularly cause confusion.
There is frequently debate about their relative merits and defects. As the following
sub-section demonstrates, there are many different models in operation.
3.2.3a Examples of e-aggregator pricing models
1. netLibrary. netLibrarys pricing model is the most transparent, because the
price charged to the library bears a direct relationship to the cost of the print
book. It consists of paying the hardcopy price of the publishers list price of
the book plus an access fee that is either an annual charge of 15% or a onetime charge of 55%. The library is required to make an initial purchase of a
minimum of 100 books, from a catalogue of approximately 55,000 books. It is
a one book, one user model: e-books out on issue from the collection can only
be borrowed by a second user upon their return. netLibrary provides easily
understood usage statistics, and also turnaway statistics, that is, information
about e-books that would have been borrowed if they had been available to the
user when he or she tried to access them. It has forged partnerships with most
academic publishers, though some only make a very limited number of titles
available, and sometimes some time after the print book is published. It is
66
http://www.netlibrary.com.
http://www.knovel.com.
68
A selection of the content offered by subscription to institutions may be viewed at
http://discover.ebrary.com.
67
47
adding new titles to the catalogue at the rate of 1200 1500 per month. More
information about netLibrary is given in Case Study No. 4.
2.
Ebrary has divided its e-book offering into five subject-specific Aggregated
Collections, arranged under broad headings: Business & Economics,
Computer, Technology & Engineering, Humanities Life & Physical Sciences,
and Social & Behavioural Sciences. Each collection consists of between
1,000 and 4,000 titles, with a sprinkling of reports, but no journals. An
institution can subscribe to one or more of these collections, or can choose the
Academic Complete collection, which includes all five subject collections
together with a series of maps and additional academic e-book titles. The
annual fee is a factor of the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrolled
students at the subscribing institution. For example, an institution with 5,000
FTEs would pay $1.50 per student or $7,500 for one-year access to Academic
Complete. The fee for HEI libraries is lower than for commercial libraries,
and there is a further reduction in rate for FE libraries.
Ebrary offers the same pricing structure for a range of Publisher Collections,
which consist of specialized content from a single publisher. There is also a
Public Library Collection with over 2,000 titles covering subjects such as
biography, health, travel, popular computing and careers. Ebrary has about
175 publishing partners, many of which are UK-based. Some publishers
operate under embargoes of between six and eighteen months, i.e., a period
after the publication of the print book before the e-book will be made
available. Ebrary feels that this is not unreasonable it gives the librarians
time to work through their normal acquisitions process for print, and therefore
mitigates the risk of the publisher or wholesaler losing a print sale. Ebrary also
offers a website, known as Discover (http://discover.ebrary.com/), where
independent researchers may access many of the publications it offers in its
aggregated collections, paying on a per-page basis to print or copy text. To set
up an account, the researcher must make a $5.00 deposit and install the Ebrary
Reader, but may then search, view and interact with the content at no charge.
The primary purpose of this website is to showcase Ebrarys technology and
content and to encourage researchers to request access to Ebrary's Aggregated
Collections from their library.
3. Knovel, which aggregates e-books in Science and Engineering subjects, has

also broken down its catalogue into a series of (fifteen) bundled subject
collections, and has built partnerships with eighteen scientific and technical
publishers. Over 500 books and databases make up the bundles, with an
average of 15-20 titles added monthly. Subscribers can either purchase the
whole collection, or one or more of the bundles. For academic libraries, the
fee is based on the number of relevant users (i.e., scientists and engineers
enrolled at the university), not on FTEs. However, Knovel has also come to
an agreement with CHEST, which is based on FTEs. As with Ebrary, the
Knovel model makes subscription cheaper for academic than for corporate
libraries. As well as the five universities which currently subscribe, Knovel is
now being trialed by some FE colleges. There is a minimum subscription fee
of $15,000.
48
4. CRC Press69 also aggregates e-books in Science and Engineering. It has

broken its catalogue into a series of thirteen bundled subject collections, which
it calls handbooks. The most advantageous way for libraries to obtain the
collections is via a recently established CHEST deal. For this, the handbooks
have been grouped within three Options. Option 1, Core Engineering and
Chemistry, consists of two handbooks, which may be purchased by a
subscription of $5,500 per annum for a three year contract, or $5,000 for a five
year contract; Option 2, Popular Subject Areas, consists of six handbooks,
which may be purchased by a subscription of $6,500 per annum for a three
year contract, or $6,000 for a five year contract; Option 3, ALL Handbooks,
consists of the entire group of thirteen handbooks, and costs $9,500 for a three
year contract or $9,000 for a five year contract. CRC Press is also prepared to
negotiate with libraries that wish to work independently of CHEST and only
subscribe to one of the handbooks.
5. Books24x770, a collection of computing books which includes some business
and e-commerce titles, operates a one user licensing model based on the
number of FTEs studying at the university (i.e., if the library wishes to provide
simultaneous access to the titles to two or more users, it has to pay
accordingly). The collection, which comes as a complete entity consisting of
a rich repository comprising literally thousands of complete and unabridged
works representing more than 400,000 knowledge objects71including 3000
complete books in XML format, is edited and maintained by the supplier:
librarians do not choose individual titles. Because of the difficulty of
maintaining up-to-date computer book collections, and the rapidity with which
print computing collections become obsolete, Books24x7 provides an instance
of bundling which is often attractive to librarians.
3.2.3b Publishers pricing models
Whether they are selling direct to the end-user, or to libraries and institutions,
publishers also operate a number of different pricing models. Some examples are
given below.
1. Wiley72. Wiley does not use e-aggregators. It sells e-books in clusters, or
bundles. These are available from four main category areas, a) Life Sciences
and Medical, b) Mathematics and Statistics, c) Electrical Engineering and
Communications and d) Chemistry. Within these, there are smaller subcategories or packages, and librarians subscribe to these. Wiley allows
unlimited consecutive usage, through an IP address authentication system, or
ATHENS for people obtaining remote access. It operates a sliding scale of
charges, dividing customers into two principal categories: academic / research
and professional / government departments. The former are charged at a
proportionately lower rate. Price band points are assessed by taking the total
number of students and academics at each institution (not just the number
studying or teaching the subject; but support staff are excluded). Wiley
69
http://www.crcnetbase.com
http://books24x7.com.
71
Books24x7 online promotional material, from http://www.books24x7.com, accessed 27th June 2003.
72
http://www.wiley.com
70
49
believes that the pricing mechanism doesnt put customers off once they
understand it: for example, typically the electronic price of a big
encyclopaedia would work out at 20% of the price of a single printed set.
Multiple title discounts are offered in some subject areas. It has recently
struck a deal with JISC to supply its collections at an advantageous rate to UK
academic librarians.
2. Taylor and Francis73. Taylor and Francis sells e-books direct to end-users,
via other e-booksellers, and also to institutions. When selling to end-users, its
original pricing principle was that e-books would be 20% cheaper than print
books. Now it charges the same price for e-books and print books, but
effectively e-books are cheaper, because the electronic price hides the VAT
incurred (at 17.5%). Taylor and Franciss Ebookstore is available through the
websites of a number of booksellers, aggregators and platform providers,
including D.A. Books (Australia), the UK booksellers Coutts, John Smiths,
Dawsons and Blackwells, Overdrive, e-books.com, netLibrary and Baker &
Taylor. Together with Wiley and Pluto Press, it has offered a bundled deal
to academic libraries through JISC74. Libraries taking advantage of this deal
can choose their own package of 180 titles from eight subject areas or a pick
and mix package, from a total Taylor & Francis catalogue of more than 4,000
titles. There are no limits to the number of users accessing each package.
Access is gained either by IP range or library ID number, or by using
ATHENS authentication. The institution pays a fee according to its band
size, established by JISC. See also Case Study No. 3.
3. Cavendish Books75. Cavendish sells e-books to the end-user through its own
website, and also does deals, by individual negotiation, with single libraries
and library consortia. It is currently negotiating with some booksellers, but
does not use e-aggregators. Its pricing model for the end-user is transparent.
If someone wants read-only rights, they are charged 50% of the print books
cover price. They are charged 80% of the cover price for Read, View and
Print. For slice-and-dice (i.e., chapters or smaller sections of the book, from
one page upwards) there is a sliding scale matrix based on per-page access.
Cavendishs core e-book customers are the institutional subscribers, and it
encourages them to take all of its 600 titles (all law books, and all published
simultaneously in print and e-format). Sometimes it will offer incentives for
this.
4. Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press operates a number of ebook initiatives, which are described in more detail in Case Study No. 2. Two
of these, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online and Oxford Reference
Online (ORO) are currently available as JISC details, and Oxford Scholarship
Online (OSO) will become available through JISC shortly. Oxford charges by
annual subscription fee for its products. Its strategy is to have a wide range of
73
http://www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk
Consultation on the licensing of electronic books from Taylor and Francis, John Wiley and Pluto
Press, issued by JISC in May 2003.
75
http://www.cavendishpublishing.com
74
50
subscribers paying affordable prices, rather than to sell at a premium to a

select few.
Other models incorporate other refinements, but the main variables used to construct
pricing models are illustrated in the examples given above. The examples also serve
to demonstrate how e-aggregators and publishers, both obliged to find commercially
viable ways of supplying their products, present librarians with some tricky decisions
to make. The products that e-aggregators and publishers who bundle sell are
expensive in the sense that they require a hefty initial outlay; and both the requirement
of minimum collection sizes and bundling limit choice and make low-cost
experimentation difficult. The librarian may be misled into buying an e-book when a
more recent edition is available in print only. Value for money can only be assessed
by comparing usage statistics supplied by the e-aggregators or publishers with the
librarys own print usage statistics over a period of time: but this is an arduous and
time-consuming exercise, because the librarians may receive statistics irregularly and
in hard-to-understand formats, and most statistics do not record the level of access or
time spent searching the e-book by the user. On the other hand, e-aggregators are
continually working with publishers to make more content available in e-format; both
try to supply catalogue records of some kind (though the library may wish to amend
these); most are continually trying to improve the products to address recognised
technological problems such as heavy loading times, downloading latest Readers
and difficulties with ISP set-ups. Most have FAQs and searching tips on their
websites, and other information for users, such as troubleshooting access problems.
When they are pointing out the advantages of e-books, e-aggregators often use
existing library customers, with contact details, either to endorse their products, or to
contribute to mini-case studies which highlight the features that they have found most
useful. For example, Ebrary issues a reference sheet which gives the contact details
of three academic librarians in the US, the UK and Africa, each of whom has given
bullet-point answers to the following headings: trends that impacted decision (to
subscribe); reason(s) for choosing Ebrary; (perceived) content strengths; favourite
features. The results of the mini-cases have been summarised in the table below.
51
Table 1: Ebrary customer endorsement sheet: indicates advantages of

product
Trends that impacted decision to
Reader interest in having expanded
subscribe
access to electronic resources
Increased focus on distance learning
programmes
Growing number of part-time students
Overall rising expectations of students
Students increasingly interested in
accessing library databases remotely
Reasons for choosing Ebrary
Ability to have unlimited simultaneous
users both for the service overall and for
any particular title
Unrestricted searching and viewing
Breadth and range of books
Ebrary allows us to deliver book-content
and nicely compliments our extensive
online periodocal offerings
Strong collections
Affordable price
Content strengths
Multidisciplinary content, including titles
from leading academic publishers
Humanities and History, Social Science
Diversity across subject areas
Favourite features
PDF technology offering, for both
viewing and printing, maintains the
original appearance of the printed book
Capability for full text searching across
the entire collection
Searching across all text and titles
provides unprecedented and potentially
revolutionary access to information.
PDF technology ensures that books and
pages within books maintain their
original appearance
Remote access
Excellent support. Maybe the best in the
industry at the moment.
3.2.4 Booksellers
E-booksellers divide into several categories: retailers who also sell through websites,
pure e-tailers, and library suppliers. To whichever group they belong, they have
been slow to offer e-books to their customers, and when they have attempted to do so,
have achieved only very modest sales. All of the six booksellers (two retailers with
transactional websites, two e-tailers and two library suppliers) who were interviewed,
all of whom currently sell some e-books, regarded this activity as providing a
customer service, rather than a serious source of revenue, although the two library
52
suppliers among them were beginning to gear up to more comprehensive e-book

initiatives. That booksellers have failed to identify and give definition to a significant
role for themselves in the e-book supply chain is remarkable when, by contrast, their
pole position in the print book supply chain is considered. One of them summed up
the reasons why he felt that booksellers have been marginalized:
The consensus is that e-books are really pushed by the publishers, and pulled by the
universities. Booksellers play a peripheral role. It is a B to C business. However, e-books
providers are not driving interest among individuals. There is some interest being shown
among younger academics, but there is a feeling that B to C vendors will not get enough
demand. The publishers see it as enabling them to create strategic alliances with universities.
The implications are financial / strategic: if the publisher digitises his whole catalogue, what
impact does it have on print sales?76
Three of the booksellers were discounting e-books from the publishers recommended
price. Estimates of margin varied: one e-tailer said that despite discounting, it
expected more margin from e-books on a sale-by-sale basis, and achieved this. A
library supplier said: [We] would like to at least match printed book margin, but the
publishers have other ideas.77 Two were offering them via Taylor and Franciss
eBookstore only, and two were using Overdrive as a digital platform provider. Their
strategic approaches varied: all were addressing the HE market; two were also trying
to serve the FE market. Four were selling e-books direct to end-users; four (the two
e-tailers and the two library suppliers) were selling them to libraries and institutions.
Emphasis on types of product offered varied, with some concentrating more on
reference works, others on monographs and textbooks.
Aside from their perception that they are being squeezed out of the e-book supply
chain, three other major barriers to uptake (characterised by one as a three-legged
stool) have been identified by booksellers. These barriers are: Right to Property,
Standardisation and Cost. Below is the transcript of the response from the first
bookseller interviewed (and one of two bookseller respondents operating in the US as
well as the UK):
1. Right to Property. The world trade in digital publishing is confused. Books
published prior to 1980 usually carry no digital rights; after 1980, it depends on
the contract so the issue has to be resolved title by title. Post 1990, the rights
are controlled by the publishers [note: many publishers addressed the issue of
electronic rights after this date]. There is also confusion and fear surrounding
digital rights issues unencrypted formats are seen as a threat and the
difficulties of piracy experienced by the music industry [MP3] warns people off.
Then there is the issue of printing out there is fear among publishers that in
the academic community, which is technology literate, they will be ripped off
people will infringe copyright on the digital version if they possibly can.
2. Standardisation. There is no standardisation of software or devices. This
confuses the consumer, who knows how to buy a paper book, and does so. The
industry has made it as difficult as can be for people to fathom out how and why
they should buy an e-book.
3. Cost. E-books are less discounted [than print books, by the publisher], despite
the fact that the public has indicated that it will not pay as much for them because
it sees that the shipping / handling / production fees are not there. Upshot: [we
76
77
Bookseller interview No. 2.

53
offer] less than 10,000 titles available as e-books, whereas [we offer] 1.3 million
paper titles. On top of this, there is the perceived high cost of the devices.78
A point of interest is that the second two barriers to uptake identified above,
although recognised by other stakeholders, are emphasised less by them. This
may be because booksellers have more direct first-hand experience of the
reactions of the end-user.
Booksellers also identify a raft of secondary problems connected with selling
e-books similar to those identified by publishers: people trying to download
the book when they have not activated or have been unable to activate the
Reader; people buying the book online and then finding themselves unsure
how to access it; and confusion over catalogue entries, caused by publishers
giving different ISBNs to the same title in different e-formats. Like the
publishers who deal direct with the end-user, they record a high instance of
customer complaints compared to those received about print books.
The library suppliers have become more interested in developing their e-books
offer because it has become apparent to them that librarians would like to be
able to choose e-books as part of a one-stop-shop approach to book selection79
- i.e., they wish the supplier to inform them on a single list of all the formats in
which the publication is available: hardback, paperback, e-book, etc.
Blackwells80, for example, specifically states:
our customers are telling us that they need a simple, single point of contact for
their purchases. Purchasing electronic reference books and databases direct
presents the same problem found in buying books direct, in that finding the staff, time
or money is difficult Blackwells is intent on being able to offer access to
electronic reference works, thus providing consolidation to our customers, as more of
our books in series, major reference works and database collections become digitised
Although publishers are selling these series based on a subscription model, we are
adapting our procedures so that we can facilitate them for our customers.81
The advantages for all booksellers in promoting e-books are that it gives them an
opportunity to add value by increasing customer service and therefore to gain other
sales; and, taking a longer term view, that booksellers need to exert an influence in the
area of e-publishing as it develops. They can then take an active part in defining their
role in the emerging e-book industry, even though the short-term rewards may be
small and the demands upon resources relatively high. Library suppliers have the
considerable added advantage that their customers are actively asking them for
support in the acquisition of e-books. The importance of booksellers in disseminating
information effectively should be acknowledged by all stakeholders: this report
contends that the fact that they do not at present occupy a major role in the e-books
information supply chain (see Figure 4, Chapter One) is one of the reasons for the
imperfections of the latter. A crucial question is raised: as e-books become more
78

That this is correct was confirmed at Meeting No. 3, when the twenty or so librarians present said
that it would be regarded as a very useful service.
80
http://www.blackwell.com.
81
Blackwells Book Services promotional leaflet, dated Winter 2003.
79
54
widely used, does the industry expect to gain meaningful sales from end-users as well
as from libraries; and if so, how can it stimulate or influence such sales?
3.2.5 Self-Publishers
These are largely academics who make their work available to students and groups of
colleagues in e-book format. Some may seek to charge for the publication (which
may take the form of slice and dice style material rather than whole book), but
many do not. The work is disseminated through applications such as Blackboard and
Web CT, and also via the authors own websites82. Aside from the advantage of low
or no cost to the recipients, the advantage of self-publishing to the author, his or her
counterparts in the same and other institutions and the end-users, is that it allows
customisation of work to suit particular modules and interests. The main barrier to
uptake of this work is that information about it is unlikely to be widely disseminated
(though in some instance the author may prefer this).
3.2.6 Librarians 1: Higher Education Institutions
At the preparatory stage of the project, as much material as possible was collected and
summarised for the panels in order to provide them with as comprehensive a set as
possible of librarians perceptions of the advantages of e-books and the barriers to
uptake, both from librarians own point of view and that of the academics and
students that they serve. This information was obtained from published research,
formal and informal unpublished research carried out by librarians themselves
(including one very comprehensive report from a consortium of business librarians)
and minutes from JISC E-Book Working Group meetings. The findings thus
collected, synthesised and circulated to the panels are given below:
3.2.6i Why Librarians would like to purchase more e-books and encourage
greater use of them, and their concerns
3.2.6i.a) Access
Easier access for users no need to come to the library
Increased flexibility and availability to more users over a wider
area
Helps to address the problems of a multi-site organisation
Helps to increase access to those unable to acquire a print copy
Improves circulation; but only if the user licence reflects the
demand
Important for distance learners; but authentication issues may mean
its more trouble than its worth; and they dont all have access to
PCs / the Internet
82
For example, research into electronic learning materials conducted by Gold Leaf on behalf of
Butterworth Heinemann in the spring of 2003 showed that, of the 42 academics interviewed, five
developed material on their own websites for the use of their students and three used the university
website for this purpose. I am indebted to Butterworth Heinemann for allowing me to quote from the
research.
55
If each e-book could have multiple users, it would solve the

access problem IF there was seamless access from the
catalogue.
Electronic versions may have a higher turnover rate than print
versions; therefore, more borrowers in a shorter time i.e.,
maximisation of usage
Increases access to resources outside the institution; but users are
dependent on their access to the technology and their I.T. skills.
3.2.6i.b) Stock Maintenance and Administrative Tasks

E-books require no handling and can be issued / returned instantly
They free up staff time from shelving
They ease pressure on physical space
There is less need for stock editing
Issues of vandalism and hidden / missing books solved
Cannot be damaged
If the content goes out of date, the e-book can be removed [but this
raises archiving / preservation questions]
Cheaper overall?
3.2.6i.c) Quality of Stock
Could extend access to a wider range of material on individual
subjects [but only if the material is available in e-format]
Could give access to a wider range of O/P material [ditto]
Can be easily updated [but note that there are archiving /
preservation issues].
3.2.6i.d) Economic Considerations
Might be able to afford a wider range of reference materials (or
might not!)
Might be more cost-effective for short-life titles
Printing out [which both academics and students are likely to want
to do] is, on the other hand, a wasteful exercise
Cost effectiveness depends on the publishers / aggregators
models, and level of take-up
Better for part-time students with other commitments, providing
they can obtain access.
3.2.6ii Librarians prioritisation of e-book acquisition, with reasons
3.2.6ii. a) High demand
High demand materials for speed of turnover and improved access
Areas of stock known to be in heavy demand, particularly where
the library serves more than one site
Recommended textbooks
Reading list texts because of currency and availability of recent
editions
56
Core texts / key texts to allow greater access [independent user

satisfaction survey shows inadequate supply of key textbooks is the
second greatest complaint in libraries, after photocopying facilities]
Reference books
E-learning courses
Short term loan collection items.
[Note: much of this material range is currently not available in eformat]
3.2.6ii. b) Material types sought

Reference materials first especially, using a model which
enables them to be regularly updated
Areas where currency is important and e-versions may work
out cheaper than buying expensive print copies.
3.2.6ii.c)
Target subjects
Subject areas where users need to gain easy access to shortish
chunks of material
Subject areas where it is known that the students have high
computer usage / ownership rates: I.T., business, e-commerce
Subject areas which attract a high proportion of part-time and
distance learning students: business, professional courses.
3.2.6ii. d)
Specific user groups

Distance learning programme reading lists
Textbooks used by distance learning students
Those wanting O/P materials which are currently unavailable
elsewhere.
3.2.6ii. e)
Constraints
How does acquisition of e-books fit into the librarys overall
acquisitions and budget strategy?
How will they be marketed / promoted to users?
How will distance learners obtain site authentication?
How easy is the material to use?
How will users [students, academics and librarians] be trained /
educated?
How well do the materials available integrate into the curriculum?
It has already been stated that librarians currently occupy a pivotal role in both
purchasing and promoting e-books, and this has been attributed in part to the
emerging supply chain configuration. Before examining further the librarians role in
promoting e-books and exploring the issues raised above within the context of how to
address them, it is useful to have some quantitative information about the specific
teaching, learning and research applications for which librarians believe that they are
buying e-books. The first three questions asked in the questionnaire set out to
57
establish this; the results from the HEI questionnaires collected for this study are
tabulated below:
No. of university library Responses
46
100%
No. of subscribers to e-books
41
89%
Subscribe to reference works

Subscribe to monographs from publishers
Subscribe via e-booksellers
Buy e-textbooks from publishers
Subscribe to monographs from wholesalers /
aggregators
Subscribe to textbooks from wholesalers /
aggregators
Buy grey e-book literature
37
14
0
9
16
90% (of subscribers)

34%
0%
39%
15
37%
20%
Buy e-books to provide additional copies

Buy e-books to provide supplementary texts
Buy e-books to provide access to reference
works
Buy e-books to provide access to material not
purchased in print
Buy e-books to provide distance-learning
access
17
18
37
41%
44%
90%
25
61%
26
63%
The table indicates that instance of experimental subscription to e-books by UK

universities is good, with 89% of the sample attempting it, though it should be noted
that the fact that few non-subscriber responses were received may indicate that nonsubscribing librarians did not understand that these would be appreciated, and
therefore did not respond. Just under a third of the mainstream universities in the UK
is represented by the sample. Purchase of e-books for reference use (90%) is by far
the most popular librarians reason for acquiring them. That 61% of librarians is
already purchasing e-books to provide access to material not purchased in print is a
surprisingly high figure, given the emerging nature of the format (though a high
proportion of this is clearly for reference); that 63% of e-books are purchased with the
intention of providing a distance learning service is less surprising. That 41% of
librarians buy e-books to provide additional copies, and 44% to provide
supplementary texts shows consistency with the fact that e-textbook purchases
average 30% of total purchases (from publishers and aggregators combined) and emonograph purchases average 37% of total purchases (from publishers and
aggregators combined).
Actual expenditure on e-books per institution was relatively low: of the forty-six
respondents, 30 gave details of their expenditure per annum on both e-books and print
books. Expenditure on e-books by these libraries, in which a good mix of old and
new universities across a varied UK geographical spread was represented, totalled
316,394 per annum; expenditure by the same libraries on print books totalled
58
10,516,299 per annum83. Expenditure on e-books therefore represented an average

of 10,546, representing approximately 3% of expenditure on print books. The
highest spending three old universities, all English, spent respectively 50,000 on ebooks and 500,000 on print books (i.e., 10%); 34,000 on e-books and 1,000,000
on print books (i.e., 3.4%); and 20,000 on e-books and 317,000 on print books (i.e.,
6.3%). The lowest spending old university spent 2,500 on e-books and 830,000
on print books (i.e., 0.03%). The highest spending three new universities, also all
English, spent 20,000 on e-books and 200,000 on print books (i.e., 10%); 15,000
on e-books and 380,000 on print books (i.e., 4%); and 11,500 on e-books and
228,630 on print books (i.e., 5%). The lowest spending new university spent 700
on e-books and 95,000 on print books (i.e., 0.07%). The highest spending Scottish
university (new) spent 10,000 on e-books and 316,000 on print books (i.e., 3%).
The highest spending Welsh university (new) spent 10,000 on e-books and
190,000 on print books (i.e., 5%). No figures were given by the only Northern Irish
respondent. The single Southern Irish respondent spent 7000 on ebooks and
555,000 on print books (i.e., 12%). Although the follow-up research, carried out by
contacting nineteen of the HEI library questionnaire respondents who said they would
be happy to contribute more and then studying the promotional practices of some of
these in depth, did not indicate a correlation between cash laid out and effort
expended upon promoting e-books, the following question should still be asked: how
much of their time should librarians expect or be expected to spend on promoting a
resource which takes up so little of their budget?
Of the different types of e-book subscription listed by the respondents, by far the
most popular were Oxford Reference Online and Oxford English Dictionary (19 and
15 instances recorded respectively, several mentioning that they were obtained via
JISC deals) and netLibrary (13 instances recorded). 12 also mentioned either Xrefer
or Xrefer Plus (also obtainable via a JISC deal). Of the other products mentioned,
none achieved a critical mass within this sample, and therefore it should be noted that
the librarians experiences of e-books and those of their designated / actual user
groups will have differed considerably from institution to institution. Case Studies 2
and 4 describe the Oxford products and netLibrary in more detail.
The non-subscribers were asked to list their reasons for not yet obtaining e-books.
Interestingly, a number of the subscribers also took this opportunity to record their
difficulties and reservations about e-books (i.e., barriers to uptake), as well as adding
some of the perceived advantages. Although there is some overlap in the points made
with the summary lists given above, all have been included in order to convey as rich
a picture as possible, and because quoting the librarians directly enlivens the points
being made:
3.2.6iii Advantages of e-books given by the questionnaire respondents
The need to provide access to book material off campus / out of library is
probably our key driver at present
netLibrary had their own authentication system developed, which enabled
users to access the material from home. It was administered by netLibrary, so
83
Some of the libraries said that expenditure on e-books had been taken from their print book fund;
others had allocated, or successfully requested from their institutions, development or experiment
money for this purpose. In the latter case, it was usually said that such funds would only be granted for
a short period of time.
59
had few staffing or technical problems for us. This service is now ATHENScompliant. Although we prefer the ATHENS route, as it means that access
can be limited to library members, both access routes were acceptable, being
manageable in staffing support terms.
A very high percentage of our users are dyslexic, and can find reading large
amounts on screen difficult though e-books may have other advantages over
print in this area, which might be useful. We are always open to new ideas
and resources.
3.2.6iv Neutral comments given by the questionnaire respondents

[We] havent felt too pressured to use e-books, because [we have] few parttime or distance learning students. [Interestingly, this library was one of the
highest spenders on e-books, spending 50,000 per annum (one tenth of its
print book budget) on them.]
3.2.6v Barriers to uptake given by the questionnaire respondents
For all subjects and faculties, checks were done previously on high use
materials, reading list materials and inter-loan monograph requests. There was
very little coverage in any of the e-book services available at the time84
Wed prefer to select our own titles from a list, rather than be presented with
collections
We have difficulty in finding undergraduate material, as opposed to research
monographs
We subscribe to reference works only, at the moment. The textbooks we use
are not available at present
We originally had configuration difficulties with the netLibrary software and
our firewall
We have only nineteen computers available for users to access, and no room to
expand without using valuable library space, so access would be limited
Licensing is expensive, and we are only a very small HEI (170+ students
only), so we just dont have the funds to purchase licences for this type of
resource [Note: this was the smallest responding HEI most were large
universities]
We have more than one campus, and need access for remote users; wed prefer
not to sign up for several years
At present, I dont see any advantages over print books (just old-fashioned, I
guess!), and feel our students might be resistant to using this type of resource
The packages of monographs / textbooks that weve looked at simply dont
match up to our reading lists. They are very US-biased and, in some areas,
outdated
In general, weve found e-books to be over-priced, and the offerings too
[in?]flexible and / or difficult to evaluate. However, we are keen to give our
users access to e-books, and consider the current JISC Consultation on
Electronic Books to be quite attractive
84
Note: this library does not specify when the information gathering exercise took place. More than
once the research done for this report has discovered that librarians think they know about e-book
availability, when in fact the picture is a (swiftly) moving one. This suggests the need for an effective,
time-effective information system.
60
We did not buy the netLibrary titles on a subscription basis, but on a oneoff outright purchase basis. One of the principal factors against our
subscribing to, or purchasing, more e-books is the subscription model, which
binds us to an annual payment. We find that subscription models which are
based on institutional size, or institutional FTE figures, are particularly
prohibitive financially. Often the texts on offer would be of interest to a small
group of users only, rather than to the extended user population. VAT on
electronic products is another financial disincentive.
The bundling of large numbers of titles, by publishers, is another
disincentive. We like to be able to buy the titles we require to support the
teaching and research of the University. This was another positive aspect of
the netLibrary model: we could select individual titles.
When we first considered purchasing e-books, the content was biased towards
American material and publishers. Publishers backlists dominated; up-todate titles were excluded. However, this is improving. netLibrary have
increased their coverage of non-American publishers, and there are many
more e-book suppliers. But we still cannot purchase the specific titles we
want, regardless of format.
One publisher informed us that it was not their policy to make new editions of
their books available as e-books, until six months or more after the publication
date. We were trying to put a package together from this particular publisher,
but discovered that we would have to purchase earlier editions of some texts if
we wanted them as e-books.
3.2.6vi Barriers to uptake for librarians from previous published and

unpublished work, as summarised for the panels85
These are listed below. Again, there is some overlap, but all the points made have
been included in order to convey a well-rounded picture, and to show which concerns
emerge most frequently:
Cant trace relevant titles we especially want popular textbook titles,

to boost the resources in our short-term loan collections [this, with
variations, the most common complaint]. An interesting variant on
this, from the librarians point of view, is that academics are too
inflexible about what they want:
One of the key factors in introducing e-books is to enlist the aid of
academics. In the trials we have had of e-book collections (Books
24x7, netLibrary) there have been few if any texts offered which
appeared on our reading lists. Until the academics are prepared to alter
their key texts or the publishers can be more flexible in the texts that
they offer, this will remain an expensive way of providing
supplementary reading.
Some publisher models too restrictive they dont allow print / save
facilities [this, with variations, the second most common complaint]
E-books will only be used if they are the high-demand titles that
students are competing for
85
For those interested in this aspect, JISC has also recently accepted a study, shortly to be published,
which looks at librarians attitude to and experiences of e-books in detail.
61
86
User access is too restricted especially by the netLibrary model (one

user access per copy), which defeats the objective of providing on-line
materials (variation on above)
We wanted to buy titles in areas such as Law, Education and Nursing
from netLibrary, but the titles were too American in bias
We would like to buy titles direct from publishers. We would have
liked to buy from X and Y. However, we could not link their
catalogue entries to OPAC and they would not let us print, so we
decided against them
E-books would have to integrate into the catalogue to be useful.
Students are already faced with a bewildering array of electronic
sources, and the format would make it difficult to distinguish where the
material is coming from
We have bought one title from McGraw-Hill and would like to buy
more. However, we have to host the title ourselves, which has caused
access problems
We are currently trialing Kluwer Online. We are waiting to hear
whether the comments from academics are sufficiently positive before
we decide on a subscription. It is likely that we will move into e-books
within the next year, mainly due to our growing distance learning /
part-time student population
Quality of materials offered by [X] is too low
netLibrary is too expensive (1.8 x hard book price): becomes
unaffordable when you consider that we want 10 + copies of some
texts
Currently no suitable supplier service. Of 130 highest-issuing business
books in our libraries, OCLC (netLibrary) had only 16
netLibrary allows users to browse indefinitely without borrowing: this
seems to defeat the object of having an e-book available, as the first
person to access it could keep on using it until we intervened86
Off-campus access (technical issues) worries us
Initial start-up costs are a deterrent
The financial / organisational uncertainty of the suppliers acts as a
deterrent:
i. netLibrary was bought by OCLC can we have confidence in
a firm which has been taken over within 2- 3 years of launching
itself?
ii. The market is still in a state of flux and this makes assessment
of their worth difficult; and it undermines their value to the
courses, as we cannot ensure stability of content (vital, for
example, for a 5 year course).
iii. My personal feeling is that we should allow them [publishers
and aggregators] sort themselves out, allow a few key players
to emerge and let them chase after us.
iv. We did some preliminary investigation about nine months ago
and concluded there wasnt a sufficient range of titles available
(certainly in the business area) to justify a subscription at this
In fact, the library can decide for how long the e-book should be borrowed.
62
stage the main contender for our business withdrew their UK

operations shortly after our demo!
Reference e-books can be indistinguishable from bibliographic
databases and so are easier to promote / handle textbooks are the real
unknown our students constantly say that they like print materials, so
what extra value do e-books give them?
We are cautious as there hasnt been a big demand from academics;
but we are offering electronic versions of course materials by default
now.
We are currently using HERON to digitise selected book chapter from
core texts for what we perceive are the most needy student groups
(part-time, distance learners). This is OK on a small scale, but could
prove very expensive and time-consuming on a large scale. The ebooks dont yet seem to have made much impact on part- and full-time
students, but have been useful for distance learners, in particular those
overseas.
Most students are very disappointed when they discover that they
cant download the full e-book for use later on, and that they have to
keep logging in to the netLibrary system to copy and paste extracts.
Navigation is difficult if journal databases can enable the user to see
a list of journals through which you can browse, why cannot
netLibrary provide a list of titles as part of the package?
netLibrary User Instructions. There are lots of instructions on how to
annotate sections of books, but you have to work harder to find the
basic instructions on borrowing books, registering, etc. The whole
system needs to be much simpler to use.
Elaborate passwords often mean that people stop at the first hurdle.
We are aware of possible JISC developments, but unsure how they
are progressing or how useful they will be.
E-books, unlike paper books, need to be budgeted for on a few years
scale, like journals. Since library budgets are forever shrinking and
uncertain, e-books do not allow for the same flexibility as paper book
acquisition, and at the same time detract vital funds from other
essential library needs such as personnel! Perhaps if e-books had come
before e-journals, their fortune would have been completely different.
3.2.7 Librarians 2: FE Colleges

Although response from FE librarians to the questionnaire was good (37 responses
were received), overall these librarians had less knowledge of e-books than HEI
librarians (the research assistant who helped to analyse their questionnaires
commented upon the general vagueness found in the responses), and experienced
more acutely certain barriers to uptake, particularly ones relating to cost and
organisational structure - both lecturers and students seemed to be harder to reach for
FE librarians than HE librarians and therefore to offer help to, and less likely to want
to use the library or the librarians as a resource. Both the difficulties of cost and
creating user awareness are captured in the following response:
63
Im surprised at how many tutors are e-phobic; many have been here for years! Incentives
are needed to get them on board. Our user statistics (weve just done a learner survey) prove
whether or not tutors are using the Learning Support Centre and / or electronic resources,
and they arent! The tutors dont consult the librarians or their students on the issue; the
RSC [Regional Support Centre] does appraise tutors, but they arent interviewed directly, so
the system is flawed particularly weak tutors avoid it and are thus not accountable. [When
considering whether to subscribe to e-books] there are serious budgetary implications here:
with a 60,000 total library budget, losing 4,000 to e-books would be serious if they werent
going to be used: for instance, we spend 700 - 800 on an online database; last year, three
people used it! . Tutors must be made to realise the potential of e-books, but so far they
have not been energised!87
Another FE librarian, contacted by telephone because the e-books collection held by

her library seemed to be unusually high, pinpointed another organisational difficulty:
she said that the library held a good e-books collection because it had been
particularly championed by two lecturers, but that both of these lecturers had been
appointed on temporary contracts, and both would be leaving at the end of the
academic year. The implication was that, over time, the e-books collection might not
be retained without the support that had caused it to be set up.
Lack of the appropriate technology was represented as another key concern. The
following e-mail was received from an FE librarian who felt unable to respond to the
questionnaire:
Im afraid we are a long way from using e-books as yet, as we have only just developed an
Intranet and have no MLE or VLE as yet. I dont think that I can be of much help, but the
preceding sentence might give you a clue as to the state of some of us in FE!88
Another factor, not mentioned by the librarians, but which became apparent because
many of them described some of the courses on offer at their colleges, was the sheer
diversity of these courses, both in terms of subject matter and level of study.
Although they did not say so, one of the factors preventing the major FE publishers
from investing in e-books may therefore be that the return on investment would be
difficult to achieve, given the relatively low demand that they could expect for each
title.
The results of the FE librarians response to the questionnaire when asked about their
purpose in subscribing to e-books are as follows:
87
At the request of the librarian concerned, who also asked for advice, this questionnaire was
completed as a telephone interview, and much extra information volunteered.
88
This response also illustrates the partial understanding of e-books that runs like a thread through the
research.
64

No. of further education library responses
37
100%
19%
Subscribe to reference works

Subscribe / to monographs from publishers
Subscribe via e-booksellers
Subscribe to monographs from wholesalers /
aggregators
Subscribe to textbooks from wholesalers /
aggregators
Buy grey e-book literature
7
1
0
0

14%
0%
0%
0%
14%
2
5
5

71%
71%
29%
43%
Buy e-books to provide additional copies

Buy e-books to provide supplementary texts
Buy e-books to provide access to reference
works
Buy e-books to provide access to material not
purchased in print
Buy e-books to provide distance-learning
access
It will be noted that the sample of subscribers is far too small to be of significance, or
to demonstrate any kind of pattern in FE librarians reasons for buying e-books.
Six of the seven FE libraries that subscribed to e-books were able to give details of
their spending on both e-books and print books. Total spending per annum on ebooks by these libraries was 14,930, representing an average of 2,488, and total
spending per annum on print books 305,000, representing an average of 50,833.
The average spend on e-books was therefore almost 5% of the average spend on print
books higher than the average figure for HE, though the actual spend was less than a
quarter as much. The reason for this is most probably that they felt that to spend less
than around 2,500 on e-books would not result in a viable critical mass of material.
The two highest spending libraries each spent 3,500 on e-books and 39,000 and
50,000 respectively on print books. All the subscribing libraries were English. Four
subscribed to Know UK and Know Europe; three subscribed to Oxford Reference
Online; three subscribed to the Oxford English Dictionary; otherwise there was little
similarity in their subscriptions. None subscribed to netLibrary (though two had
access to netLibrary for degree students via host HEIs); the only e-aggregator
represented in the list is XRefer.
Little previous work with or by FE librarians on e-books, either published or
unpublished, was discovered to give to the panels; consequently the advantages to
using and barriers to uptake preventing use of e-books from the FE librarians
perspective, recorded below, is culled entirely from responses to the questionnaires.
Many of the general advantages of e-books to librarians and barriers to their uptake
listed in the section on HEI librarians also apply, of course, to FE librarians.
65
3.2.7i FE Librarians: perceived advantages of e-books
Those staff and students who use them comment very favourably, although
we do find that Infotrac is not very user-friendly; if you know of a better
newspaper site, then we would be very pleased to hear of it. We have
difficulty getting students to use our subscribed sites as opposed to a free
search; again, if anyone has any ideas then we would be very interested.89
E-books (if we could get the right ones) would help solve our problem of
resource delivery at remote sites, and the need to support distance learners
who are unable to access our resources in person.
We will be in partnership with the Universities of X and Y to provide e-books
in the future (not next year, however). They can give graduates [degree course
students?] access to e-resources, but not students on the lower level courses.
The issues are difficult to get your head round; although you tend to be
vaguely aware of these things (e.g., government initiatives), you tend to let it
filter through. It would be nice to hold a meeting, at regional level, to discuss
e-book issues. The publication of the manual [second output of this project]
will be extremely helpful; it sounds ideal. Of our seven librarians, only one is
chartered.
3.2.7ii FE librarians: perceived barriers to uptake

3.2.7ii. a) Materials available
Keeping up with Health and Law books is difficult, as there are lots of new
editions. We used to run an ILEX course, which stopped when the lecturer
left. I still feel that there are not enough relevant titles, and its very difficult
to find out whats available. One of the lecturers pointed out the emphasis on
American titles in e-book collections.
Most e-books appear to be aimed at Level 4 courses. The majority of our
courses are at lower levels, including foundation level. We might be
interested in e-books for Level 3 qualifications courses, e.g., Access / Return
to Learning / A2 / AS.
3.2.7ii. b)Technological problems
At the college we are currently looking at ways in which a new Managed
Learning Environment can be supported by e-learning materials. However,
both the actual hardware available to library staff and a lack of support from
I.T. staff has meant that this has become increasingly difficult. Therefore, it is
unlikely that the library will be buying e-books in the coming year, as they
cannot be properly accessed, supported or administrated from within the
library.
We are already experiencing problems getting access to our OPAC over the
Internet and offering SDI to e-mail addresses outside our college intranet. We
have a very small I.T. department, who have as yet been unable to configure
our server properly to solve these problems.
The Managed Learning Environment has only recently been set up, and the
few students who have attempted to use it have had difficulties in doing so. It
89
Appeals for ideas and help were common from the FE librarians who participated.
66
would not be worth putting a large amount of the library budget into such eresources, as there is not the interest, or demand, from students yet.
Many students do not have access to I.T.; we do not wish to disadvantage this
(large) group.
Many of our users do not have ready access to PCs.
We would need to provide access to the college intranet / proposed VLE to
students at home, to warrant expenditure and maximise usage.
3.2.7ii. c)E-books offer no advantage over print

You cannot (physically) move as easily or study in class / away from
computer.
The majority of students still prefer to read from paper, rather than from a
screen.
Im still finding it really difficult to persuade learners to use all the
wonderful online databases, instead of following the usual, comfortable,
general Internet search route. I worry that e-books will be just as difficult
to promote.
Currently, e-books have not sold themselves as necessary to college
library users, although we are looking at ways to provide improved
services to distance learners.
3.2.7ii. d) Other reasons
Have received very little information about e-books, apart from OED and
Xrefer.
Given a limited budget, it is difficult to risk taking on a format that may
not be fully utilised. We do subscribe to e-journals, because I know they
are used, and we will be pushing them even more in the future. It is only a
matter of time, I believe, before we do the same with e-books.
In order to create a sufficient amount of e-resource usage, both students
and staff would also need further information and training.
I WAIT FOR DEVELOPMENTS. [Capitals introduced by respondent]
No chance yet to look into the matter.
I still have mixed feelings about e-books. I have concerns about the issue
of ownership. What happens if the e-book is updated? What happens,
for example, if the provider is taken over by another company / provider
..?
We have moved site this year, and the LRC manager is on maternity
leave, so we have just not had the chance to look into it.
A barrier to public access; i.e., if the library holds an e-version of a book,
anyone, both registered users and the public, can look at it. Lots of
reading off the screen / printing.
We have not done any research into e-books, so we do not know what
problems we might encounter. We do, however, subscribe to Xrefer and
Oxford Online, via ATHENS. We are interested in looking into e-books,
but funding could be a deciding factor at this time.
COST!!!! [Capitals and exclamation marks introduced by respondent]
The library materials budget has been cut this year by over 25%, and the
cuts will continue next year. We do subscribe to journals and other online
resources, through ATHENS.
67
A useful way in which some of the problems experienced by FE colleges can be

overcome is for them to work in tandem with a host university that bears part or
some of the cost of the e-book collections that their students use. Three examples of
this were found during the course of the research: the supporting HEIs were
Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Staffordshire. The Huddersfield initiative, which
supports 32 FE colleges, is described in Case Study No. 14. Unfortunately, the
benefits of such initiatives are at present limited to students who are enrolled on
degree courses. The model offers interesting possibilities if the user base could be
extended.
3.2.8 Librarians 3: Consortia
Four representatives of consortia were contacted during the course of the research. A
meeting held by the SUPC consortium, led by David Ball of Bournemouth University,
was also attended. The outcome of the debate on e-books which took place at this
meeting was as follows:
1. The consortium members want to buy e-books: they match VLEs and distributed
learning (FE colleges, hospitals, etc.).
2. There is a feeling that e-books will turn out to be niche products for reference,
short term loan collections.
3. Content is suspect (latest edition? Time-lag after hard-copy publication?
US bias?).
4. Purchase should be integrated with hard-copy practice (purchased from the same
vendors - the library chooses from hardback, paperback, electronic from one list,
catalogued in the same way). The consortium therefore feels that it does not want
JISC to act on its behalf it would rather conduct its own negotiations on e-books
as part of an overall deal with suppliers.
5. Bundles are not wanted; the consortium wants to buy individual titles or chapters
as required.
6. Consortium members expressed general confusion and scepticism about e-books,
which led them to want to wait until things start to gel before making
purchasing commitments.90
The second consortium consisted of a group of Scottish libraries which is at present
considering the development of an e-book collection of Scottish materials. Thirtyseven libraries took part in a survey to assess whether they would find such an
initiative desirable. Their perceived barriers to wider purchase of e-books, based on
their current experiences, were as follows:
Cost (28 out of 37)
Lack of demand (27 out of 37)
Anticipated hardware problems (17 out of 37)
Anticipated software problems (12 out of 37)
Lack of appropriate content for library users (30 out of 37)
Lack of appropriate staff to help provide the service (11 out of 37)
Other comments (each from one respondent):
90
These results are quoted by permission of David Ball. It should be noted that some of the members
of the SUPC already buy e-books on an individual basis.
68
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Librarys e-book policy currently under development

American bias
Deals dont match needs
Aesthetics (especially visual / graphic)
No time to evaluate content
No time to evaluate service
Lack of standards
Not a priority
Lack of knowledge.
The consortium agreed that it was opposed to marketing of any potential deals by the
publisher(s) selected (which, its leader pointed out is what has happened in recent
JISC deals). HEI institutions were more willing to subscribe to individual titles;
others, especially FE s, preferred an annual subscription, because they thought that
perhaps it would save time otherwise spent making selections. The smaller libraries
were in favour of a banded subscription pricing structure, but the larger ones werent.
The third consortium conducted an experiment with e-books which is described in
Case Study No. 11. It will be noted that it was not possible for the participating
libraries to evaluate the success of the initiative, because the e-book supplier failed to
provide user statistics.
The fourth consortium (of seven Irish universities) has conducted a particularly
detailed and valuable evaluation of e-books, which will be referred to in more detail
in Chapter 4.
Other points which emerged from librarian meetings attended as part of the research
for this study:
Training library staff is an issue. Not just the question of who trains the
trainers (though this is of course essential), but of ensuring that all the
librarians in the library understand how to access and explain the e-books
collections91.
It may be the librarians job to promote awareness of e-books, but not to
plug them. It is up to the user to decide.92
The chief role of the librarian is to provide access to material required by
users, in whatever format seems most appropriate. It is not the librarians job
to actively promote one format over another.93
Lack of understanding of JISCs role and its initiatives and deals. This point
was raised in three of the four meetings of librarians attended. Comments
included:
o I thought JISC was a systems supplier.
o How do I find out about JISC deals?
o How do I find out about the JISC e-book initiatives?
o What does the E-book Working Group do?
o Who is in charge at JISC? I have looked on the website, and I cant
find an organogram.
91
Librarian meeting No. 4. The point was also raised in a number of individual conversations.
Librarian meeting No. 2.
93
Librarian meeting No. 3.
92
69
3.2.9 Academics and Lecturers: perceived advantages and barriers to uptake

3.2.9i Academics
The primary research with academics was carried out in four ways: by means of the
random straw poll already mentioned; by means of a questionnaire, for which
responses were elicited from academics by librarians at several of the universities that
responded to the librarian questionnaire; by several in-depth interviews, including
three at the university of Middlemarch and others with the questionnaire
respondents; and by means of a focus group at Huddersfield university, followed by
two in-depth interviews with academics who had expressed an interest in
participating, but were unable to attend the focus group meeting. Some existing
research with academics, both published and unpublished was discovered, and
combined with the comments from the academics who participated in the original
straw poll, to provide some guidelines for the panels on academics views on e-books,
and barriers to using them. The summary of academics views circulated to the
panels was as follows:
Lack of knowledge of medium (by far most common reason)
Lack of knowledge of what is available (by far second most common
reason)
Lack of suitable available material (the third most common reason: might be
the first reason if academics had more overall knowledge)
Lack of time to investigate (the fourth most common reason)
Dont like the format
Not technologically confident - though students usually are
Technology not yet ready difficulties in using
Too expensive
The library does not stock
Physically difficult to use make demands on eyesight, etc.
Printing out costs make them too expensive
It is not possible to print out limits their usefulness
Publishers dont try to sell them
Dont understand how best to use them need help from publishers
They give students the wrong idea that they can get everything that they
need on-line
Students wont pay for them
Advantages over printed books not apparent
When doing research, it is great to be able to download the books you are
using on to a hand-held reader and read on trains; but this only works if you
are first familiar with the hard copies of the books. If you came fresh to the
publications as e-books, you would be all at sea.
Students can get confused if they dodge about all over the place. Im not
sure of the value of the slice-and-dice model. And if youre just talking
about a straightforward text, what are the advantages of having it in eformat?
Slicing and dicing makes plagiarism easier for students downloading
snippets of information and not attributing the sources
How do e-books fit in with Blackboard / Web CT?
70
Students wont buy hand-held readers they cost as much as the average
student spends on books each year.
3.2.9i. a) Academics: the questionnaire responses

There were twenty-four responses from academics at six universities. The responses
were not random: the academics were approached by librarians because they believed
them either to be actively using e-books or interested in them. Therefore, the
responses illustrate the views of the great and the good, rather than those of a
representative cross-section of the academic community. The range of subjects they
taught was varied: Four taught Business, three taught English, three taught Sports
Science, three taught Nursing, and one taught each of the following subjects:
Electronic Engineering, Health Policy Management, Archaeology, Education,
Dermatology, Modern Languages, Social Sciences, E-Learning, Mental Health and
Accountancy. One did not give a subject. Most taught at all undergraduate levels,
and postgraduates too.
It should be noted that the academics were asked where they obtained, or were most
likely to obtain, e-books and information on e-books, in order to find out which types
of promotional effort would be most effective in reaching them. Their answers did
not necessarily imply that they had actually found e-books / information from these
sources. The objective was that this information would contribute to an
understanding of the successes and / or shortcomings of the e-book supply and
information supply chains (see Chapter Two), and to give stakeholders involved in
supplying information keys to the most effective ways of reaching end-users.
All of the universities concerned had e-book collections. The academics responses to
their involvement in acquiring e-books, how they use or would expect to use them,
and how they find out or would expect to find out about them, are tabulated below.
No. of respondents, from 6 universities
24
100%
Aware of universitys e-book collection
18
75%
Work with librarian on selecting e-books
5
21%
Use web resources for teaching and studying
21
88%
Use e-books
15
63%
Use e-books for lecture preparation
Use e-books to prepare course material / handouts
Use e-books to carry out research
Use e-books to consult tables / formulae
Use e-books for general reference information
Use e-books for private reading / pleasure
8
9
9
2
10
10
33%
38%
38%
8%
42%
42%
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books from university library

Obtain or likely to obtain e-books from other libraries
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books direct from publishers
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books from booksellers
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books free from the Internet
18
3
5
5
14
75%
13%
21%
21%
58%
71
3.2.9i. b) Notes:
1. Despite the fact that this group was selected by librarians because the academics
were perceived to be interested in e-books, six (25%) did not know that the
university had an e-books collection and 9 (37%) were not using e-books.
2. Purposes for which e-books were used were evenly spread they were not
primarily for reference, even though that is librarians priority reason for buying
them (but results probably skewed by availability issues and the fact that these
academics showed a high (58%) instance of finding e-books free on the Internet).
3. That 42% of the academics in this sample said that they used e-books for private
reading or pleasure was perhaps surprising, and encouraging.
4. These academics expect to obtain e-books from a variety of sources, not just the
library.
Fourteen of the academics are already recommending or would be likely to
recommend e-books on reading lists; twelve are already recommending them or
would be likely to recommend them verbally.
Three said they had experienced technical difficulties with e-books, and six
respondents gave examples of technical difficulties.
Twenty thought that in the future their use of e-books would increase; none thought it
would decrease; one thought it would stay the same; two did not answer the question.
Five of the nine academics not using e-books said that they had generally not
considered them (although in each case the library thought that they were active in the
e-book field); eight said that they were not aware of what was available in their area;
none said that they considered that e-books held no advantages over print; two
expected to experience access problems; three thought that students would experience
access problems.
Seventeen of the total sample of twenty-four said that they would buy an e-book
rather than a print book if the e-book were significantly cheaper (several underlined
the word significantly); two would not buy the e-book even if it were cheaper; five
were unsure or said that it depended on the circumstances.
3.2.9i. c) Academics: comments from questionnaires
3.2.9i. c1) Web resources used for teaching and studying purposes
Blackboard, online libraries, websites, etc.
Web site addresses for students; NHS electronic library for Health in
particular.
I am a learning technologist, so I am interested in existing resources, but also
create new ones.
On-line teaching for both on campus and off-campus students.
I go on to the Internet and download free ones.
All my modules are supported by Blackboard. Each appropriate session is
supported by a WWW link.
Daily use for teaching and research: databases, e-journals, new sites, etc.
72
Bibliographical research, reference queries. More for research than

teaching.
How-to guide for SPSS.
I am responsible for my Universitys eLearning Strategy and a JISC funded
researcher into the usability of e-books and electronic text in general.
Searches image capture etc.
Subject specific websites.
Blackboard VLE web links, links to electronic databases for identified
articles.
Various resources, mainly professional and accounting websites that either
provide reading resources or links.
To provide information when planning sessions; as a resource on reading
lists.
Journals, sites attached to text books, teaching information sites, Bized.
3.2.9i. c2) Other uses for e-books

I have created my own to provide conference information; and for creating
travel information for use on my PDA while travelling.
I evaluated them for the library here.
3.2.9i. c3) Where most likely to obtain e-books
Oxford Text Archive, Uva Ebook Archive, Project Gutenberg, create them
myself.
3.2.9i. c4) On recommending to students
Im not likely to. [Respondent was an active e-book user who mainly reads
e-books for pleasure]
3.2.9i. c5) Technical problems
Systems failure: the system breaks down frequently for long periods, often at
the beginning of term: it cant take the pressure.
I have experienced problems with their creation.
Ive experienced download problems.
The main problem I have with this kind of resource is reading off a PC
screen. Whether or not this is a technical problem I cant say.
I have had problems accessing and also using the search function.
I dont like to read on the screen: I have to print off. Sites not available for
access.
3.2.9i. c6) Future use of e-books
Will stay the same. To be more useful, e-books need to incorporate more
interactive features that are not available in text versions.
My use will increase, depending on price.
I think that my usage will increase, but within specific areas. I use them for
reference purposes mostly. I prefer paperbacks for leisure reading. Mobile
learning where people move learning between computers and PDAs may
change things probably, learning objectives.
I can only see my usage increasing: it is a cost effective medium.
73
My research suggests that within the immediately foreseeable future with

respect to academic publication electronic documents, including e-books, are
likely to become the norm rather than the exception, although POD [Print on
Demand] is likely to provide one important means of accessing documents
that are electronically disseminated.
I personally spend 450 per annum on e-books.
Since I dont currently use them but they are an expanding resource it seems
unlikely that one will be able to avoid their use in the future. Accessibility
also seems to be an important aspect the more there are available, and the
hotter off the press (a somewhat inappropriate clich, under the
circumstances!) they are the more likely they are to be used.
Not using at present but envisage that will.
Libraries are bound to use e-books instead of stocking texts.
I dont know if reading from the screen is an acquired skill, or whether future
generations will find this much easier but personally, this is the biggest
problem for me.
My use will increase as my knowledge and confidence increases.
3.2.9i. c7) Reasons for not using

There arent any for my speciality. [This was not in fact correct: the
university in question did have a stock of e-books in the subject
concerned.]
I have no time to find them, and lots of problems using online e-journals
as it is.
Prolonged periods of reading text on a PC screen causes me discomfort.
Dont like reading on screen. Cant flick through.
3.2.9i. c8) Views on e-books as a resource for teaching, learning and
research
An important advantage is that the e-books can always be obtained they
are never out on loan.
On-line journals are very useful because they are available to more than
one user at a time. E-books are not generally available in this way [refers
to the netLibrary model] and this restricts their value greatly.
Seems a good idea, but I have not a clue how to access them.
Very valuable, because always available.
They can be adapted to meet learning objectives; good for reference;
useful for English Literature students.
Potentially a cost effective option for students. Modular formats useful
where possible and search and highlighting a great feature; also cut/ paste/
edit/ layering.
Theyre valuable. Another but not alternative resource. Basically
supplementary but will become more important because of their
functionality.
I think that e-books have a place in teaching and learning which will
develop.
I will now make a conscious effort to include e-books on the reading lists.
They are very useful when dealing with large student numbers; very
74
helpful when included within a VLE; can be used to direct students to

specific topics and chapters.
Good as the books could not be stolen. Cheap for students.
Will become an increasingly valuable resource in the future.
They are already indispensable in the HE environment, for learners,
teachers and researchers. [Comment from a published e-book author]
The chief advantages for me have been (a) the accessibility of some items
my own university library does not hold in print form and (b) the facility to
search for keywords.
No training yet. We are inundated with e-mails from the registry and
library regardless of our subject specialisation. Most helpful are dedicated
communications via the subject librarian (who does a grand job).
See http://readability.tees.ac.uk.
Potentially of enormous use / benefit. However, potential still to be
realised. Unsure as to whats available in my area of interest. Unsure
about cost. Have experienced difficulties downloading.
A potentially valuable resource, although care must be taken not to
disadvantage those students with no, or limited, access to electronic
resources.
The main potential is for expensive reference only texts.
Advantage would be the ability to customise an existing text to meet
specific needs of the syllabus of a module. Text books are very expensive:
with an e-book students need only buy and print the specific bits that they
may need. Offer interactive features that allow students to annotate, etc.
and thereby make materials specific to their individual learning needs.
Offer scope to add in module materials e.g., lecture slides and notes.
Another valuable resource, more accessible than other resources, and
probably more up to date.
Good to widen access so long as reliable.
Need to ensure that books remain available to students once they have
been recommended for a specific module / programme hopeless to have
stopped the licence / access part way through a course.
Printing facilities need to be appropriate to support this mode of study.
Better screens for reading need to be investigated to address health and
safety issues of back / neck pain and eye problems.
Training needs to be readily available.
May need paper indexes / contents pages to support the e-book browsing
through something you cant see the whole of is always frustrating.
3.2.9ii Academics: additional information contributed by the focus groups and

in-depth interviews
3.2.9ii. a) Pedagogical and cultural issues
Several of the academics gave fairly detailed consideration to the way in which ebooks might contribute to the teaching and learning experience in new ways. The
following interchange from the Huddersfield focus group meeting is the most
extensive example. The academics discipline is given in bold:
75
Searching, and cutting and pasting, or layering, is an important learning method. It is not
plagiarising you can layer up information from various sources, cannibalise and reinvent it,
annotate and extend it, and also pass it on to members of your peer group: this is real
research (research is plagiarising by another name). Business / Innovation
E-books enable a new approach to education: use of them illustrates the changing role of
the teacher and the learner. It means acceptance that the learner has something to
contribute. Reading as a form of communication, not just absorbing knowledge. This is the
fascination of the Internet: you are directly engaging, it is a two-way process, not just
passive. You can take Blackboard material and change it so that the form suits you as a
learner. It is unlikely that the student will read the book, so you take the format, key in what
you want, and get students to comment. There is scope for doing this by using some of the
database-managed e-book applications. Business / Innovation
There is the possibility of developing an extended service for health education students
part-time ones the students would be given more applications and pay for them it would
help them to do assignments if they brought some ideas to it. Nursing
But this would mean losing a bit of the exploring part of learning, instead of pushing the
learning / instruction model further: students should do the investigative work themselves.
Archaeology / Innovation
I dont know whats available in my subject in terms of e-books; but Internet access for
students has revolutionised their learning experience. Books take years to come out, and by
the time they do, the government has changed its mind so I use website references in my
teaching all the time. E-books would be an extension of this. Health Management Policy
Database models are of most interest: they revolutionise learning whereas PDFs are just
an extension of as is. Archaeology / Innovation
E-books should make people re-evaluate what they do: if the e-books dont add anything
extra, dont bother with them. Business / Innovation
Customisation / individualisation of the material is key. What you lift out for students could
be spiral bound the library could help you bind it. Business / Innovation
It will start adding value to the university if you look at content in different dimensions.
Content is now second to delivery in teaching: this could change. Business / Innovation
<end of discussion on pedagogical issues from Huddersfield focus group>

I use e-books for lecture and course material preparation, research purposes, consulting
tables and reference, but not for pleasure. I did download some poems on to my PDA, but
they took up too much memory, and I found it uncomfortable to read them on the screen. For
work, I am always looking for new examples to quote, so the wider read I am able to make
myself, the better. The net is an excellent resource I like the ability it offers of flagging up
areas to go back to. I can do complicated searches its a good way of working. It is
particularly useful to be able to take advantage of interactive tables and formulae
previously, you could only make them available to students through a limited amount of
photocopying. ICT
I would not necessarily buy an e-book over a print book, even if it were cheaper. I tend to
want to keep books: I have yards of them at home. I like reading as a physical experience;
and I think that young people need to be encouraged to read real books too. On the other
76
hand, they are a useful tool for effective dissemination, especially if you can think of ways of
using them that capitalises on their features and functionality. I think the netLibrary model is
poor I disapprove of the turnaway idea. If there are several students wishing to borrow
the book, the fact that simultaneous usage has been accessed should just be logged and the
library should pay accordingly.
In conclusion: e-books are valuable. They are another but not an alternative resource.
Basically, their application should be supplementary: but within this context they will become
more important because of their functionality. ICT
I dont buy e-books as yet, but may do in the future. I use e-books as a tool, but I dislike the
fact that they are not tactile. The smell, feel and weight of a book is important to me. Ebooks might grow on me, but from a leisure point of view, I like to respond with all my senses.
I have to print everything out in any case I experience a dislocation from reality when
looking at a screen. I have to touch, feel, annotate a document before it means anything to
me. ICT
3.2.9ii. b) Further comments on technical / access issues

The Huddersfield focus group also deliberated at length on technological issues and
the related questions of fitness for purpose in different disciplines and problems of
student access to e-books:
I think that the functionality needs to be subject specific to take into
account the different requirements of different subjects. One size does not fit
all. Health Management Policy
Hand held readers are not very useful for reading: I tried reading on the train
on mine and I couldnt Ive got a good one, but it didnt work. But it is
useful for transporting chunks of information: taking foreign dictionaries
abroad; reference. Archaeology / Innovation
Internet access for my students goes up year on year, but it is a slow process.
Approximately 50% of my students have Internet access. Within the NHS it is
coming, but very slowly: not in all locations, and often not in a ward or clinic.
Hospitals have firewalls, so it is not easy for the students to get into it. Some
wards are beginning to get it: good for student nurses who are doing night
shifts, when the ward is quiet. I went to Finland recently, and the student
nurses there all have ward access. Nursing
Thats like the University of Leyden, where all the doctors use their laptops
on the wards, and they have wireless networks in the hospital. Archaeology
/ Innovation
The Engineering department here is developing a wireless network that the
students can access: they will do the whole building have two wireless hubs
so that people can use laptops anywhere. It only costs 10 each. Business
/ Innovation
Some health students use their mobile phones. Mobile phones in hospitals
can be difficult: but they seem to have overcome their problems, and the
nurses do use them in many places. Nursing
Some health students are more likely to use Internet resources than to buy a
book. Some of their books are actually less expensive than for other
disciplines around 30. Health Management Policy
I do also use textbooks that are accompanied by web support materials, and I
find these useful. They can extend whats in the hard copy, not only in the
knowledge base, but also by honing I.T. skills. But I find I have to check the
web links regularly, as addresses are changed or weblinks are no longer live.
77
Students are supposed to review web-learning materials as part of their

assessment for the course, but I have not received a single comment about ebooks from students this year it is disappointing. Dermatology
I talked to a guy from Geography last week he does a lot of field work. He
was looking for on-line help. He didnt want to carry out random searches
he needed, not a relational database (which is my understanding of how ebook databases are managed at present) but a hierarchical one for soil, etc.
He said that this was his problem with e-books. Business / Innovation
Publishers need to consider in more detail subject specific tools: ways of
searching by discipline. Health Management Policy
I would like to be able to use both the e-book format and the print text
supported by supplementary electronic learning materials. Students who are
distance learning and dont have Internet access certainly need the book.
Also, using technology is still pretty scary for some students: learning a new
subject and having to learn technology at the same time is not a good start.
Nursing
3.2.9ii. c) General Issues
Its boring sitting in front of a computer for too long. Nursing
But I hate sitting in the library! Archaeology / Innovation
You go into the library and find other things by wandering into other
disciplines: if you just commit yourself to e-resources, you dont get the
richness of cross-fertilisation theres a danger of tunnel vision if you take it
too far. Business / Innovation
Is there special help for disabled students? Health Management Policy
There is software, but its effectiveness is dependent on how you put it
together. You could argue that publishers are supporting discrimination: they
have the opportunity and theyre not taking it. One thing that should come out
of this report is this message. Business / Innovation
Ive had a look at e-travel books: you can compile your own, picking and
mixing chapters about the places you are going to. I like this idea.
Archaeology / Innovation
3.2.9ii. d) Price and Publishing Issues
There were several comments from the Huddersfield focus group about price, some
offering the opinion that e-books are too expensive, others expressing the hope that ebooks would make texts that are expensive in print more accessible to students
because they would be cheaper; and several complaints from the academics that they
did not receive information about e-books from publishers, and did not see reviews of
e-books, illustrated by the following examples:
Why dont we hear from publishers? If they want to, they can contact
academics. Some do I get lists regularly from X and Y. But there is never
anything about e-books. Im writing a book for Y over the summer, and they
havent mentioned putting it in e-format. Health Management Policy
I have never had a direct approach from a publisher trying to sell e-books,
though I have had some circulars flyers from Churchill Livingstone and
Dunnetts. I try to make the information available to the students as I receive
it. I have never seen an e-book review. I and several colleagues review texts,
78
but always print ones. I think e-book reviews would be useful.

Dermatology
I am not surprised that publishers are chary of making more content available
in e-book format. I can see the point when people will actually say that the
national library has a copy of every book use that. It would be downright
ripping off as far as the publishers are concerned. I know colleagues whose
books have been pirated in the Far East, so I understand publishers
reluctance.
I have seen e-books reviewed at Amazon, and on various websites, but not in the
kind of academic journals that would validate them. There was a feature on them
in the Times Ed recently. I should find proper reviews useful. ICT
3.2.9iii Middlemarch in-depth academic interview responses: extra

information
The identity of the University of Middlemarch, which ranks itself among the top
five universities in the country, has been protected because of the strong thread of
criticism of the library running through both the academics and students
comments94. The three academics who were interviewed from Middlemarch, who
taught History, Structural Engineering and Electronic Engineering respectively, were
not aware that the library had a stock of e-books, though all were using e-books. One
was devising his own e-books. As well as covering many of the points raised by the
Huddersfield academics, they added the following observations to the debate:
I only use e-books found through my own research, which are available free
on the Net. The library does not keep me informed; I do not yet use e-books
in teaching. Structural Engineering
Mature and part-time (e.g., evening class) students have been the first to
exploit electronic resources; getting to the library can be too inconvenient for
them, although, ideally, they prefer to own their own copies of texts. Younger
students tend to rely too much on the Internet. The danger is that material can
be weak propaganda, for example and they can fail to spot this. Interesting
things, like an undergraduate finals essay, have been turned up, but not
necessarily used! The use of material from the web is becoming a tendency,
and it is good, in that it breaks down the traditional academic wholesale
approach into bite-sized bits, but, inevitably, a sense of context, so crucial to
history, cannot always survive the process.
Google is very useful for specific date searches, and also good for catching up
on recent material, e.g., East European newspapers. But it tends to take too
long to sift through the body of material.
94
There was a strong contrast between comments from the respective academics on this library and the
library at Huddersfield University. The following are comments from the Huddersfield academics:
The library learning centre here is excellent so helpful. Students always have an induction day in
the library, as well as the department training sessions. It annoys me that the students often dont take
full advantage of what the library has to offer. Im not sympathetic when they say that they cant find
the information because I know the library would help them if they asked. I have to confess that I
have successfully evaded the training sessions in the library so far though they are very good they
prick my conscience now and then they say things like Are you sure you want to keep on using this
reading list that you developed in 1969?
79
We were persuaded to use electronic content packs prepared by other

universities, but they were very thin on History! There has been little recent
development of the use of electronic resources, apart from some (useless)
training. History
E-books can be a useful complement to print books: I recently looked
at the e-version of a source, then, when I knew it would be useful, went
to Oxford to study the original. History
3.2.9iii. a) On future use of e-books
[Will] increase, but the information is not dispersed sufficiently at
present. History
Much more is appearing, which is very useful, but there is more
application at higher degree level; I do not think that my undergraduate
teaching will change. A mixture of electronic and traditional methods
will emerge; Im not sure, however, of what proportion to each other
the two ingredients will be in! Structural Engineering
Its the way it must go! I wouldnt publish a conventional textbook.
No one print book ever covers the subject, where smaller, integrated ebooks can. Also, publishers always avoid sophisticated diagrams, and
they impose financial constraints on academics and students.
Textbooks also fail to adapt to change, where e-books are updatable.
Copyright is no problem you can set PDFs to prevent printing /
downloads by students!
Between authors, the industry and users, and the various
technologies, the interfaces do not appear to exist yet. This is a
disadvantage, but understandable and manageable, when you
consider the differing pace of developments in the various sectors.
Electronic Engineering
The italics in bold are mine. This seems to be an appropriately perceptive comment
on which to conclude the section on academics current thinking on e-books.
3.2.10 FE Lecturers
There were twenty responses to the questionnaire from FE lecturers at sixteen
colleges. These colleges were situated throughout the country. The (incentivised)
appeal for responses went out through the Regional Support Centres [RSCs];
therefore, respondents were self-selected at random: they were not chosen as the
academics were. Consequently, as a group the college lecturers might be felt to form
a more representative sample of the community at large than the academics, though
the sample is tiny. However, the fact that they took the trouble to respond is likely to
indicate a higher than average interest in e-books, and their responses make it clear
that the respondents are very interested in using ICT in their work. They taught such
a huge range of subjects at different levels that these have not been listed.
The lecturers responses to their involvement in acquiring e-books, how they use or
would expect to use them, and how they find out or would expect to find out about
them, are tabulated below.
80

No. of respondents, from 16 colleges
20
100%
Aware of colleges e-book collection, if it had one*
5
25%
Work with librarian on selecting e-books (% of those aware)
2
40%
Use web resources for teaching and studying
19
95%
Use e-books
11
55%
Use e-books for lecture preparation
Use e-books to prepare course material / handouts
Use e-books to carry out research
5
9
6
1
9
2
25%
45%
30%
5%
45%
10%
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books from college library

6
30%
4
20%
7
35%
1
5%
12
60%
* It was without the scope of the study to conduct an exhaustive check on how many of the colleges
concerned actually did have e-book collections, as not many lecturer responses could be cross-referred
with the college librarians responses; however, at least one lecturer was unaware that his college had a
(considerable) e-books collection.
3.2.10i Notes:
1. Although it was a more random sample than for the academics, use of ebooks by the lecturer group was only 8% lower.
2. As with the academics, purposes for use were diverse and fairly evenly spread.
3. As with the academics, there was an expectation that e-books would be obtained
from a variety of sources. The lecturers were more likely to obtain e-books direct
from publishers than from the college library or other libraries.
4. They were more likely to obtain e-books free from the Internet than from any other
source.
Fifteen of the lecturers are already recommending or would be likely to recommend
them on reading lists; fifteen are already recommending them or would be likely to
recommend them verbally.
Four of the lecturers said they had experienced technical difficulties with e-books.
Nineteen thought that in the future their use of e-books would increase; none thought
it would decrease; one thought it would stay the same.
Five of the nine lecturers not using e-books said that they had generally not
considered them; nine said that they were not aware of what was available in their
area; none said that they considered that e-books held no advantages over print; two
expected to experience access problems; none said that they thought that students
would experience access problems.
81
Sixteen of the total sample of twenty said that they would buy an e-book rather than a
print book if the e-book were significantly cheaper); one would not buy the e-book
even if it were cheaper; three were unsure.
3.2.10ii FE Lecturers: Comments from questionnaires
3.2.10ii. a) Web resources used for teaching and learning materials
Research to prepare materials; advise students to use web for research; online
tests and quizzes; image repositories to illustrate learning materials.
Infotrac, Google, RDN, NLN, KnowUK, Euromonitor, Heritage, etc.
Use various internet sites for students to search for information (I think this
falls into the category of web resources!)
BBC website and Google.
Mainly the Internet.
I look at websites relating to aspects of health care and social care, e.g.,
Nursing Times. Also websites for specific conditions, e.g., National
Schizophrenia Fellowship.
Use FSA and other websites for research food hygiene materials.
Infotrac, WHATT.
E-books, websites, online presentations, VLE, Intranet sources all used for
Teacher Training for ILT. Examples include VTS tutorials at
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk. FERL website, BECTA website, JISC website, BBC
(including online tutorials), recommend URLs for others and embed these into
learning materials.
Web CT to support teaching inside college, other college / university sites on
related topics.
BBC Skillswise, other basic skills sites.
For RBL sessions research list of sites for student subject areas for some online research databases licensed, Croners Catering e-book, reference.
A range of relevant websites and my college is about to fully implement a
VLE that will make the use of web resources even more central to delivery.
Public Sector Organisation websites, e.g., UK Government ODPM.
Using the Net to study and research articles.
AVLE ICT.
City Mutual database, British Tourist Authority reports, reports from
staruk.org.uk website (statistics), Springboard database (subscribe to).
3.2.10ii. b) Technical problems
Didnt have ATHENS password had to get it from librarian.
Crashing out. Files too big to download.
Some require Acrobat Adobe Reader, which some computers in college dont
have.
3.2.10ii. c) Other problems
Who holds the budget? Who pays access fees?
3.2.10ii. d) Comments on future use
At the current time we do not use e-books and we are not intending doing
so.
82
3.2.10ii. e) View on e-books as a resource for teaching, learning and research

Very useful; could be publicised more widely.
Not all students have computers at home. A book is easier to use within
teaching, it can be taken anywhere at any time.
E-books may be a good idea for those with disabilities; I am not sure whether
e-books come with audio packages. If this were so, it would make worthwhile
taking another look at them.
Not knowing anything about e-books it is difficult to comment; however I
would like to know more.
As the vast majority of my students are PC literate, it would be extremely
useful as an independent learning tool.
The absence of data projectors in my teaching rooms make the use of e-books
problematic as a teaching tool.
More students than ever use the Internet and nothing else to research topics
for projects. I would like to be able to guide them in their surfing. I think [ebooks] would help to supplement the information that can be disseminated in a
classroom situation, and would be useful for students to go back and read after
the lesson if there was something they didnt understand.
I think they would be valuable, particularly if you could link directly to
various sections of the book, e.g., a reference to a particular page, etc.
As always, the key is good information processing skills and it is still less
easy to absorb and process information you find on screen than that you
physically hold in your hand. I have used e-books very effectively for
background work, preparation for classes and for professional development,
but I am very e-literate and confident. I also know how to only print or
download extracts but many others are not yet this competent and bottle out. I
think e-books will be more widely used in the future but the quality of the
resource always determines the take-up.
I am actively trying to promote ILT in college and have found the Learnfish
e-books (software guides) to be brilliant. Ive copied nine (with the copyright
owners knowledge) onto CDs for staff at a cost of 20 pence per CD. I then
use the fact that Ive only utilised 10% of the CDscapacity and the costs of
printing to suggest that the electronic medium for general research and support
at least is more cost effective and ticks more boxes (for forthcoming
inspection) than printing ever could.
Very useful when working with a VLE.
Ease of storage and cheapness are the main advantages of e-books in my area
of work (Basic Skills).
Another good resource, as good as printed but easier for students to copy
parts and take away. Does searching for you, which may not help in reading
skills, but speeds up research. More accessible than going to library, can be
accessed around college via network.
If an e-book was particularly suited to a curriculum area, then I would
certainly consider using and recommending it.
Often there are chapters rather than whole books, which are useful; often the
lecturer add-ons like lesson plans and tests look very useful.
If found useful, it is an area I will develop. It may save time with preparation
of lessons.
83
Could be better than text / reference books in being more widely available.
Easier to extract and print information from e-book. Students appear to like
using computers rather than books.
Very useful for staff and students. There is an issue with students printing
out lots and lots of irrelevant materials.
Reports often more up to date good because can just focus on parts you are
most interested in.
The FE lecturer responses demonstrate that, although e-books have achieved very low
exposure in FE colleges, on the whole where they are used they are adopted with at
least as much enthusiasm and innovation in teaching as in universities. The practical
problems associated with the introduction and widespread use of e-books in FE
colleges are clearly greater than in universities.
3.3 Complementary / Supplementary Support Materials for Print Books
That some publishers develop complementary or supplementary learning materials to
support print books has now been mentioned several times. Gold Leaf has carried out
two substantial pieces of research for two different publishing houses on academics
views on the forms that such materials should take. Although the detailed results of
this research are confidential, and belong to the two publishing houses concerned,
they have agreed to release some of the general conclusions of the research in order to
inform the current study. It will be seen that the types of material that the academics
interviewed for the publishing houses (more than one hundred in total, across a
variety of disciplines) were looking for match the types of use to which the more
innovative academics and lecturers interviewed for the current project are putting elearning materials. The types of support materials requested by academics for the
publisher-sponsored projects were:
Powerpoint presentations
Interactive learning materials
Short and long case studies
Cross-references to suitable (vetted and appraised) websites
Self-marking multiple choice questions
Video clips
Simulated real-life situations
Learning games
Data sets
Managed chat-rooms for learning projects95
One of the publisher projects was about developing appropriate support materials for
first year students; the other was about developing appropriate materials for third year
students and postgraduates. The findings are commercially sensitive, and cannot be
recorded in detail; but they do make it clear that different types of support materials
are required for students working at different levels (the one size does not fit all
theme again).
95
I am grateful to Hodder Arnold and Butterworth Heinemann respectively for allowing me to use this
information.
84
Some e-books are interactive (some of the Knovel collections, for example), but few
provide the range of support materials and links in the above wish-list. Many ebooks are, of course, straightforward PDFs of print texts.
Two important points emerge:
1. Representatives from three of the major stakeholders (publishers, librarians
and academics) have commented that e-books are in a state of transition. If
some of the features mentioned above were incorporated in a more wholesale
way, uptake of e-books across the potential user base might be much greater.
2. The very large publishing houses, who have already developed sophisticated
learning support materials to accompany print textbooks, might find
development of e-books more attractive than hitherto if they could link it with
further exploitation of these materials (but such an outcome is unlikely to be
cheap!)
3.4 Social and Cultural Issues

Social and cultural issues relating to the use of e-books have been raised many times,
both directly and indirectly, by the academic and lecturer respondents. As well as all
of the physical issues concerning the relative discomforts / strangeness of using ebooks, the learning/cultural issues are of great importance. A source of reference
which crystallises these issues may be obtained from the twelve academic case studies
which were written as part of the University of Atlantiss assessment of its
installation of Blackboard. Although the comments relate particularly to the
universitys pilot launch of Blackboard, all of the comments are also relevant to the
adoption and use of e-books, and of particular interest to librarians and academics
interested in the slice-and-dice options that are possible for MLEs and VLEs. Some
of the comments relate specifically to e-books. All are quoted verbatim from the case
studies:
Blackboard learning lacks all the visual cues of a face-to-face environment: for
example, the tutor cannot pick up on feedback, cannot emphasise points, and
cannot change the pace of a discussion.
For the student and for the tutor there can be a feeling of isolation.
It is necessary to get students using the site straight away, using it for assessment,
assignments and work for seminars: if students see the facility as an add-on, they
won't use it.
Staff need training and technical support, and they need to agree on how
Blackboard is to be used. For them, Blackboard is not necessarily timesaving, and
its use requires careful thought.
The technology must work first time: otherwise, the students lose interest.
For the student, there are other issues: it is not necessarily their preferred way of
learning. Have their tutors made it very clear whether it is embedded in their
course or is an optional add on? And do they have the access they need to
computers?
Blackboard enables easier access to more resources, particularly through its Web
Sites links and through pointers to particular books and chapters.
85
As far as the students are concerned, there has been very little feedback no real
criticism, but teenage indifference. I found some right up to the end who hadnt
been anywhere near it, despite them coming from faculties where I knew they
were on other modules that use Blackboard.
Book chapters. So for example Ive put draft chapters of my book as a backing to
the lectures I wanted feedback from students, and said I would cite them in the
book, but in fact only one commented. But they did use them. After all, I drew on
a very wide range of literatures it was one year full-time, drawing stuff together
for them.
It is essential to have someone sit down next to you at the point when you need
to do it, particularly in humanities where we are not computer confident, and
because where you are overstretched this seems initially to be an extra burden.
You need to demonstrate how very easy it is. [relates to colleague support]
[Lecturer 11] comments that when students are in the faculty, they might have to
fight to get on to a PC and not all can access at home. Moreover, some students
prefer other means of learning. He has had no direct student feedback, but for
example was approached by students in Year 1 requesting material to be posted
ahead of a lecture. He says I know that over 50 per cent are using it.96
Students attitudes to e-books represent perhaps the culmination of the research, eve
though it is clear at this stage that students opinions are not completely independent,
but based upon academics, lecturers, and to a certain extent, librarians,
recommendations. They are explored in the next section.
3.5 The Students
Students print book-buying behaviour has been discussed in Chapter Two. The
student book-buying study carried out by Gold Leaf also examined students use of
the Internet in this context, and found that although 97% of the students of this 2001
sample used the Internet and 57% looked up the prices of books online, only 6%
actually bought books online97. A very recently published survey of 750 students
commissioned by CAPP [ the Committee of Academic and Professional Publishers],
which is presented as a follow-up to another student book buying survey carried out in
2001, finds that student use of the Internet for the purposes of study has not increased
significantly during the past two years:
Students were asked to estimate how much time in an average week they spent accessing the
Internet for their courses, and the average time is 3 hours, though this varies from students
not using it at all (9% of the respondents) to those using it for up to 40 hours, with 7% using
it for at least 10 hours We would estimate that one in five students uses the Internet for at
least 1 hour a day, while one in three uses it for no more than 1 hour per week. These figures
are very similar to those obtained in 2001.
Internet usage is high among: new universities, Science and Technology students, Business
and Management students and Law students, though given the wide variety of courses
96
97
Atlantis may publish its report in due course.

Survey of Student Book Buying 2001 / 2002. Gold Leaf, 2002. p. 11.
86
involved in each grouping there is wide disparity of use within each demographic group.
Usage is higher among newer students, and also among non-book buyers.98
An educated guess that may be drawn from these findings is that overall, the student
populations use of e-books has not grown by a statistically significant amount over
the past two years, since if this were the case, the overall student Internet usage
figures would be higher. However, it may also be significant that subjects in which
the greatest Internet usage is recorded - Science and Technology, Business and
Management, and Law - are subjects which are relatively well represented in the ebook format. Finally, the fact that Internet usage is higher among newer students
almost certainly reflects the fact that access is easier for these students, because a
higher proportion of them occupies campus accommodation during the first year of
study. Although the CAPP study finds that only 7% of students have difficulty in
accessing the Internet, it does not further refine this question with enquiries about
daytime / evening or on-campus / off-campus access. It has not been within the scope
of the current study to carry out a comprehensive student survey on the model of the
CAPP surveys and the earlier Gold Leaf survey to provide the answers to such
questions: but anecdotal evidence recorded from the students interviewed suggests
that students off-campus access to the Internet is still limited. The implication to be
drawn from this is that second and third year students in particular are likely to find ebooks an inaccessible resource when they are working from their off-campus
accommodation.
The CAPP survey finds that students spend on average 133 per annum on books,
with the majority of the amount being spent on new and essential books99. This
represents an increase of 5 since 2001, i.e., it is broadly in line with book inflation.
It may therefore be concluded from this that student book buying behaviour has not
changed significantly over the past two years. Students who contributed to the CAPP
survey were not asked whether this figure included e-book purchases.
Some published and unpublished research into student attitudes to e-books was
discovered during the literature search for the current study, including unpublished
research supplied by librarians who have carried out their own surveys; some of it will
be referred to in Chapter 5. However, the detailed answers to the specific questions
addressed by the study could only be provided by carrying out extensive primary
research, and, as explained in Appendix One, for reasons of brevity the earlier work
has not been quoted as well. The panels were circulated with some of the earlier work,
and with the results of the new primary student research as they became available.
The primary student research consists of the following:
1. Analysis of responses to a questionnaire which was circulated to three groups
of students: a group of mature distance learning Business students based at the
University of the West of England; a group of first year students studying a
variety of subjects at the University of Middlemarch; and a group of newly
graduated Business students at the University of Huddersfield.
98
CAPP Student Survey: Student Information Sources and Book Buying Behaviour 2003. Prepared for
the Publishers Association by Book Marketing Limited, May 2003.
99
Op. cit., p. 21.
87
2. Two focus groups, conducted with the Middlemarch and Huddersfield

students.
3. A small group of six FE students based at a London college who also
responded to the questionnaire.
4. A focus group kindly conducted with ten health and midwifery students by
Leo Appleton of Edgehill College on behalf of the study.
5. A study undertaken by students at Strathclyde University, supervised by Dr.
Monica Landoni and using as its basis the questionnaires and structured
questions devised for this report, will be available shortly, and will be
incorporated into the final version of the report.
In order to get the maximum from the students responses to the questionnaires, an
attempt was made to categorise the students very carefully, by cohort and year where
possible, and by whether or not they were e-book users in the case of the distance
learners. Therefore, the questionnaires have been analysed in clusters, and not as an
entire set. However, a grid analysis of all the student questionnaire results is also
provided at the end of this section.
3.5.1 Group 1: UWE Postgraduate Management Students
This cohort of students was selected and approached by Elspeth Williams, the
Business Librarian at the University of the West of England, because they constitute a
group which has had special tuition in e-resources, including e-books, likely to help
them as distance-learning students, and because, as mature students, she thought that
they would be likely to be willing to help the project. They are all students who work
for the same big national company, engaged upon a part-time masters degree
specifically tailored to the requirements of the company. They attend UWE two days
per month; the rest of their work is carried out via distance learning techniques. They
are widely dispersed geographically: responses were received from Scotland, the
Midlands and the South-West. Sixteen responses were received. As far as could be
told from the e-mail addresses, they were predominantly from males.
UWE has a netLibrary collection which has been matched against reading lists, and
management books are well represented. It also has a number of database e-book
applications.
3.5.1i
Responses from the e-book Users

Eight students (exactly half the cohort) were e-books users
Of these, seven knew that the university had a stock of e-books
All of the eight had attended the library training session
Seven of them remembered that it had included information about e-books
Six said that they used web resources for studying and learning purposes
(therefore, two of them did not count e-books as a web resource).
Comments:
Particular instruction was given on remote access to library resources as
well as the normal on-site use of the system
There was a hands-on tutorial mentored by library staff
I use UWE Library Search and Google search engine for links
88
We were told about database resources for magazine articles and

academic journals articles
I use the web for coursework research using databases such as Science
Direct, Emerald
I attended a seminar at UWE where Im working
I use Emerald and Business Premier both very good
The library induction included a description of the material available and
where / how to access the materials; this was followed by each student
completing practical examples of using the electronic search engines etc.
within the library to find and access books, periodicals and e-versions
[sic]
Training session given with on-line demonstration.
3.5.1i. a) Types of work for which e-books were used

One of them used e-books to prepare for seminars and lectures
None used e-books to prepare for examinations
Six of them used e-books to prepare essays and coursework
Two used e-books to consult tables and formulae
Five used them for general reference purposes.
3.5.1i. b) How e-books were obtained
Seven said they obtained e-books from the university library
Four obtained them from other libraries as well
One obtained them from publishers
None obtained them from booksellers
Three obtained them free from the Internet.
3.5.1i. c) Functions of e-books which were used and appreciated
Six had used e-books for straightforward reading or browsing of complete
books, and of these two said that they had found it helpful
Four had used e-books for straightforward reading or browsing of discrete
chapters, and of these one said that it was helpful
Six had used e-books to carry out keyword searches, and of these two said that
it was helpful
One had used the highlight function
None had used the bookmark or annotate functions
Five had used the download facility to download part of the book, and of these
one said that it was helpful
One had used the download facility to download the whole book
Four had used the facility which enabled them to print out part of the book,
and of these one said that it was helpful.
3.5.1i. d) Technical problems experienced
One had experienced problems with e-books:
The website kept telling me there were no e-books.
89
3.5.1i. e) Estimates of future use of e-books

Seven thought that their use of e-books would increase in the future; one
thought that it would decrease
Six thought that they would buy the e-book in preference to the print book if
the e-book were cheaper; one would buy the print book; one did not reply to
the question.
3.5.1i. f) Other comments from this sub-group:
I found it quite difficult to use and had problems with the appropriate
search criteria
As I am involved in a course which requires me to attend UWE for two
days a month and study at home (Glasgow) the rest of the month, I find the
web resources very useful
A very useful studying tool, particularly for distance learners like myself
Quick and easy access to information without having to visit library
facility
What are e-books exactly? Im not being funny. E-books is a term I
have never heard I was last at college in 1988. [this from someone who
describes himself as a user elsewhere] .. even not knowing what they are,
I guess paper will at some time have had its day . Its possible that I
am using them but just not aware . Id be happy to summarise my
views if given a definition. Is a journal article in PDF format an e-book?
As a part-time remote student e-books are invaluable for general reading
and gathering information to complement the course and preparing
assignment material. More please
For distance learning students, the facility to access e-books is invaluable.
Unfortunately, they are not as available as I would have liked at the
moment
I have limited use and knowledge to date but have so far found e-books a
fast effective way to access information.
3.5.1ii Responses from the e-book non-users
Eight of the cohort did not use e-books

Of these, four knew that the library had a stock of e-books
Seven of the eight said that they had attended the library training
session [which, from the information provided by the librarian,
corroborated by the half of the cohort who remembered, did include an
e-books briefing]
Of these, one remembered that it had included information about ebooks
Six of the eight said that they used web resources for studying and
learning purpose
3.5.1ii. a) Comments:
I used a number of websites for an assignment on Workplace
Bullying
I intend to log on to the library resources and use the internet,
although I havent started this yet
90
I use Emerald and other search sites for finding papers [Note: one of
the respondents in the first group counted Emerald as an e-book
resource]
Databases and professional body websites
Not yet but may soon.
One was not currently using e-books because he had not considered
them
Three were not aware of what was available in their subject
Two thought that e-books offered no advantages over print
One thought that he would experience access problems.
3.5.1ii. b) Functions of e-books which were used and appreciated: non-user

group
Interestingly, this group was more interested in the possible features
offered by e-books than the user group:
Four thought that straightforward reading or browsing of the whole
book would be helpful
Five thought that straightforward reading or browsing of discrete
chapters would be helpful
Three thought that a keyword search would be useful
One thought that a highlight function would be useful
One thought that a bookmark function would be useful
Two thought that an annotate function would be useful
Four thought that being able to download part of the book would be
useful
Three thought that being able to download the whole book would
be useful
Four thought that the being able to print out part of the book would
be useful.
3.5.1ii. c) How e-books would be likely to be obtained: non-user group
Five said that if they did use e-books, they would be likely to obtain
them from the university library
Two would be likely to obtain them from other libraries
Two would be likely to obtain them from booksellers
Three would be likely to obtain them free from the Internet.
3.5.1ii. d) Estimates of future use of e-books
Seven thought that their use of e-books would increase in the future;
one thought it would stay the same
Six thought that they would buy an e-book in preference to a print
book if the e-book were cheaper; one would not buy the e-book; one
did not answer the question.
3.5.1ii. e) Comment from this sub-group:
I think e-books will become more available and used more widely in
all areas of work and pleasure.
91
Note: of the whole cohort of sixteen students, therefore, fourteen thought that
their use of e-books would increase in the future, and twelve would buy the ebook rather than the print book if the e-book were cheaper
Other comments from this sub-group:
Ive not had much opportunity to use these, although why not? I use
electronic versions of periodicals
I prefer to read from paper copies (where text length is substantial)
and electronic media would just be a means of transporting
information
Most of the assignments were based on reading hard copy books from
the library. This appeared to be the easiest method of obtaining
information. Some journals were used in some subjects in e-book
format. The remote access was not always reliable and not clearly
explained. Passwords didnt appear to work always and this made it
difficult. Thus I avoided this method
Using e-books as a resource for studying would be useful, however if
it was something I was likely to use a lot or want to keep then I would
wish to have it in print format. As with borrowing a book from a
library or finding a paper on the internet, this is not a resource that I
would want to pay for even if significantly cheaper due to the short
term probably one off use
A great study aid, but no more than that.
3.5.2 Group 2: First year undergraduates at the University of Middlemarch
This group was studying a variety of subjects (Computing, Modern Languages,
Biochemistry, Media, English, English and Creative Writing, History). The students,
who on the whole were unfamiliar with e-books, were asked to examine at least one ebook from the librarys collection in detail before responding to the questionnaire and
taking part in the focus group.
Note: as for the academics responses, the University of Middlemarch has not been
identified, because of the generally poor opinion that both the students and academics
who participated in the survey have of its library service. The library declined to
answer the HEI questionnaire for librarians, even though it was particularly requested
to do so, and was informed that Middlemarch students and academics were
participating. It subscribes to netLibrary, and has 137 books from this source, which
it advertises on the library website, but has not added to the catalogue. In fairness to
Middlemarch, it only acquired the netLibrary collection in January, after the main
library induction sessions of the year had taken place.
Seven students took part in the survey: four were male, and three female. One of the
male students participated in the focus group but did not answer the questionnaire.
The students who participated in this survey have not been divided into users and
non-users, partly because the group was small, and partly because the whole group
participated in the focus group.
92
3.5.2i Middlemarch students: use of e-books: use of web resources

Two of the students had used e-books before they participated in the survey.
Of these, only one [Computing, F] knew that the library had an e-books
collection. She had found out about it with the help of the subject librarian.
The other had stumbled across an e-book by accident not one from the
library collection
Five of them had attended the librarys induction session. They agreed that it
contained no information about e-books
All used web resources for studying and learning purposes.
3.5.2ii Comments:
I did use electronic resources for my essay, but I find they are quite often not
what I really want, i.e., they are not as helpful as they are supposed to be.
Computing, F
I use the German Studies Web Board. Languages, F
I use the web for searching educational websites for research and the
collection of information on specific subjects related to my course
Biochemistry, M
Websites, the library online database, online encyclopaedias Media, F
Searching for information regarding my course, e.g., poetry commentaries
English, M
Internet research for essays, secondary criticism, etc., also online dictionaries,
thesaurus and encyclopaedias English / Creative Writing, M.
3.5.2iii Types of work for which e-books were used or were thought likely to be
used; how they would be obtained; technical problems; reasons for not using,
opinions of future use of e-books and likelihood of buying in preference to print
if cheaper
The Computing student used e-books to aid the preparation of essays and
coursework
All except the Languages student thought that they would be most likely to
obtain books via the university library. The Languages student thought she
would be most likely to obtain them from a bookshop
The Media and English students would also be likely to try to find them free
on the Internet
All said that they thought that their use of e-books would increase in the future
Two had experienced technical problems with e-books
Four were not using e-books because, generally, they had not considered
them; three did not know what was available in their subject; one considered
that e-books held no advantages over print; one thought that she would
experience access problems; one thought that access would not be certain
enough at exam times
Three would buy the e-book in preference to the print book if the e-book were
cheaper. The other three were clear that they would not.
3.5.2iii. a) Comments: Technical Problems
If I didnt make a note of the name of the book (article), sometimes I cannot
find it when I want to re-access it Computing, F
93
When accessing via the university network, the contents page could not be
displayed. Biochemistry, M
3.5.2iii. b) Comments: Other problems

Headaches from looking at a computer screen for extended periods. Media,
F
3.5.2iii. c) Comments: Will use of e-books increase in the future?
The real books are getting more and more expensive and the speed of
updating is not as fast as e-books Computing, F [Observation unfortunately
not always correct]
I think it would be sad if e-books became more popular than ordinary books
Modern Languages, F
If a wider variety of e-books became available to the university with maybe
100+ per subject group and their awareness is increased, the use of e-books
could in my opinion become a compulsory part of higher education
Biochemistry, M
It is a question of availability compared with the actual library equivalent
English, M
If appropriate books are available from the university large choice would be
needed; much bigger choice English / Creative Writing, M
Im not convinced that its substantially better than text unless I should be
unlucky enough not to find an appropriate title. English / Creative
Writing, M
3.5.2iii. d) Summary comments from this group
E-books are convenient and up-to-date; probably they are cheaper as well.
However, the feeling of a printed book is still something that I preferred, you
can underline and book mark the things important as you like and its
generally healthier. I think I have suffered a lot from radiation of the
computer screen Computing, F
I have never used them and think that given the choice I would go to a library
and use ordinary books Modern Languages, F
They seem to have a large potential for educational purposes. Maybe the
inclusion of web only features that a normal book could not display such as
animations would further enhance the e-book range. Downsides seem to be
that there is no physical proof of the book, i.e., it is not on your shelf and that
might put people off, and that there seems to be little awareness of the
existence of e-books Biochemistry, M
Saving on photocopying, and would be useful as key books are often in
demand among people on the course. There is also a good range of titles,
which I was unaware of before Media, F [Elsewhere, it has been pointed out
that saving on photocopying is cancelled out by extra printing out costs]
Considerably better compared with the actual text equivalents, space saving,
money saving, encourages study English, M
I am mainly interested because presumably e-books would be available
where printed books would not be, maybe out of the library due to high
demand. Many of the features named and demonstrated appear to be useful,
both those which offer services similar to those possible in print: annotations,
94
highlighting, etc., and some such as finding keywords would give the e-book
an advantage. The problem for me is that it is slower and more uncomfortable
to read on a computer screen, and I much prefer to flick through a solid book.
Perhaps its simply the distrust of technology, but practically, if I had to read
large quantities of text, I would certainly not choose to read it on a computer
screen. English / Creative Writing, M
3.5.3 Group Three: Six newly graduated third year Business students at
Huddersfield University.
Note: these students took part in the focus group arranged for the study immediately
after completing the questionnaires. Therefore, their questionnaires do not contain
many comments. Five were male and one was female. One (male) student was
disabled. He was an extensive e-book user. All of these students were bright and
committed; most had just been awarded 2/1s.
3.5.3i Summary of Huddersfield students questionnaire responses
Three of the students knew that the library had a stock of e-books
Five of the six had attended library induction session. Three of them
remembered that these sessions had included information about e-books [this
tallies with the UWE response; each shows the interesting phenomenon of
bright, committed students not taking in all the information that they are
given]
All six used web resources for studying and learning purposes. Three said
they used them for journals, two said they used them for general web searches,
one said they used them for statistical information, one [F] said that she used
the Blackboard system
Two [both M] had used e-books for their work. Both said that they had used
e-books to aid the preparation of essays and coursework
None had experienced technical problems with e-books [but with the
exception of the male disabled student, their use and knowledge of e-books
was minimal]
Four thought their use of e-books would increase; two thought it would stay
the same [i.e., nil in both cases]
Two were not using e-books because they had not considered them; one
considered that they held no advantages over print; one was not aware of what
was available in his subject
All six said that they would buy the e-book in preference to the print book if
the e-book were cheaper.
3.5.3ii Comments from this group:

I have completed my degree, so there is no need for me to use e-books
I have never to my knowledge used an e-book I dont really know what
they are or where to find them
In the past I have only used one e-book and I came across it by chance in the
university library. It was very helpful
95
I would use if given enough information to make it easy to use and if access
was easy and without problems
More information on their use needs to be given to newer students
I have found them extremely useful as I can download the book onto my
laptop and use it wherever I go. [response from disabled student]
3.5.4 The focus groups

The entire transcripts from the focus groups are not given, as they would take up too
much space. The comments recorded below have been selected because they
introduce new aspects, or provide extra depth to aspects already recorded in the
questionnaire responses. The three focus group facilitators were given a framework
set of ten questions to use to foster the debate; again, for reasons of space, these have
not been included100.
3.5.4i Middlemarch focus group: extra information
Dont like to sit with an e-book; would rather relax with a print copy.
They seem to benefit science, rather than arts, students All
A browsing thing not for reading a full book. I wouldnt want to buy one.
I have concerns about the potential failings, usability and cost of technology; I
know where I am with a print book!The quality of info. available from the Net
can be unreliable English Literature [M]
I tend to be pro-technology; although I undoubtedly feel that I absorb a print
textbook, just by relaxing and reading it, and I couldnt do the same with a
screen, the Internet has proved to be a phenomenal resource for my subject
(but I take the point about being careful with sources from it). I see great
potential for e-books to be as, or more, useful: for sourcing out-of-print titles
and original documents, for example. If these were available, life would be a
lot easier, and less expensive; I could obtain an essential book for one of my
essays, this year, only from an antiquarian bookseller in Holland! History [M]
There is the issue of portability; I have a laptop, but wouldnt pay for a
handheld reader, and most people find desktop PC-based use restrictive. For
me, this condemns e-books to be a technology of the future, when the
hardware is affordable!
The index system was very helpful; the link took me straight to the
information I wanted.
If a higher degree of animation, e.g. sound bytes, demo. video clips or
3D illustrations, was built-in, e-books would eclipse print textbooks in my
subject, despite technological restrictions. Such facilities are sometimes
supplied on optional CD-ROMs with print books, but they are prohibitively
expensive for something that goes out of date every year, and, obviously,
dont fit in with the text Biological Science [M]
The library should always provide support for course work; the student
shouldnt have to pay All
100
Transcripts of the entire focus groups are available from Gold Leaf and will be supplied upon
request.
96
It seems reasonable that additional student research (e.g. extended material for
essays, beyond the core texts) could be self-funded; its only like buying the
odd useful book, which we do already (and its cheaper!) History [M]
I would use one, for set texts. It could work in parallel with the computer
whilst reading the e-book, I could carry out the exercises in it, on the PC
Computer Science [F]
[on hand-held readers]Basically, prohibitively expensive at present All
[on off-campus access] Especially from outside campus, its a pain to have to
go to the library, so remote access is a serious advantage All
[on reservations about off-campus access, especially Internet accessibility] ebooks tend to be fairly small, and so are easy to download, even without a
broadband connection. Surely its possible to do part-downloads? Besides,
its not up to much if you cant even agree on when you access the Internet,
with people youve decided to live with for a year!
As regards overseas students, surely they could download at uni. and take
home with them? No more difficult than over-holiday print book loans; in
fact, easier, as theyre much more portable History [M]
Web access would be popular if you couldnt get hold of a print book; the
library reservation system is unreliable, because some users just disregard it.
All
What I find stupid is that anyone should turn back to paper [discussion on
practice of library of printing out e-books and holding in short-term loan
collections] what was previously electronic. The common-sense solution
would be to set up web areas, by subject, where the recommended short-loan
extracts (in my experience, of chapter length), could be uploaded for unlimited
access. It would prevent the eager, start of first-year rush to clear out the
library, and be economic, and environmentally-friendly (which is always
politically astute in institutions, although that triumph would perhaps be sadly
lessened by what the library would lose in photocopying charges). History
[M]
3.5.4i. a) Opinions on print books accompanied by electronic materials

A combination of both worlds must be best. Wed prefer print books, with
electronic supplements, but it would depend on subject All
Any supplements must integrate well with the book. For example, the
textbook Biochemistry (W. H. Freeman) has website updates available, which
are currently less well-designed than the original book. Diagrams are not
reproduced / updated in line with the content. This needs working on its
important, because these elements are crucial to essays. Biological Science
[M]
3.5.4i. b) On part books and slice-and-dice
Its preferable to have access to the whole book, in whatever format, even if it
costs Computer Science [F]
Weve found that lecturers are not infallible good material can be found
within a few pages of their recommended sections. Its worth looking at the
whole book. Biological Science [M] / Film and Literature Studies [F]
97
3.5.4i. c) On how e-books should be promoted to students

Any offers circulated by email are just not subject-specific enough, and are
regarded as offensive junk mail All
No-one at the university seems to know about e-books Biological Science [M]
[In fact the three Middlemarch academics interviewed were all conversant
with e-books and used them for their own work]
I would prefer communications to come from the library (although we receive
nothing at the moment), rather than from the publisher or bookseller. Above
all, I want advertising to be non-intrusive; I would support poster marketing
from the bookshop, for example English Literature [M]
There is a distinct lack of communication from the Library. E-books were
posted on the website earlier in the year, but nobody seems to have been
informed. I first became aware of the collection when I looked for my e-book
for this project, and was annoyed to find a core module text from my course.
If I had known about this sooner, it would have been very useful for exam
revision. As it was, I was unable to get hold of a print copy, as the library
never has enough stock of even the core History texts (ask any first-year
History student here!) History [M].
3.5.4ii Huddersfield focus group: extra information
The Huddersfield focus group began with e-book demonstrations on Books24x7,
NetLibrary and Oxford Reference Online, which were given by Jane Kaye, Computer
and Sciences Librarian, and David Worboys, Business Librarian.
Six students attended. They have been identified by letters of the alphabet, as all were
newly graduated Business students. Five were male, one female (Student C). One
was disabled (Student A).
Student D asked if the wordsearch replaced an index in the book. DW replied

that a wordsearch was more powerful than an index, because it allowed the
user to search across texts. None of the students except Student A had realised
this.
JK explained that Books24x7 has long pages i.e., unlike with NetLibrary,
they dont follow the actual book pages. She said that printer-friendly formats
were available. She said that she had chosen to subscribe to it because the
collection was continually updated and revised difficult for librarians to do
with computing texts.
Students A, B and D all wanted to know how references could be cited when the
books did not keep to the printed page. JK said that it would only be possible to
use the chapter reference, or the web-page link. The students felt that this
therefore made it a more useful as a tool for finding our information than as a
reference work for writing essays. [DW said that this was why NetLibrary
advertised the true page as a good feature: but the drawback of that is that the
user then has to click on every page; scrolling is faster.]
The students had a hands-on session to explore some e-books for

themselves, during which their spontaneous comments were recorded.
98
Three of them liked ORO best of the three types of e-book they had been
shown. One liked 24x7 best he liked the layout. Student C would not
have chosen to look at an e-book even if the library had no copies of the
print book she felt that she would have preferred to wait for the print
book to be returned. She found it much more difficult to read the e-text.
Students A and D said that they had used CDROMs although they had not
used e-books, and would use e-books similarly if they were in a rush
for the search facility. They would be useful for writing essays when you
were in a hurry. However, they would not want to rely on e-books for
revision (there was consensus on this from all except Student A).
None had had lecturer recommendations for e-books. The only e-learning
materials that they had been recommended by lecturers were Business
Source Premier, and journals.
Student A had used e-books extensively for several essays and projects
that he had been working on. He had bought several e-books himself,
from Amazon. He did not find it difficult to work straight off the screen.
Although he had bought his own e-books, most of the ones that he had
used came from the library. However, he had only used the netLibrary
titles, and felt that, to be fully effective, the collection should include more
of the titles on his reading list. [Huddersfield has matched netLibrary titles
to reading lists where possible, so the implication is that the books he was
looking for are not currently available from netLibrary.] He thought that
books24x7 looked very interesting, but was concerned about the
referencing issue he said that a protocol for the referencing would need
to be agreed with his tutor. He proposed to write to books24x7 to ask what
they suggested.
Student B said that he thought that the speed of reference offered by ebooks was an advantage. However, he could not envisage just using ebooks. He pointed out that not everyone has a computer at home, and even
fewer students have Internet access of the house of 20 students in which
he had spent his final year, only two had Internet access. Therefore, in
order to use e-books, he would have had to walk back to the university in
the evenings. Even those who could afford Internet access had difficulties
setting up and stopping ISP accounts in temporary accommodation.
Student C thought that Books are easier. You know that all the
information is there and you know how to find it and use it. Also, the idea
of having to print parts out puts me off. I already spend a fortune printing
out lecturers course notes.
Student C said that she would always prefer to buy print books she
would not want to buy e-books. She liked having a row of books on her
shelf. It reassures me and makes me look clever.
When asked if they would be interested in buying or having access to
chapters as opposed to whole books, the students responded as follows:
Student C: I would not be interested in reading a chapter out of context.

Student D: This would be useful for lazy students who just want to get
through!
Student B: You may not understand the chapter out of context.
99
Student D: I can see that you might like to read one chapter of an alternative
text, to get a different perspective from the textbook.
Student A said that he hoped that publishers would offer more books in eformat as use of the web for learning became more popular.
Student F said that students will always buy textbooks: the library will never
be adequate for all their needs.
When asked if they had ever been approached by lecturers, publishers or
booksellers advertising or recommending e-books, all of the students agreed
that they had not.
The students then went on to discuss their preferred methods of revision.
Student C said that she liked to listen to lecture notes to help her revise she
would make tapes of her own and play them back. Students B and F also did
this.
Student C: If there were a reading out loud option on an e-book, I would use
it then.
Student A confirmed that it was possible to get the software to do this.
Three of the students were very enthusiastic about this idea: they thought it
was a very effective way of learning. Student D had sat up all night listening
to the same management CDROM over and over again. The advantages were
that repetition helped learning, it was easy on the eyes, and you could make
notes while you were listening.
Student C said that it was especially good for short-sighted and dyslexic
people.
You can get talking books: but they are the more pop management ones
usually.
After the session was formally drawn to a close, Student A (Ashley) stayed behind
to explain that e-books had been essential to his work, because he was unable to carry
anything of significant weight. He offered to help further with the project, and
subsequently contributed Case Study No.17.
3.5.4iii The Edgehill focus group: extra information
This focus group produced some particularly interesting information on the attitude of
distance learners to technology and who should supply it.
Ten midwifery students attended, and all had been trained in using e-books some
weeks earlier as part of the evidence based information retrieval module they had
studies. Leo Appleton, who ran the focus group, had designed and delivered the ebooks training and was confident that all ten students had attended and used e-books
as part of the module he had been involved in teaching.
3.5.4iii. a) Perceived advantages and disadvantages of e-books
As busy student midwives, with demanding college and domestic
responsibilities, home access to e-books is very much an advantage.
Having a specific and limited collection of e-books allows a more focused
search and you are less likely to retrieve irrelevant material.
They allow you to view books at home before deciding that you want to read
the full printed version.
A useful resource with a lot of potential.
100
Far more time consuming than using printed books.

Prefer to be able to scan read printed books. netLibrary doesnt allow you to
do this. I find the content far more difficult to manage.
Because only one user can access an e-book, we have limited access.
I find netLibrary very hard to navigate.
The limited number of titles in the netLibrary collection provides us with a
limited number of hits.
The search facilities often lead to irrelevant information. Would be able to
use similar search strategies as databases or electronic journals.
3.5.4iii. b) Attitudes to paying for printing out and downloading

Its not fair to charge students for resources. If libraries are going to promote
e-books, they should make them available. If there is a charge then they
shouldnt make them available.
There shouldnt be any charges for accessing information.
I wouldnt mind paying if it was a reasonable charge, but it would be too
expensive for students for large sections of text.
Students would have to make a decision about which was most cost effective
at home staying online or printing off the information! [many did not use
ISPs, so were paying for Internet access via their telephone bills]
3.5.4iii. c) Attitudes to hand-held readers and use of computers at home:
Leos summary
All the students agreed that in theory hand held readers containing lots of
recommended textbooks were a great idea. All said that they would use them if
they were made available by the college or the library to help them with their
studies. All thought that it was absurd that they should be expected to pay for their
own hand held readers (in the same way they thought that they shouldnt be
expected to pay for information). This is indicative of students financial
situations, but interestingly one student commented:Im going on holiday for two
weeks for the same price as that!
The overall feeling is that students dont regard information resources as
something that they should be expected to pay for. They dont mind outlaying
their finances on foreign holidays, but wouldnt think about buying e-books with
the same money. Interestingly nine out of ten of the student midwives had PCs in
their own homes, but obviously didnt regard them as investments in access to
academic information resources.
Sharing one PC at home with the rest of my family means that I only
have limited time to use information resources. Have found myself giving
up on netLibrary as it is sometimes very slow to download pages!
Sometimes netLibrary is very slow on my PC at home.
3.5.4iii. d) Features students would like to see in e-books

There should be more illustrative material in netLibrary books,
particularly in health, nursing and midwifery titles.
I would like to see more pictures and diagrams.
Interactive 3-D anatomy pictures would be very useful in midwifery.
101
E-books could include video clips of clinical procedures.

I would like to be able to search the e-books in the same way I can with
e-journals, and still get relevant and specific results.
We would all like to be able to access the same e-books at the same
time.
3.5.4iii. e) On slice-and-dice
Having all our key readings in one place would be useful.
It would cut down on all the paper we have to carry around.
It is useful having print copies of all our recommended set readings,
especially when you need to spread them all out and refer to particular
chapters, paragraphs, sentences, and refer to notes you have made in the
margin. You need to spread all your readings out over a big table. I would
probably still print them all out from WebCT, because I dont think that
you get the same learning environment from electronic texts.
3.5.4. f) Who should promote e-books?

Library support staff should do all the training, and promote use of the ebooks.
Training on e-books should be early on in the academic programme, so
students can use them through out their studies.
Tutors and academic staff should do a lot more to promote e-books within
their reading lists. They expect us to use all these electronic resources, but
they dont seem to know about whats available themselves.
We would probably use more e-books if the tutors told them to read them.
Instead they just photocopy what they want us to read and hand them out.
3.6 Quantitative summary of all student questionnaire responses
For reasons given earlier, it was considered more useful to present the findings
from the different student groups separately. However, a quantitative
summary of the questionnaire responses is given below. It indicates both
lower awareness and lower use of e-books than for academics or lecturers.
102
Table 6: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: Student Analysis No. 1: summary of

responses from all students who answered the questionnaire
No. of respondents, from three universities
28
100%
Aware of universitys e-book collection
15
54%
Attended library training session which explained library resources 24
88%
Remembered that training session included e-books (of 24)
14
58%
Use web resources for studying and learning
24
88%
Use e-books
11
39%
Use e-books to prepare for lectures and seminars
Use e-books to prepare for examinations
Use e-books to aid preparation of essays and coursework
1
0
9
2
5
0
3%
0%
32%
7%
18%
0%
Obtain or likely to obtain e-books from university library

21
7
3
3
5
75%
25%
11%
11%
18%
3.7 FE Students
The six questionnaires (although gratefully received) from FE students attending a
London college represented too small a sample to be of significance, particularly as
only three of the students realised that their college held a (quite extensive) e-books
collection, and none appeared to be using it to any extent. However, it is worth
recording that three of the students made the same comment: E-books should be
better publicised.
3.8 Remaining stakeholders: issues
For the purposes of this study, issues relating to the remaining stakeholders are
addressed in less detail. However, the following points relating to them are relevant
to addressing questions of both barriers to uptake and the successful promotion of ebooks.
3.8i Hardware and software suppliers
The greatest single barrier to uptake with regard to hardware and software is the lack
of a common platform for e-books. The Open E-Book Forum is trying to address
this.101
3.8ii Systems suppliers
101
A very useful repository of information on e-books from the Open E-Book Forum may be found at
http://www.openebook.org/doc_library.htm
103
Aside from systems failure or breakdown, which has been raised as an issue by
librarians, academics, lecturers and students, the main technological issue enabling or
hindering maximum use of e-books relates to links between the library and other
systems. In the words of a librarian who is part of a newly formed JISC group set up
to investigate this aspect of e-book promotion:
In general the technology issue underpinning use of e-books seems to be whether you have
static or dynamic linking between e-books and library and related systems (e.g., VLEs, etc.)
There is a long way to go in the development of e-books before the solution becomes clear.
It is appropriate therefore for JISC to start talking to library systems suppliers.102
During the course of the research, several instances have been found of systems
suppliers not keeping up with developments needed to support e-book initiatives. An
experiment being conducted with handheld readers by two public library authorities in
the Midlands, and the Scottish e-book consortium project already mentioned, have
both been delayed because of lack of support from systems suppliers.
3.8iii Influencing groups
Influencing groups, particularly cross-industry bodies such as PALS and JISC itself,
have carried out useful work to promote both e-books and wider electronic learning
applications. Cross-industry bodies are especially influential, because they help to
mitigate the friction that inevitably arises from the conflicting interests of different
professional and commercial organisations.
3.8iv Media
Although the trade and educational media frequently run features on e-books103, and
there are special websites devoted both to electronic publishing issues104 and
exclusively to e-books105, it has already been mentioned that specific e-books are not
usually reviewed in the learned journals read by academics and lecturers; also, they
are rarely reviewed in publications aimed at librarians.
Promoting the Uptake of E-Books in Further and Higher Education: summary of
the key issues as they relate to the three main user groups (from Chapter Three
findings)
Academics /
Students
Issue
Librarians
Lecturers
1. General
Issues
102
I am indebted to this comment, and for other information about this development, to Sarah Gerrard,
of Royal Holloway College.
103
For example, seventeen lengthy articles on e-books have been published in The Bookseller over the
past three years, and may be accessed from http://www.bookseller.com.
104
e.g.http://news@rightscom.com.
105
e.g.,http:/ elpub-subscribe@ketlux.demon.co.uk; http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html.
104
Awareness
Lack of
knowledge
Lack of demand
Too timeconsuming to
investigate /
evaluate
Training /
Information
dissemination
Concerned about user

awareness, despite
promotional efforts
Not themselves aware
of all products/
models, due to
fragmentation /
complexity of market
E-book issues are
modest: obviously,
directly linked to
awareness / knowledge
issues
Understanding the
various models
available, pricing
issues and assessing
value for money, as
well as promoting, all
very time consuming
Who trains the
trainers? How can
librarians ensure that
everyone working in
the library understands
and can demonstrate ebooks? Who else in
the supply chain can
effectively aid
information
dissemination besides
librarians?
Small percentage of
this population aware
of e-books
Often not aware of
what is available, and
/ or frustrated because
they dont know how
to find out
Concern expressed
about students
response to e-learning
materials generally:
although some
positive feedback,
many students appear
to be antipathetic /
indifferent.
Information channels
both to academics
and from them to
students - imperfect
Many say they have
no time to explore in
detail
A range of e-book
information and
support is available
from the library, as
well as from suppliers.
How can academics
best be reached with
it? What is their
dissemination role,
how can it be most
effectively achieved,
and should it include a
feedback mechanism?
2.
Technological
Issues
105
Small percentage of
this population aware
of e-books
Hit-and-miss: stumble
upon e-books rather
than exploring them
in organised /
systematic way
Students interviewed
on the whole positive
about using the
Internet for learning
purposes, but
information channels
clearly imperfect.
From research
findings, little
dialogue between
students and
academics about ebooks
Do have time to
explore: evaluation is
an issue.
Unsupervised, they
may find
inappropriate or
substandard material
A range of e-book
information and
support is available
from the library, as
well as from suppliers
and academics. How
can students best be
reached with it? Do
they have a
dissemination role
(among peers,
academics) and
should it include a
feedback mechanism?
Technophobia
Perceived to be an
issue for some
academics and
lecturers; students to a
lesser extent
Access to Internet
Strong perception that

this is a problem for
students off-campus
Access to PCs
Some libraries /
institutions, especially
FE colleges, do not
have adequate PC
facilities
Off-campus
access to
librarys e-books
collection
Perception is that
access system usually
works if the student is
in the UK
Length of issue
time
Usually determined by
library; often matches
short-term loan issue
times
Lack of
appropriate I.T.
skills
Librarians cite first

hand knowledge of
difficulties of minority
of students.
Academics and
lecturers more of an
unknown to librarians
FE librarians cite
evidence that lecturers
often not
technologically literate
Perceived to be an
issue for some
colleagues; and for
some students,
especially mature
students (who are
often distance
learners)
Not usually a problem
for academics/
lecturers. Strong
perception that this is
a problem for students
off-campus
Not usually a problem
for academics/
lecturers. Perception
that this is a problem
for students,
especially in FE, and
that assumption that
all have PCs would
disadvantage those
who dont
Some difficulties
cited, but on the whole
seems to work.
Getting and using
passwords can be
fiddly and annoying
May be controversial
academics dont like
use of short-term loan
model
Not enough evidence

on this from
respondents who
tended to be interested
in I.T. Some evidence
from academics and
lecturers on student
dislike of I.T.
applications
106
Perceived to be more
of a problem with
academics / lecturers
than for themselves
Confirmation that this

is a problem for
students off-campus
Problem for FE
students and some
HEI distance / p/t
learners. Less
common problem for
HEI f/t students
Some difficulties
cited, but on the
whole seems to work.
Internet access much
more significant
problem
May be controversial
but preferable to the
print book fines
system in which timepressed students will
pay the fine and keep
longer, thus
disadvantaging others
All of the student
respondents
interviewed had
sufficient I.T. skills to
be able to use ebooks, whether they
were using them or
not
Systems failure
E-book Readers
Hand-held
readers
3. Supplier /
Distribution
Issues
Availability
Bundling of
texts
Systems breakdown at
HEI libraries,
particularly at busy
times of year (several
examples given)
Understanding
different versions
makes purchase
complicated
Some experiments:
good reports
Given as a reason for

not encouraging
students to rely too
heavily on electronic
learning materials
Understanding
different versions
makes purchase
complicated
Some very innovative
and successful
teaching with these
documented (usually,
institution has bought
readers)
Given as a reason for

not wishing to rely on
e-books, particularly
for revision
Availability of the
right texts, especially
reading list material
Often dislike, unless
there is a particular
reason for buying a
whole collection
Availability of the
Not an issue: more
concerned with
finding enough
appropriate material in
e-book format
When purchasing for
personal use, expect ebook to be cheaper,
and unlikely to buy
unless it is. Some
academics are
involved in allocating
money to library
acquisitions: some
librarians report that it
can be tough getting
them to accept e-book
costs
Find exasperating, and
against the spirit and
the functionality of the
e-book
Of concern if
academics monitor
library expenditure on
their subject. If
several subjects
involved, who pays
for what can be an
issue
Availability of the
Not an issue: more
concerned with
finding enough
appropriate material
in e-book format
When purchasing for
personal use, expect
e-book to be cheaper,
and unlikely to buy
unless it is
Cost
Different library
models complicated
and make it difficult to
assess value for
money. General
perception that e-books
are expensive
One book, one

user model
Find exasperating
Licensing model
based on FTEs
If liked depends on the

size of the institution
and whether all FTEs
included / just those
studying relevant
subjects. Extension of
HEI licence to FE
college partners may
be ungenerous or
prohibitively costly
Considered poor, often
Quality of usage
Of concern if
107
Understanding
different versions
makes purchase
complicated
Think theyre a great
idea, but unaffordable
Find exasperating,
and against the spirit
and the functionality
of the e-book
statistics
Currency: latest
version not
always available
in e-book
irregular, insufficiently
tabulated / descriptive
to be of use
Unlikely to buy if
aware of this
Archiving issues
Major concern for

librarians
Supplier solvency
Concerned about a)
losing investment b)
material becoming
unavailable
Ability to print
out / download
sections of ebook
4. Cataloguing
Issues
Put on catalogue
E-books of limited use

unless this is allowed
Dont put on
catalogue
Advertise
collections on
library homepage
Supplier records
In case e-books dont

catch on
Do this to attract firstclick attention
5. Physical
aspects
Reading from
screen is tiring /
disorientating
Not as enjoyable
as real books
May have OPAC

difficulties
May not be quite up to

librarys standard
academics monitor
library expenditure on
their subject
Likely to be annoyed
if purchase of out-ofdate edition has
inadvertently been
made
Concerned about ebooks becoming
unavailable when
students halfway
through; may be
concerned re. research
Concerned about ebooks becoming
unavailable when
students halfway
through
E-books of limited use
unless this is allowed
Likely to be annoyed
if criticised for citing
out-of-date version
Not asked to consider

this issue; but would
presumably agree
with academics
Not asked to consider

this issue; but would
presumably agree
with academics
E-books of limited
use unless this is
allowed
Most likely to find

through catalogue or
websearch
Self-fulfilling
prophecy
Good idea
Most likely to find

through catalogue or
websearch
Self-fulfilling
prophecy
Good idea
May not be quite up to

librarys standard
dont care
May not be quite up

to librarys standard
dont care
Some complaints
Some complaints
General consensus on
this: a few enthusiasts
disagree; however,
most users perceive ebooks to be a good
working tool
General consensus on
this: a few enthusiasts
disagree; however,
most users perceive ebooks to be a good
working tool
6. Pedagogical
Issues
108
Functionality
Some advanced
products held; many ebooks are
straightforward PDFs
Provide chunks of
books via MLEs /
VLEs generally
approve, though some
concern about students
wanting information
in soundbites
Slice-and-dice
More advanced
features, such as
publishers issue
on support
websites
One size does
not fit all
Unsuitable
material,
particularly
free e-books
from web
Plagiarism
7. Cultural
Issues
Lack of physical
contact with book
Dont bother with ebooks unless can use

to find a new
(interactive) learning
dimension
Few e-book products

incorporate at present:
Knovel is an example
of one that does. Cost
may be an issue
Librarians are
interested in what their
users want: there is a
need to develop more
effective
communication
channels with
academics on the
detailed functionality
required; and to find a
way of conveying this
to suppliers
Librarians can and do
help by vetting, and by
recommending suitable
free materials from
tested sources, such as
Oxford Texts Archive
Not librarians
problem: though they
may inadvertently
contribute by
explaining the
applications too
thoroughly in effect,
doing students work
for them (some
evidence of this)
Approve. Book cant

be stolen or damaged.
Generally in favour:
reinforces concept of
interactive learning
Different subjects
need different e-book
functionality features
to be of optimum use:
then regular use
within the curriculum
and hence
dissemination to
students will increase
Like highlighting,
note-making facilities,
etc. Probably not as
advanced as avantgarde academics in
thinking of new ways
to use as a learning
resource
Postgraduates like
idea. Undergraduates
more dubious: on the
whole, prefer whole
book; and dont
always trust tutors to
select the most
relevant bits!
Enthusiastic. Lots of
requests: videoclips,
soundbytes, talking
book facility, better
(3D) diagrams, etc.
Students are more
likely to make
widespread use of ebooks if they are an
integral part of the
curriculum
Frequent concern
expressed by
academics use of
unsuitable material
can have very adverse
effect on students
work
Raised as an issue, but
not a major concern.
Several academics
have pointed out that
software is available
to catch miscreants
Students becoming
increasingly aware of
the pitfalls
Can be download /
access problems. May
Can be download /
access problems.
109
If they thought of it,

they didnt say so!
/ supplier /
librarian /
lecturer
Feeling of
isolation if things
go wrong
Prefer real
books
Users can access 24/7
simply prefer the print

book
May simply prefer the

print book
FAQs and other

information available
on website. Helpdesks
and helplines available
in working hours
Fine; but no space left
for them; they take
time to shelve; they get
damaged, stolen and
hidden in the library;
the stock has to be
regularly edited; they
take longer to issue,
recall and take back
into stock; hopefully,
in the long term ebooks will offer greater
access to more users,
and work out cheaper
Feelings of
inadequacy.
(Especially publisher)
helplines can be curt
Likely to give up
Comparisons not
necessary. Horses for
courses. E-books are
not for sitting down
and reading straight
through, like print
books. It is a question
of exploiting the
different types of
functionality in
different learning
contexts
Best of both worlds

is ideal. Several
suggestions as to what
this consists of,
including print
supported by various
types of electronic
applications
110
Chapter Four
Demand for e-books; library evaluations
4.1 Introduction
It has been said that one of the objectives of this study to assess the demand for ebooks across user stakeholder groups, across the further and higher educational
sectors. This objective can only be partially achieved, because (as has been
abundantly demonstrated in the previous chapters), promotion of e-books has been
imperfect in that it has failed to create awareness in the majority of the two main enduser group populations - academics and lecturers, and students due to flaws in the ebook information supply chain.
If demand for e-books is to reach its full potential with librarians, students and
lecturers, in addition to promoting awareness the following four major issues will
have to be addressed:
1. Availability of the publications that are required in e-book format.
2. Congenial and appropriate to the subject matter presentation of the material, so
that it is found to be equal or superior to other formats within the context that
it is being used.
3. A price structure which is viable for all stakeholders (i.e., all suppliers and
end-users).
4. Near-universal access to the Internet and appropriate hardware.
It is suggested that all of the other issues that have been raised about e-books in the
preceding chapters, although all are noteworthy and need to be explored and resolved
if possible, are secondary when potential demand is being assessed.
Analysis of the questionnaires produced some encouraging comments about
anticipated future demand: to recapitulate, when asked if they thought that their future
use of e-books would increase, decrease or remain the same, twenty of the twentyfour academics, nineteen of the twenty FE lecturers, and twenty-four of the twentynine students said that they thought that it would increase. Seventeen of the
academics, sixteen of the FE lecturers and twenty-one of the students would buy the
e-book instead of the print book if the e-book were significantly cheaper. Future
use of e-books therefore looks promising if the four major issues listed above can be
resolved to the satisfaction of all stakeholder groups, and if e-books can be
successfully promoted so that most potential users are aware of them (These are two
big ifs.)
However, another objective of this study is to concentrate on the present and what is
being done now, rather than to indulge in too much crystal ball gazing and blue skies
scenario building. Therefore, as far as possible, current demand patterns for e-books
need to be understood.
It has already been established that librarians are only spending a fraction of their
budgets on e-books, and the reasons for this have been given in some detail. Despite
111
this, a number of librarians have carried out some impressive evaluations of e-books.
These evaluations take two forms:
1. Assessment and comparison of the various models on offer, listing their
advantages and drawbacks.
2. Assessment of demand, based on usage statistics and local observations of the
librarians own user groups.
4.2 Assessment and comparison of the various models on offer
The most comprehensive evaluation of e-book models discovered during the course of
the project is a piece of work started in 2002 by a consortium of seven Irish106
university libraries, which is still ongoing. The consortium is chaired by John Cox, of
NUI Galway, who has kindly made all its findings available.
The members of the consortium evaluated seven publisher and e-book aggregator
supplied products against a set of criteria. The criteria were quite extensive, as they
encompassed the requirements of all the libraries concerned. However, the
consortium considered the following factors, which it defined with brief comments in
the following table, to be of particular importance:
Table 7: Consortium of Irish universities criteria for selecting e-books supplier
Must deliver a satisfactory user experience
Usability
Encompassing ADA compliance, Athens, SFX, concurrency
Accessibility
Must meet needs and attract significant levels of usage
Usage
Vital to the previous and next factors
Academic support
We would learn little about e-book integration issues otherwise
Student uptake
Supplier flexibility The need to satisfy needs at 7 institutions will require this
With OPAC and VLE products especially
Integration
The consortium limited its subject focus to I.T. and commerce. From an original
shortlist of seven, the consortium decided to opt for two trials, to run consecutively, of
netLibrary and Safari. These products came nearest to matching the key criteria
listed in the table. The pros and cons of each found by the consortium are also given
in the table below:
Table 8: Consortium of Irish universities matching of supplier attributes against

their requirements
netLibrary
Pros
Cons
Solid coverage of both IT and Commerce Reading experience very unattractive
Some welcome retrospective coverage
One page at a time model impossible to
get flow of book; small screen
Ownership by OCLC
Too many formats: HTML, PDF and dj
vu (last needs own plug-in reader)
MARC records included in purchase and No economies of scale: same price per
106
The libraries are NUI, Galway, Trinity College, Dublin, NUI, Maynooth, Dublin City University,
University College, Dublin and University College, Cork.
112
supplied via FTP

Useful online dictionary included
ATHENS-compliant, offering support for

personalisation features
SFX-compliant
Opportunity to purchase books outright
Safari
Pros
Relevant texts from key IT publishers
Would support undergraduate projects,
especially in final year
Highly current
Suits online environment - typical use
would be for quick reference and solution
finding rather than lengthy onscreen
reading
Single (HTML) presentation for full text
so ADA-compliant; onscreen reading OK
Genuine enthusiasm from Computer
Science staff and students and from
Computer Services
Flexibility to swap books every 30 days
Joint ownership by Pearson may facilitate
VLE integration
online copy (concurrent user), as for print

Searching problematic since a) no browse
indexes and b) dependent on user
knowledge of LC Subject Headings
Uncertainty re ADA compliance (page
images used more than HTML text)
Cannot be read on PDAs, handhelds
Some inflexibility evident in emails
Cons
Coverage limited to IT
Mainly applications; very little theory
Not always clear how you link to full text
Not clear if all books from participating
publishers are included two texts from
OReilly missing
MARC records promised in 2003 but
some uncertainty
Athens compliance not yet confirmed;
would be important to support
personalisation features.
Not SFX-compliant
Each institution had a 30-day trial of the products. With seven institutions and two
products, the survey took about four months to complete. The evaluation was done on
a points basis, with members of the team awarding points out of ten in each of the
following areas: Coverage, Quality, Relevance, Performance, Searching, Search
Results, Output (print, save, e-mail), Ease of Use, Overall Rating. A simpler student
evaluation was conducted separately.
The points system was very detailed, and covered a range of features in each category.
It would not be fair to netLibrary and Safari to make public details of the points
awarded in each category, but each scored an overall average of about 7 out of 10
overall. Final comments were:
More impressive than I had expected, particularly with the range of publishers. Confirmed
that reading e-books online is not desirable. Overall felt it was a good product, useful and
easy enough to use.
Currency of technology-related texts makes sense to have electronic as opposed to
published texts. Clear, simple, easy to use. Good coverage of all technology skills texts
(programming, database, technologies, etc.), not concepts. Limited number of texts focused
coverage.
113
This type of evaluation is extremely valuable, but time consuming. (Many meetings
were held in order to produce high quality assessments, and the reports generated
totalled more than 100 pages in length.) It would be very helpful if a centrally
accessible repository of such work could be made available to librarians, to help to
inform them when choosing products, and to avoid reinventing the wheel.
4.3 Assessment of demand
One of the first assessments of demand supplied to the project came from a very well
known university library in Australia107. Also a netLibrary evaluation, it is interesting
for two reasons: because its user statistics show a very similar pattern to those
obtained from university libraries in the UK, including a year on year decline
(mirrored in some cases in the UK) since the e-books collection was introduced (this
despite the fact that Australia is often cited as a country that has achieved great
success with e-books); and because of the comment that it makes about disappointing
usage by distance learners:
The [university] netLibrary collection consists of over 300 titles in a range of subject areas.
Most of the titles have been chosen individually groups of titles have also been added. We
have found that the content of netLibrary has improved over time, as publishers have become
less paranoid about selling the rights to aggregators and more willing to sell the latest
editions.
Usage statistics can be obtained on the number of times that each title has been opened up.
The figures for 2001, when we had 113 titles, show that the total number of times these were
accessed was 690, the average being 6. In 2002, when the total number of titles had risen to
324, the total number of accesses was 453, with an average of 1.18. The most popular subject
area was Management, and the least popular, Agriculture, Ecology and Biology. It was
envisaged that netLibrary would be of particular interest and benefit to students located
remotely. However, the take-up of the service has been disappointing. It is unfortunate that
remote students are probably the least equipped in terms of technology and support to
successfully make use of this type of service.108
The results of the British questionnaires suggest that in the UK distance learners
divide into two groups: time poor, cash rich part-time students at universities, often
engaged on postgraduate degrees, like the UWE management students quoted, who
have the resources to access e-books, and a much less privileged group, studying at
both HEI and FE institutions, whose difficulties in accessing e-books are likely to
match those of the Australian distance learners.
A number of university libraries, including all five that have been featured in case
studies for this report, and some FE colleges, have supplied usage statistics, and some
of these are cited in the relevant case studies. To give a few examples here: at
Huddersfield University, average netLibrary issues are 3 per e-book per annum, but
only half of the collection issues in any one year (Huddersfield has the largest
107
Owing to the good offices of David Ball, of Bournemouth University and the SUPC, I received a
number of international responses to the HEI questionnaire: several from Australia, and one each from
the Netherlands and Turkey. They have not been included in the HEI analysis, but are interesting
because they list similar problems and comments to those given by the British respondents.
108
I am indebted to the librarian concerned for sending me this report. Unfortunately, I cannot identify
her without compromising the anonymity of the institution, which was agreed.
114
collection (500) among the netLibrary library statistics examined); at the University
of the West of England, average netLibrary issues are about 9 per e-book per annum,
with most of the collection issuing, but with a long tail of single issues. At Aston
University, average netLibrary issues are about 5 per book per annum, again with a
long tail of single issues, and with some spectacular successes: the top three issuing
titles issued 103, 56 and 42 times respectively over a period of slightly less than two
years since the subscription began.
Commonly, the statistics given by suppliers are so unwieldy as to be useless: they
would require many hours of analysis before some meaningful data could be
extracted. An example was supplied by the University of Huddersfield, which sent a
CDROM from one of its suppliers (not named here) containing 134 pages of statistics,
all defined by codenames but with no other explanation. Even netLibrary, which in
response to user feedback has made great efforts to produce some transparent and
easily understood usage statistics, only gives, as the Australian example indicates,
the number of times that each title has been opened up. Much better quality usage
information is required (on time spent, types of material accessed, types of material
downloaded or printed out, etc.) from all suppliers in order to ascertain the extent as
well as numerical instance of demand of e-book users.
Bearing this drawback in mind, some helpful evaluative work on usage statistics can
still be cited. At the University of Aston, usage statistics of three products have been
plotted over the course of the academic year, and the results illustrated in Figures 7
9 below. It will be seen that, although the time of greatest access is at the start of the
academic year, when the library is at its busiest demonstrating e-books and other
services to students, there is a further peak in all three products in the case of
netLibrary, almost as great as the October peak at the beginning of the second
semester, when no formal training is taking place. Aston (see Case Study No. 6)
worked closely with academics in order to choose the most appropriate titles for its ebooks collections.
Leo Appleton, Learning Support Adviser, and Anna Hindmarch, Information Services
Librarian of Edgehill College (see also Case Study No. 7), have carried out some
detailed evaluative work on netLibrary, which combines an assessment of user
responses with assessment of usage statistics. This work demonstrates that 90% of
the netLibrary users in Health Studies at Edgehill (the subject area selected for the
initial e-books collection) were positive about e-books when questioned about their
experience of them in the following four categories: Access, Presentation, Using and
Support In Using. There were some adverse user comments, of the type that have
become familiar during the course of this report:
Reading electronic text puts a strain on the eye
It was very slow to load pages
I prefer to hold a printed book
Not enough UK examples
The overall success achieved with netLibrary at Edgehill, as in all the other examples
of best practice found, is attributed to the fact that the librarians both targeted the user
group very carefully, and matched its needs with the books that were selected. They
acknowledge that this was time consuming, but feel that the expenditure of effort was
worthwhile. There are now plans to carry out a similar exercise with the Education
department at Edgehill. The librarians there, particularly Leo Appleton, have been
115
active in helping academics to incorporate e-books into Web CT. In other words,
Edgehills e-books development, like Astons, has been specific, targeted and
strategic in approach, with a clear understanding of pedagogical requirements:
It would appear beneficial to articulate a holistic e-texts approach and strategy, integrated
with the collection development strategy and within the institutions learning and teaching
strategy. Our e-texts strategy aims to provide resources that are fit for purpose, targeted at
specific groups with specific needs, with appropriate infrastructure and support, and
underpinned by cross-departmental partnerships The possible solutions and products
(such as netLibrary) are important but are not the key; rather, the crucial success factor is
the understanding of the user community and early engagement.109
The message from the evaluations is clear: establishing and realising the potential
demand for e-books depends on marketing in its widest term of seeking and
fulfilling the needs of users, as well as on the solution of the four major issues
identified at the beginning of this chapter.
109
E-texts: a targeted approach. Roberts, S. and Appleton, L. A paper given at the UKSG seminar
ER: promoting and managing electronic resources without the trauma, November 2002. Published in
Serials Vol. 16, no. 1, March 2003. The quotation is from p. 87. I am indebted to Leo Appleton for
his advice, encouragement and support on numerous occasions during the course of this project.
116
No. of accesses
Fig. 7: Aston University: netLibrary usage,

Oct. 02 - May 03.
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Oct02
Nov02
Dec02
Jan03
Feb03
Mar03
Apr03
May03
Month
Fig. 8: Aston University: CRC Press usage,

Oct. 02 - May 03.
No of accesses
200
150
100
50
0
Oct-02 Nov-02 Dec-02 Jan-03 Feb-03 Mar-03 Apr-03 May-03
Month
Fig. 9: Aston University: Wiley Encyclopedias usage,

Oct. 02 - May 03.
No of accesses
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Oct-02 Nov-02 Dec-02 Jan-03 Feb-03 Mar-03 Apr-03 May-03
Month
117
Chapter Five
How e-books are currently being promoted in Further and Higher
Education in the UK
Now that the supply chain and stakeholder issues connected with promoting e-books
and evaluating demand have been explored, this chapter examines how e-books are
actually being promoted to the end-user groups. It should be noted that no criticism
of any stakeholders is implied by the findings. The preceding work makes it clear that
e-books are at present inadequately promoted, but it is equally apparent that the
reasons are complex, and not attributable to any single group or body. It is, however,
useful to consider current methods of promotion within the context both of the
contrasting print and e-book supply chain and information supply chain channels
described in Chapter Two, and of the perceived advantages and barriers to uptake of
e-books that emerge from the primary research analysis which forms the bulk of
Chapter Three.
5.1 Perceived advantages and the less rosy reality
A piquant starting point is offered by mistakenly optimistic user assumptions110. Once
they were aware of e-books, some academics and some students who contributed to
the study assumed that e-books are:
Cheaper than print or free
More up-to-date than print
Available to all users all of the time once the library has bought a copy
Updated free of charge
Enhanced with sophisticated interactive functionality
Of these assumptions, the first may or may not be correct; the second is rarely correct,
and the reverse is likely to be true; the third is true only when the supplier operates on
a certain type of FTE based licensing model; the fourth and fifth are true only for a
small number of products. Users eventually discovering the more limiting reality are
likely to become disillusioned with e-books. It is therefore important that they are
educated in the attributes of the products that they are using, and dont just find out
about them piecemeal. It is equally important that these issues are eventually
addressed.
User confusion is compounded by the lack of the following for e-books: a universally
acknowledged definition of what they are; a central information repository; a choice
of retail outlets at which a flesh-and-blood bookseller provides a service; a common
platform; a common set of attributes. Added to this is the diverse set of products,
each with its own rules and functionality, subscribed to by different libraries. In all
of these respects, e-books baffle the user, whereas for print books the answers, or at
least where to get advice that leads to the answers, are straightforward and simple. It
is easy for the initiated to forget these points.
110
I am indebted to a long conversation with Dr. Monica Landoni, of the University of Strathclyde, on
this point.
118
5.2 How publishers, aggregators and booksellers are promoting e-books

Of the twelve publishers interviewed, only three say that they are actively promoting
e-books to all three end-user groups, i.e., to librarians, academics and students; and of
these, two are e-tailers who are targeting individual sales to academics and students,
as well as institutional sales. One of them, Taylor & Francis (see also Case Study No.
3), produces an attractive and informative printed leaflet which includes careful
descriptions about Readers and downloading, and does a good job of demystifying the
e-book. Oxford University Press (see also Case Study No. 4) does not on the whole
seek to sell its e-book products to academics and students, but still recognises the
importance of gaining their interest, and produces a range of printed materials and
giveaways, such as mousemats, which are intended for all end users. Of the
aggregators, netLibrary is making the greatest effort to draw the attention of
academics and students to its products, by dispensing leaflets and fun products such
as bookmarks, balloons and pins for librarians to distribute: in common with other
aggregators, it does not attempt to contact them direct. Part of the Ebrary product is
aimed at direct purchase from academics and students; information about this is found
mainly on its website. One publisher said that it used to encourage its representatives
to offer on-campus e-book demonstrations to librarians and academics, but has now
cut back on these because it felt that they were not cost effective111. Now, when its
reps are visiting academics, they do not mention e-books unless they are directly
asked about them then the rep may give a demonstration on his laptop. Not all
aggregators target academic librarians books24x7, for example, considers that
businesses and professional libraries are its main customer group, and it advertises to
them electronically, sending a range of PDFs describing the product and case studies.
When one of its representatives was interviewed for the project in June 2003112, she
said that there were no plans to target academic librarians more actively, despite their
success story at the University of Huddersfield (see Case Study No. 8). It has already
been said that publishers who make e-books available through aggregators do not
always include this information in their branded promotional materials (catalogues,
etc.). The six booksellers contacted are all promoting e-books through their websites;
only the library suppliers among them are producing, or aiming to produce, printed
lists and catalogues in which e-books are included. They are also creating a limited
amount of printed information about e-books, directed exclusively at librarians. Only
one bookseller, Swotbooks, has attempted any direct e-book initiatives with
universities (see Case Study No. 5).
The examples given above raise the following questions:
1. To whom are e-books being promoted, and by whom? To increase
2. What forms of supplier promotional materials and approaches are available?
111
112

Aggregator Interview No. 6.
119
5.3 To whom are e-books being promoted, and by whom? To increase

With a few exceptions (some pure e-tailers, those aggregators with specialist lists),
all supplier groups seem to agree that librarians are the main group to target with
academic e-books. One publisher even suggested that the e-book marketing mantle
should be assumed by librarians:
It is the librarians job to push and push until the academics see the virtue of buying and
using e-books.113
The librarians interviewed did not see it quite like this. At meetings of two large
groups of librarians114, there was consensus that the librarians role is to promote
awareness of e-books, but not to plug the format as superior; and that librarians
main responsibility is to provide access to material required by users in the most
appropriate format the implication being that they should use their judgment to
decide what that format may be.
This shows an important mismatch in the perception of two major stakeholders as to
how the e-book information supply chain should work. There is the yet more
important fact (first suggested in Chapter Two) that the academic is the most
influential stakeholder in both the print supply chain and the print information supply
chain, but not in their e-book counterparts: i.e., academics recommendations are the
main reason for purchase of most print books that are bought by themselves,
colleagues, librarians and students at their institutions; and academics sit at the hub of
the print book information supply chain, the most important vehicle of which, at both
undergraduate and taught postgraduate level, is the reading list. Publishers,
booksellers and librarians all recognise that this is the case, and promote print books
accordingly, with very considerable success; but the logic has not been applied to ebooks. At the start of work on this project, it seemed curious that entirely different
information supply chain procedures had been put in place for e-books. Now that all
of the primary research has been completed, to have a different from print e-book
information supply chain model remains just as incomprehensible from an observers
point of view. If, apart from a small and unrepresentative minority, the most
influential end-user is unaware of or baffled by e-books, the format is unlikely to
achieve its full potential. At least one publisher acknowledges this: One vocal
professor can exert a lot of influence.115
The following table gives the actual or perceived likely sources of information on ebooks of the academics who responded to the questionnaires:
113

Librarian meetings 2 and 4.
115
114
120

Obtain or likely to obtain information from library catalogue
Obtain or likely to obtain information through library training
Obtain or likely to obtain information from subject librarian
Obtain or likely to obtain information from publishers
Obtain or likely to obtain information from booksellers
Obtain or likely to obtain information from reviews
Obtain or likely to obtain information via colleague recommendations
Obtain or likely to obtain information via student recommendations
Obtain or likely to obtain information via librarys web pages
Obtain or likely to obtain information via a web search
11
10
15
9
3
4
9
4
5
11
46%
42%
63%
38%
12%
17%
38%
17%
21%
46%
The sample is, of course, a small one, and the information tabulated may lead to
imperfect conclusions, because the academics selected were believed to be especially
interested in e-books, and therefore, as aficionados, their knowledge of the current ebook supply chain may have skewed some of their answers. For example, that
information obtained in various ways from libraries figures most strongly in the table
may be because these academics have already been conditioned to see libraries as the
most reliable source of obtaining information. Relatively low (but not non-existent)
perception of publishers, booksellers and reviews as actual or likely sources of
information may also reflect experience. Nevertheless, some of the results are
interesting: for example, colleagues and students are both cited as potential sources of
information: but the rest of the research shows that at present academics and students
constitute a minority of e-book users. Information is perhaps being passed around a
chosen few. If the general awareness of e-books of academics and students could be
increased, the grapevine effect might be very powerful.
Tabulating the FE lecturer questionnaire responses on actual or perceived likely
sources of information on e-books yields some different results:
Table 10: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: FE Lecturer Analysis 2
No. of lecturer responses
Obtain or likely to obtain information from reviews
Obtain or likely to obtain information via colleague recommendations
Obtain or likely to obtain information via student recommendations
20
4
5
6
10
4
6
11
2
13
4
100%
20%
25%
30%
50%
20%
30%
55%
10%
65%
20%
This sample was also small, and, it will be remembered, considered to be slightly
more representative of the wider lecturer population, because the respondents were
self-selected. The most interesting difference between the lecturer responses and the
academic responses is that, presumably because the e-book supply and information
support from the college libraries is or is perceived to be patchier, the lecturer group
works harder at finding alternative sources of e-books and information about e-books.
121
Information obtained from publishers, booksellers and reviews is more important to

this group than to the academics. Colleague recommendations also achieve higher
importance.
Fourteen of the academics (58%) and fifteen of the lecturers (75%) said that they
either were recommending or would be most likely to recommend e-books to students
by means of reading lists. Twelve of the academics (50%) and fifteen of the lecturers
(75%) said that they were either recommending or would be most likely to
recommend e-books to students verbally. In both cases, if these practices were
actually carried out at a similar level across the entire academic and lecturer
population, a very powerful promotional tool for e-books would have been
established.
Finally, it will be remembered that seventeen (71%) of the academics and sixteen
(80%) of the FE lecturers said that they would buy the e-book instead of the print
book if the e-book were significantly cheaper. As academics in particular are
known to be heavy book buyers (see Chapter Two), this seems to offer an attractive
marketing opportunity to booksellers and publishers. However, the crucial point must
be made that for textbooks and monographs in PDF or XML format, the bulk of such
sales would be substitutes for, not incremental to, print book sales. Immediately, the
sales prospect becomes distinctly less attractive, unless there is risk to the booksellers
and publishers of losing the print sales, or a separate market can be built for the ebooks because they incorporate features not available in print. Will or lack of it to
promote e-books in their present form is therefore a major factor that must not be
ignored.
Student exposure to e-book promotional materials from booksellers and publishers
seems to be even lower than for academics. The students actual or perceived likely
sources of information on e-books from the questionnaire responses are tabulated as
follows:
Table 11: Promoting the Uptake of E-books: Student Analysis No. 2
13
45%
7
24%
7
24%
1
3%
1
3%
Obtain or likely to obtain information from reading lists
6
21%
Obtain or likely to obtain information verbally from academics
10
35%
Obtain or likely to obtain information via other students
5
17%
6
21%
5
17%
The most striking thing about the set of student results is the imperfect knowledge that
they demonstrate. Aside from 72% of the students saying that they expected to obtain
e-books via the library (and all the students were told that their respective libraries
had a collection of e-books when briefed for the questionnaire), the students exhibit
uncertainty about where they would either find e-books or information about e-books.
It is also interesting that only 21% of them would expect to find information about ebooks on reading lists. Again, the sample is small: but if the students responses are
122
representative of the population as a whole, and the perception is accurate (big ifs
again), four-fifths of all students would not expect to find out about e-books via the
source of information of which repeated research has proved they take most notice:
academics reading lists. This would considerably cut down their chances of finding
out about e-books at all. Also, despite academics and lecturers perception that
students spend a lot of time looking for information on the Internet, only 17% of the
sample (fewer than for academics (46%) or lecturers (20%)) thought that they would
discover information on e-books via a websearch. Approximately the same
proportion of academics and students (46% and 45% respectively) thought that they
would find information on e-books from the library catalogue.
It will be remembered that twenty-one of the students (72%) said that they would buy
the e-book instead of the print book if the e-book were significantly cheaper. 90%
of the books that students buy are chosen from reading lists.116 Comments from the
students given in Chapter Three shows that most expect to buy books as well as to
borrow them. This is corroborated by the CAPP and Gold Leaf studies. There may
therefore be an opportunity to convert some of these sales to e-book sales; but the
point made earlier about its attractiveness to booksellers and publishers also applies
here.
Some of the students said that they did not want to receive direct communications
from publishers (see Chapter Three). However, they were receptive to the idea of
non-intrusive advertisement, such as posters and bookmarks in bookshops. An
opportunity therefore exists for publishers and booksellers, if they wish, to work
together on promoting to students.
What does the questionnaire analysis prove about promotion of e-books to the user
groups? Certainly, it demonstrates the importance of the library; this study contends
that it also demonstrates an over-reliance by publishers and e-aggregators on the
library to promote e-books. Librarians exert influence, but they are not the only
influencers on the user groups. Reference to the two information supply chain models
given in Chapter Two supports this. If the weak links in the e-book information
supply chain were strengthened, knowledge of e-books and therefore, almost
certainly, uptake would be greater.
Of course, many academic libraries are doing their best to promote e-books, and some
success has been achieved. The following two tables, using analysis from the
librarians questionnaires, show how librarians find out about e-books and the
methods that they are using to promote them:
116
Survey of Student Book Buying 2001 / 2002. p. 5.
123
41
100%
Find out about e-books via publishers communications
34
83%
Find out about e-books via aggregators communications
26
63%
Find out about e-books via advertisements
21
51%
Find out about e-books via demonstrations
19
46%
Find out about e-books via academics*
8
20%
Find out about e-books via other librarians
19
46%
Make people aware of e-books via links from the library website
Make people aware of e-books via the library catalogue
Make people aware of e-books via induction / training sessions
Make academics aware of e-books via e-mail communications
Make people aware of e-books via electronic newsletters / factsheets
Make people aware of e-books via MLEs/ VLEs
Make people aware of e-books via formal launches
36
28
30
21
13
18
4
88%
68%
73%
51%
31%
44%
10%
Even this relatively low instance of academics as a source of information was intriguing; however,
on contacting the librarians concerned, most said that information from academics came from
within the context of the library checking reading lists to match against e-book lists: it was not
initiated by the academics.
Comments and further ideas from HEI librarians on promoting e-books were as
follows:
At the moment, we only do training for students, incorporating information
sessions, especially for Computer Science and Engineering students; the bulk
of our books are in these areas. However, training is not specific to e-books
and not for lecturers (as it is particularly difficult to get staff together in a
session), although developments (e.g. Safari) are advertised at staff and
student meetings. Staff awareness sessions are carried out once a year; new
services are discussed, but, again, this is not specific to e-books
Via college- and department-wide staff development, student induction and
information skills sessions and inclusion on reading lists and within online
courses
Our OPAC includes a large number of MARC 21 standard records for freelyavailable e-books. We catalogue these selectively, depending on content
Publicity (posters, helpsheets and plasma screens) in the library, and
information skills sessions
Through contact with teaching departments, both formal (course committees)
and informal (personal contacts)
Reference works are catalogued, but monographs are not, because of
uncertainty about whether or not we will continue with the subscription
Via training: a range of subject-specific courses is run, for students, by liaison
librarians. Doctoral research programme includes a formal research training
module. No formal training sessions exist for staff, who may pick up on
briefings to introduce new collections. In principal, e-mail is used, but the
dissemination of e-books is not as good as it could be
Integration: TALIS OPAC used as a web-link to Web CT and reading material
Via faculty boards, university committees and open days
Through demonstrations on using the website, links to providers, how to open
e-books etc. Liaison librarians are assigned to schools, and run library skills
124
sessions on a fixed timetable. However, students need this less when they
arrive than when they are in their second or third years, therefore this
academic year there has been a move to have more open sessions. This liaison
with the different schools is the way forward
Through notice boards, and we intend to produce fliers. There is little training
on the catalogue, but we have advertised ATHENS authentication, and user
guides are on the web pages. Faculty librarians could promote more at student
inductions. We are trying to make the catalogue a one-stop shop, with
everything accessible from the website. We wish to focus on publicity
Training sessions are run for students, and, to a lesser extent, for academics.
We have a team of subject librarians, whose main role is liaison. We are
trying to increase our work with the Humanities departments in particular; its
slow, but we try to raise awareness, particularly when new JISC deals come
out. Training is carried out on a case-by-case basis; the subject librarians talk
to departments and offer to do sessions. For postgraduates and research
students, we may have a research skills programme running throughout the
year, and then offer a seminar when we get new products.
Subject librarians offer their departments access (and funding allocation) as a
new resource. But funding is often sliced away from the Library fund for
development purposes.
5.3i Notes on HEI librarian views:

1. Supplier communications (averaging 73% from both groups) are not as
universally received by libraries as might have been expected.
2. Peer group information (46%) seems to be a robust source, and could perhaps
be built on in an organised way.
3. From the samples, 88% of libraries make information available through the
librarys web-pages, but only 21% (in each case) of academics and students
consider this a likely source of information.
4. From the samples, only 68% of libraries make information available via the
library catalogue117. 45% of students and 20% of academics at present
consider this a likely source of information (again, this result may be skewed
by current experience).
5. Making aware of e-books via MLEs / VLEs is likely to be a more fruitful
exercise in the future. Not many institutions seem to be using these in a
systematic fashion for teaching at present.
6. Difficulty of getting staff (and students) to attend training sessions is a
recurrent theme.
7. Student information overload at the beginning of term, touched on here, was
also pointed out in follow-up telephone calls. When to conduct sessions is
therefore important the beginning of term is not necessarily the best time.
First year students are not necessarily the most appropriate targets.
8. The incorporation of a research skills module or half module, now being
introduced by many universities, is an effective way of disseminating
information about all the library resources, including e-books, because
117
This despite much published evidence that the OPAC catalogue is the main source for discovering
e-books. See, for example, http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/ebooks/analysis.pdf. Independent
research by netLibrary also finds the OPAC catalogue the most significant single source of
information.
125
students obtain credits for completing it. Some librarians are taking advantage
of this.
9. The issue of who trains the trainers is raised again.
7
100%
Find out about e-books via publishers communications
6
86%
Find out about e-books via aggregators communications
1
14%
Find out about e-books via advertisements
3
43%
Find out about e-books via demonstrations
2
29%
Find out about e-books via lecturers
2
29%
Find out about e-books via other librarians
4
57%
Make people aware of e-books via links from the library website
Make people aware of e-books via the library catalogue
Make people aware of e-books via induction / training sessions
Make lecturers aware of e-books via e-mail communications
Make people aware of e-books via electronic newsletters /
factsheets
Make people aware of e-books via MLEs/ VLEs
Make people aware of e-books via formal launches
4
5
5
7
4
57%
71%
71%
100%
57%
2
3
29%
43%
Comments and further ideas from FE college librarians were as follows:
By notices by all PCs in the Learning Resource Centre, and messages in

tutorial and staff bulletins
By posters and displays
By face-to-face meetings with staff
Subject librarians liaise with their departments (i.e. word-of-mouth).
5.3ii Notes on FE librarian views:

1. The proportion of FE college libraries subscribing to e-books in the sample
was small; but those who were subscribing (five of whom were also contacted
by phone) seemed very determined to promote them.
2. Most of their information about e-books came from publishers. Low contact
with aggregators may be both cause and effect of the fact that they do not
stock aggregator products, though cost is also a factor.
3. As with HEI librarians, peer group information seems to be a valuable source.
4. This group was as efficient as the HEI group at putting e-books on the
catalogue.
5. 100% attempt to communicate with lecturers reflects an attempt to address
their concern (expressed in Chapter Three) that lecturers have only a semidetached relationship with the library and / or the institution.
Analysis of the research undertaken with libraries suggests that, between them, they
have thought of many valuable ways of making academics and students aware of ebooks. This does not mean that all are promoting e-books with equal effectiveness, or
that all of the methods listed would be appropriate to all, though it is hoped that the
ideas given above will act as a useful resource. Nineteen of the HEI librarians and
126
five of the FE librarians who responded to the questionnaire were also contacted by
telephone to obtain further details of precisely how they promote e-books, and several
of them said that their work in this area could be better. Some of the results of the
research undertaken for this report, particularly in the librarians comments in
Chapter Three, show that not all librarians are committed to the idea of promoting ebooks, or, indeed, of stocking them at all. One of the academics contacted, who had
carried out some innovative work with e-books with the help of his own subject
librarian, said that it was an eye opener when he was asked to extend this work to
other departments, and found the relevant subject librarians to be much less
enterprising.
5.4 Librarians: best practice criteria

For the attempt to identify and record examples of best practice of promoting e-books
by librarians, one of the objectives of the project, the following criteria were decided
upon:
1. The librarians did not criticise academics or students for their limited uptake
of e-books as a resource.
2. E-books were put on the librarys catalogue.
3. An organised attempt at training sessions was made, preferably making
distinction between the needs of different groups.
4. An attempt was made to work with academics on identifying suitable e-book
material (using reading lists, VLE / MLE work preparation, etc.)
5. Some attempt was made to analyse and adjust needs to information provided
by the usage statistics.
Some flexibility was allowed in the fulfilment of the two last of these, as local
difficulties were taken into account. Fulfilment of the first three was more rigorously
assessed. In addition, all of the best practice institutions selected were trying to
promote e-books in a great variety of ways, and continually introducing new
promotional ideas, rather than repeatedly going through a set routine and becoming
mechanical. Using all of these criteria, five HEI libraries: Aston (Case Study No 6),
Edgehill (Case Study No. 7, Huddersfield (Case Study No. 8), Staffordshire (Case
Study No. 9), UWE (Case Study No. 10) and two FE libraries: Barnsley (Case Study
No. 12) and Yeovil (Case Study No. 13 ) were identified as exemplars of best
practice. It should be emphasised that the claim is not being made that all the
examples of best practice among the responding libraries have been found: this may
not be so. Therefore, no slight is intended to respondents who have not been
included. It is also not possible to say that any one of the best practice listed
institutions excels above the others, or that any of them should be used as a standard
role model. Together, with the results of the questionnaire analysis and
commentaries, they offer an extensive range of promotional ideas and practices that
librarians at individual institutions can evaluate and then decide what would be
appropriate for them to adopt. However, all the best practice institutions have some
abstract attributes in common, which underpin their promotional approaches and
account to a large extent for their success: they are enterprising, pragmatic, energetic,
innovative, and focused. They are also under no illusion that promoting e-books is
easy: they cheerfully acknowledge that it is hard work.
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To make e-book promotion more effective, it is suggested that promotion to the user
groups should be as follows:
Table 14: Promoting the Uptake of E-Books: effective routes to promotion
denotes recommendation that the group listed on the vertical axis should promote
to the end-user indicated on the horizontal axis
Academics /
Students
Librarians
Lecturers
indirectly, through
1. Publishers
including
booksellers,
information of ewebsites, etc.
books available
through
aggregators
2. Aggregators
indirectly, through indirectly, through
librarians
librarians
3. Booksellers
4. Librarians
5. Reviews
6. Academics
peer group
reading lists /
collaboration:
network
recommendations
reading lists, VLE/
MLE material
7. Students
feedback loop
peer group
feedback loop
network
Once the promotional mechanisms 1 5 are in place, 6 and 7 will follow naturally.
The librarian still occupies a key role, but the workload is shared more equally, and
the other stakeholders, including the key influencers, are also involved. What is being
suggested is a modified version of the print book information supply chain.
5.5 What forms of supplier promotional materials and approaches are
available?
The promotional materials and methods adopted to promote e-books made by libraries
were covered in the previous section. An attempt has been made to assess their
effectiveness by matching them against user expectations. It should again be
emphasised, however, that this report contends that it is not possible to make an
accurate assessment of the effectiveness of individual promotional items and methods,
whether from librarians or e-book suppliers, at the present time, because the
information supply chain itself is flawed.
This section looks at the promotional materials and methods adopted by the suppliers:
publishers, aggregators and booksellers. Some of these are made available for use in
libraries; sometimes librarians modify them before using, or create their own.
Promotional materials and approaches from the supplier group comes in three main
categories:
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Physical. Printed information for the end user; freebies and fun items to
make the product seem enjoyable. Meetings, demonstrations, formal
launches.
Virtual. Website promotion of various kinds.
Technical. Catalogue support.
The following table gives examples of the types of promotional materials and
methods of promoting e-books that have been collected from suppliers. The list may
not be exhaustive; every attempt has been made to include as many types of
promotion used as possible.
Table 15: Ways in which commercial suppliers promote e-books
No. of examples
Supplier
Promotional Type
Aimed at
found from
structured
interviews and
follow-up work:
there may be more
in each case
Publisher
Aggregator
Physical Promotional Products and Flesh-and-Blood Approaches

Print catalogues e-book listed
Librarians; academics;
2
alongside print
lecturers
Advertisements in print book
2
catalogues
lecturers
Explanatory / advertisement
3
leaflets / brochures
lecturers
Advertisements in textbooks
Students; librarians;
2
academics
Give e-book website address in
Students; librarians;
0. Idea suggested
print book
academics; lecturers
by 1
Posters
All users
1
Mousemats, postcards, fun items All users
1
Visits from representatives
Academics; librarians
2 found who
promote e-books to
academics
spontaneously (i.e.,
not by special
request). Not all
visit librarians
Dedicated e-books manager / sales
Academics and
3
team
librarians
Demonstrations: formal and
Academics; librarians
Usually by special
informal
arrangement
Seminars
Academics and students 1
Attend conferences, gatherings,
Mostly librarians;
3
trade fairs, etc. Some sponsorship
occasionally, academics
of these
Print explanatory leaflets
Librarians
5
Print explanatory leaflets
Academics; students;
1
lecturers
Posters
All users
2
Balloons, bookmarks, pins, fun
All users, but especially
1
items
students
Visits from representatives
Librarians
4
Demonstrations: formal and
informal
Seminars
Academics
1 ; not in UK
129
Bookseller
User group meetings

Use a librarian to champion
product
Attend conferences, gatherings,
trade fairs, etc. Some sponsorship
of these
Print catalogues e-book listed
alongside print
Newsletter including information
about e-books
Visits from representatives /
Librarians
Librarians
1
1
Librarians
All
Librarians
1 currently; one
considering
1
Phone calls from sales team
Librarians / Academics
Librarians
Librarians
User group meetings
Publisher
Librarians: contract
reviews which may
include e-books service
Virtual approaches: website promotion of various kinds
Dedicated e-books section on
All users in principle
website
(but some geared
especially to librarians)
Free e-book previews, online

demonstrations
Aggregator
Bookseller
Publisher
Aggregator
Bookseller
Electronic book alert in e-journals

Customised button or flyer
placed on librarys website, with
click-though to publishers e-books
collection purchased by library
Dedicated e-books website
Free e-book previews, online
demonstrations
Customised button or flyer

placed on librarys website, with
click-through to aggregators ebooks collection purchased by
library
Dedicated e-books section on
website
All users in principle,

but some geared
especially to librarians;
some require a
password. Some are
timed, i.e., of limited
duration
Academics
All end users
Mainly librarians
Mainly librarians
All end users
All users in principle;

depending on
bookseller, some more
geared to end-users,
some to librarians
All users
Advertise through platform

provider
E-mail with new e-book titles
Academics
(occasionally)
Catalogue Support
All produce versions of catalogue
Ultimately all users, but
information. Aggregators and
especially librarians.
library suppliers may try harder to
May not match their
match to library requirements
requirements
130
2 (library
suppliers);
1 (retailer):
occasional
1 (library supplier)
Excludes some
publishers who
publish e-books
only through
aggregators
Excludes publishers
who publish ebooks only through
aggregators
3 examples found
2 examples found
All
All some
obtainable
instantly, some by
arrangement
3 examples found
All except one

pure e-tailer
1 (e-tailer)
1 (library supplier)
All
Methods of e-book promotion not featured in the table include shared advertising
through commercial partnerships, for example, between publishers, booksellers or
aggregators and software or handheld reader suppliers; and advertising on the
websites of search engines frequently used by students and academics, such as
Google. The former is regarded as a valuable way of sharing advertising costs,
particularly as both publishers and booksellers point out that they are reluctant to
commit too much budget to advertising a product that generates slender margins and
revenues.
5.5i Notes on supplier practice
1. The table is not intended to give the impression that targeting of any group, by
any of the methods, is being carried out by any particular supplier in a
comprehensive fashion; the reverse is the case.
2. Clearly, every promotional route cannot be adopted by all those seeking to
promote academic e-books. It is suggested, however, that since the key
objective at this early stage of their evolution is to raise the visibility of ebooks, all suppliers should consider targeting librarians, academics, lecturers
and students with at least some printed as well as electronic promotional
material. That electronic promotion of e-books is more frequently used than
print is understandable, given the nature of the product and the fact that the
method is cheaper; but information in print is more likely to reach those who
are not actively searching for it. As with promotion by librarians, the more
types of promotional approach that are used by any one supplier, the more
successful it is likely to be in raising the profile of the product. Hence Oxford
University Press (Case Study No. 2), Taylor and Francis (Case Study No.3)
and netLibrary (Case Study No. 4) have been chosen as examples of best
practice, because their promotional effort is diverse as well as innovative. At
the same time, it must be recognised that for e-books, as for every other
commercial product, promotional costs ultimately have to be borne by the
customer.
3. Currently, even less material is being produced for lecturers than for
academics. Relatively little is directed specifically at students.
4. User groups organised by aggregators for librarians offer a powerful tool, not
only for raising awareness and sharing experience and best practice, but also
for addressing barriers to uptake issues. An OCLC sponsored netLibrary user
group meeting attended as part of the research undertaken for this study was
addressing the issues of currency of publications and how to persuade more
publishers to make their works available as e-books; a previous meeting had
looked at access issues; and the group intends to discuss the one e-book, one
user model in the future. Although such meetings will not necessarily
solve all problems to everyones satisfaction, the suppliers willingness to
consider and respond to the issues, and to publicise new developments, is
bound to help e-book promotion.
5. Customised flyers on the librarys homepage may sound as if they are an
incidental form of promotion, but in fact they are very important, because they
131
address the click fatigue factor. Research suggests118 that the more clicks a
user has to make before hitting the information that they want on a website,
the less likely they are to continue. Therefore, a first click leading directly to
an e-books collection is likely to promote usage.
6. Catalogue and metadata issues are looked at in the next chapter. It has already
been suggested that, as a point of best practice, librarians should put e-books
on the librarys catalogue. Their estimation of the importance of the quality of
that information varies, and of course, in an ideal world, it should conform to
their cataloguing principles; but, for the purposes of promoting e-books, the
team of librarians at the University of Huddersfield offers some sound advice:
Just do it and get on with it was our attitude . if we couldnt find quite as many
relevant titles as we would have liked, or the catalogue records supplied werent
quite what we expected, we just went ahead and did the best we could with what was
available. Waiting for perfection doesnt work. 119
118
The point has been made to me by several people who have carried out surveys, including Jenny
Brook, of the University of Huddersfield, whose MSc dissertation addresses this subject, and Dr.
Monica Landoni, of the University of Strathclyde, during the course of several conversations.
119
See Case Study No. 8.
132
Chapter Six
Cataloguing and Metadata Issues
This chapter has been written by Brian Green, Manager of BIC
6.1 Introduction
The cataloguing and metadata panel, led by Brian Green was asked to address the
following topics:
Mechanisms for discovering electronic books
Problems of bibliographic access and control
Review of metadata and other relevant standards.
Recommendations on how e-books can be integrated more effectively into the
acquisitions processes of libraries.
The project leader drafted an extensive questionnaire, supplemented by some
additional questions from the panel chair in response to these topics. Two of the panel
members had already supplied an extensive amount of information explaining the
issues to the project leader, in order to increase her understanding of them. Since not
all of the panel members responded to the questionnaires, a telephone meeting was in
addition arranged to discuss some of the issues. The following summary attempts to
bring together the comments of those panel members who participated, with some
expansion by the chair. The recommendations of the panel which form the concluding
section of this chapter constitute the first set of recommendations to be listed in this
report. It has been decided that it is more appropriate to leave them in this chapter,
rather than moving them to Chapter Eight, where conclusions and recommendations
relating to other issues are listed.
6.2 Mechanisms for discovery
If e-books are to be more widely taken up in further and higher education, it must be
relatively easy for acquisition and other librarians to find out what is available for
purchase and for academics and students to discover what e-books are available to
them through their libraries.
In the UK, Whitaker and BookData, now merged as Nielsen BookData, have provided
the bibliographic databases that are used online and on CD-ROM by libraries and
bookshops to discover availability of traditional book products. Nielsen Bookdata
products list only a small proportion of the total number of e-books available. They
intend to increase their coverage rapidly and need to be supported in this aim by the
publishers on whom they depend for the provision of product information.
netLibrary, by far the largest provider of commercial e-books to the higher education
library market, has its own search mechanism, available only to existing subscribers.
Bowker in the US has signed an agreement with netLibrary by which Bowker will
load descriptive data and ordering information for the entire netLibrary list of e-books
into the booksinprint.com database to support libraries in their collection
development and acquisition processes.
133
Few traditional library suppliers offer a wide range of e-books, leaving it to specialists
such as netLibrary, Ebrary, Xrefer and others. Thus there is, at present, no single
catalogue of all e-books available from the various intermediary suppliers.
Although the library input to the panel was limited, it was felt that e-books were not
adequately catalogued in library OPACS. It is usually possible but often rather
complicated for users to search OPACS only for e-books. There was some discussion
within the group as to whether users were likely to want to confine a search in this
way but agreement that this might sometimes be the case, especially if a user was
remote from the library. It should therefore be a requirement for OPACS and
bibliographic databases to be searchable by product format.
Amongst other related problems and issues of bibliographic access and control noted
by the group were:
incompleteness of e-book listings

need for revision of AACR (currently underway) to allow e-resources to be
catalogued by type of content rather than as a separate class of resource; possible
need to lobby for e-books to be specified as a type within AACR - although this
conflicts with the approach being taken by AACR as indicated in the point above which implies that an e-book would be catalogued using the same rules as for a
book with the electronic carrier aspects brought out as necessary. This would
mean that electronic resources would cease to be treated as a class of materials in
their own right (with a couple of exceptions e.g. computer programs), which
appears to go against this recommendation. This is only work in progress and has
not yet been endorsed by AACR.
clearer guidelines on which MARC fields to use for cataloguing e-books
problems of moved links, where URL has been changed. Use of DOI or URN
should be recommended rather than URL links.
6.3 Review of metadata and other relevant standards

The international standard for book metadata in the commercial publishing world is
ONIX www.editeur.org/onix.html . This is quite widely used in the US and UK and is
being adopted in other countries (Germany, France, Australia, Canada etc). Many
publishers of e-books are capable of producing metadata to the ONIX standard, and
including specific e-product codes that include all known formats for both handheld
PC based e-books. ONIX has been mapped to MARC21 by the Library of Congress
and to UNIMARC by the British Library. ONIX can also be mapped into the much
less detailed Dublin Core scheme, but valuable information would probably be lost in
the process.
Libraries use MARC for cataloguing purposes. The main differences in approach
between the two schemes are that ONIX describes a product primarily for trading
purposes and includes more descriptive information and trade details such as price
and availability. MARC is specifically concerned with cataloguing library resources
and is more prescriptive in terms of cataloguing rules and authority. ONIX can be
mapped quite well to MARC but publishers are unlikely to adopt AACR rules (e.g. on
capitalisation of titles). An ideal situation might be MARC-based OPACS
supplemented by the richer ONIX information available from the commercial sector.
134
Metadata elements recommended for inclusion in any set include:

basic Dublin Core elements, easily mapped from ONIX
the Publisher Statement, that amongst other things will distinguish between the
actual publisher and the intermediary or electronic distributor / aggregator
bibliographic history, that will provide information on whether the item has
appeared in print format and whether it is exactly the same or has been updated
etc.
publishers blurbs and abstracts, although available in ONIX, are not always
supplied with e-books and would facilitate classification and subject indexing as
well as being useful for selection purposes
Other relevant metadata standards in use in the higher education sector include
Z39.50 and OAI-PMH, both designed to facilitate searching of bibliographic metadata
across databases.
Z39.50 is an ISO standard network protocol for searching across different databases
from a single user interface and could be used to search across the metadata databases
of a number of publishers or aggregators. This would require technical compliance by
publishers and bibliographic database providers wishing to make their metadata
available via the library systems that use Z39.50. Very few publishers are Z39.50
compliant and the benefits of undertaking this compliance require further
investigation.
OAI-PMH (The Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) is an
informal standard developed by a consortium of US Universities, for presenting
metadata in a form that can be automatically collected (harvested) by third parties. .
It would be possible to present ONIX data for harvesting using this protocol and we
recommend further exploration of this possibility by e-book publishers and libraries.
6.4 Collaboration / partnerships between librarians and commercial e-book

providers
Although it is generally agreed that publishers, or even authors, should provide
metadata in a standard format that can then be augmented as it flows through the
supply chain, there is currently little agreement on formats and no likelihood that
publishers will adopt library cataloguing rules. Since, however, there is consensus on
a number of important metadata elements (e.g. standard ISO identifiers) and since the
predominant trade format, ONIX, can be mapped to MARC, there should be scope for
collaboration on the flow of rich metadata. The British Library, for example, has
announced that it will accept ONIX records for digital materials deposited for
preservation purposes.
6.5 Integration of e-books into the library acquisition process
We suspect that this isnt a metadata issue, since most e-books are acquired in a
package from specialist intermediaries. We should recommend, once again, that the
providers of bibliographic databases, whether Books in Print services or library
suppliers own catalogues, carry rich information about all e-books available for
135
acquisition by libraries. This should include information about technical

requirements as well as rights/permissions granted.
6.6 Preservation of e-books
The publishers point of view, generally, is that they welcome the use of trusted
repositories (e.g. the British Library) and assume that the arrival of legal deposit will
ensure that a well managed archive of digital publications will be available.
Publishers are prepared to provide ONIX records and to include what other technical
information they have available, although this may not go as far as OAIS-based
schemes such as CEDARS. (N.B. BIC is currently working with the Digital
Preservation Coalition to explore the inclusion of new elements in ONIX for digital
preservation purposes, although guaranteeing long-term access to faithful
reconstructions of digital material without expensive transference techniques such as
migration and emulation remains somewhat intractable).
It was noted that policies will need to be developed regarding deposit of corrected
and updated materials.
6.7 Digital Rights Management Metadata

In response to questions on access, members of the group noted that their main
concern is one of restricting access to legitimate users only, and that this is understood
by the library community who have developed user authentication protocols such as
ATHENS and SPARTA, and Shibboleth (an Internet 2 development).
Publishers appear to be content to protect their intellectual property rights by the legal
means of contracts with libraries and trust in their compliance rather than complex
encryption. Work currently underway within ISO MPEG on a Rights Data Dictionary
and a Rights Expression Language will provide a standard means of expressing the
permissions granted to a user and should lead to clearer and more automated ways of
discovering and possibly enforcing a users rights for a particular e-book or other
digital product.
6.8 Recommendations on Cataloguing and Metadata Issues from Panel C
1. Providers of bibliographic databases should be urged to include e-books and
the benefits of providing such information should be explained to publishers
wishing to sell e-books to the academic market.
2. The e-book intermediary services should be encouraged to work with the
bibliographic database services to provide a comprehensive listing of e-books
available and from whom they can be obtained.
3. OPACs and other bibliographic databases should be searchable by product
form, but also provide links between paper and digital versions of the same
product.
4. AACR2 should take better account of e-books and provide more guidance on
their cataloguing.
5. The library community should be encouraged to ensure persistence of links by
using DOIs or URNs .
136
6. Metadata elements should include the basic Dublin Core elements, Publisher
Statement to clarify who is the actual publisher and who is the distributor,
Bibliographic History providing information on other formats, Publishers
blurbs and abstracts to facilitate both selection and subject classification (e.g.,
using Dublin Core, blurbs and abstracts could go into dc:description).
7. The benefits to publishers of Z39.50 compliance should be investigated.
8. The use of ONIX to expose metadata for OAI harvesting should be explored
and piloted.
9. Policies regarding deposit of corrected and updated digital products should be
articulated.
10. The work of ISO/IETC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (MPEG) in developing standards
for a Rights Data Dictionary and Rights Expression Language should be
monitored and publicised.
137
Chapter Seven
E-Books and Teaching & Learning
This chapter has been written by Huw Morris, Associate Dean at Bristol Business
School of the University of the West of England
7.1 Introduction to this chapter
This chapter focuses on the relationship between e-books and teaching and learning in
institutions of further and higher education. The aim of the chapter is to comment on
the attitudes of academics, lecturers and students to e-books and to describe some of
the many ways in which this new medium has been used by these individuals.
As the following pages will demonstrate, there are variations in the attitudes of
librarians, academics, lecturers and students to e-books both within and between
departments and institutions. These variations in attitudes have an influence on the
way in which e-books are used in teaching and learning. However, other factors and
pressures are also at play in determining how this new medium is used. These other
influences include the individuals own established patterns of practice, as well as
those of colleagues within the subject area, department and wider academic
community.
The variable and complex nature of the relationship between electronic texts and the
experiences of particular groups of staff and students means that it is not possible to
provide a complete account of the impact of e-books on staff and students. While
there is evidence of increasing use of e-books, at least within higher education
institutions, the question of whether e-books improve or worsen teaching and learning
remains difficult, if not impossible to answer. There are significant methodological,
ethical and epistemological problems associated with attempting to evaluate the
effectiveness of e-books in these terms. Faced with these problems what we can
comment on with some certainty is the ways in which different individual academics,
lecturers and students think e-books might alter the nature of teaching and learning.
We can also draw conclusions about how these technologies are being used by a small
number of staff and students in different subject areas and institutions. It is these
aspects of the changes associated with the introduction of e-books which this chapter
focuses on.
The information referred to in this chapter has been drawn from sources described in
the methodology section at the beginning of the report. This information has also been
added to by material derived from a series of mini-case studies of e-learning practice
in UK Business Schools and two institution level evaluations of the introduction of
VLEs in new universities L and V120. The chapter is divided into the following six
120
Morris, H. and Rippin, A. (forthcoming) `Virtual Learning Environments in Business and

Management: A Review of Some Recent Developments, International Journal of Management
Education. Morris, H. (2003) The impact of E-Learning on the Work of Staff in a Higher Education
Institution: A Case Study of the Introduction of the Blackboard Learning System at Monarch
University E-Learning at Monarch University (unpublished report) Morris, H, et al (2003) Institutional
Level Review: An Evaluation of the Blackboard Pilot Project. Preliminary Results. University of the
West of England, (unpublished report).
138
sections: a) academics and lecturers attitudes to e-books, b) determining the

effectiveness of e-books and e-learning, c) the use of e-books and e-learning in
practice, d) student experiences, e) conclusions and f) recommendations.
7.2 Academics and Lecturers: attitudes to e-books
Among the interviewees, as has already been noted, there was an evident division
between publishers, librarians and booksellers on one hand, and academics, lecturers
and students on the other. All of the publishers, librarians and booksellers questioned
were aware of developments in e-book technology and had well reasoned if
understandably different sets of views about the relative merits and de-merits of these
titles. Understanding among academics, lecturers and students was more variable. As
the initial survey indicated, there was limited awareness of the form and function of
these learning resources among academics in higher education institutions, and an
even lower levels of understanding among further education lecturers. Among
students in both higher and further education, understanding was also limited, even
among those who volunteered to take part in the small scale questionnaire survey and
subsequent focus group.
The divide in understanding between different stakeholders in the library and
information supply chain is not a new finding. Earlier studies have drawn attention to
these differences between two groups121. In the first group are the producers
(publishers), and the storers and distributors of knowledge (librarians and
booksellers). Meanwhile, in the second group are the inventors/designers (academics)
as well as the deliverers (lecturers) and consumers (students) of this material. What is
new from the present study is the finding of a mixture of different opinions among
academics and lecturers about the relevance and role of e-books. Looking at these
variations in opinion, at least among higher education academics, if not yet among
further education lecturers, it is possible to distinguish between four sub-groups with
different sets of opinions. For the purposes of this study, these groups of academics
have been labelled advocates, ambivalents, antipathetics and apathetics.
The questionnaire survey of twenty four higher education lecturers who are e-learning
enthusiasts in six different universities revealed marked variations in the patterns of
current and intended future e-book usage. Thus although all six of the universities
covered by the survey stocked e-books, only eighteen (three quarters) of the twenty
four lecturers questioned were aware of these collections. Among these eighteen
academic staff, five had worked with their librarian in selecting e-books and fifteen
had used e-books. Among these fifteen the pattern of usage varied. The most common
forms of usage in order of importance were inclusion on reading lists (14) reference
checking (10), private reading (10) research (9), course material preparation (9) and
lecture writing (8). From these figures it is evident that even among e-learning
enthusiasts awareness and use of e-books is patchy. At one extreme are the advocates
who work assiduously with librarians and learning technologists to ensure that
students have access to e-books. At the other extreme are those who are not
particularly interested in these developments. Evidence of an advocate type
orientation was provided by one of the academic interviewees who commented.
7. Armstrong, C. and Lonsdale, R. (2002) The E-Book Mapping Exercise: Draft Report on Phase 1,
Information Automated Limited and Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University.
139
I do know that the library has a stock of e-books, and I have been actively
involved in selecting them with my subject librarian. I constantly use web
resources for teaching and studying purposes. All my modules are supported
by material on Blackboard; each appropriate session is supported by a www
link. [Dermatology Academic, New University J]
While two fifths of the leading edge academics fell into the category of advocate, a
further two fifths were more unsure and generally less aware of the resources
available in this format. Examples of individuals in this category were provided by the
four academics who took part in the focus group discussion. When asked if they
would put e-books on reading lists, all said that they would in principle, though none
did at present. This view could best be described as a combination of awe and
ambivalence. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, there was a general
perception that something needed to be done or things might change for the worse.
However, there was also much confusion about exactly what form this action should
take in the short term. This confusion centred on how rapid changes in technology
should be accommodated by these individuals personally, and about when they should
commit to learning about these technologies. As another of the health care academics
commented.
I dont know whats available in my subject in terms of e-books; but
Internet access for students has revolutionised their learning experience.
[Health Management Policy Academic, New University J]

As a consequence of this confusion, there was lots of evidence of good intentions, but
rather less evidence of deeds well done. Twenty of the questionnaire respondents
thought that their use of e-books in future would increase and none thought it would
decrease. But when it came to detailed questioning about how this increased usage
might be achieved there was less certainty in the respondents answers. The overall
impression was that respondents felt that the development of e-books was a
phenomenon that couldnt be avoided and would have to be accommodated. As one
questionnaire respondent commented.
Since I dont currently use them but they are an expanding resource it
seems unlikely that one will be able to avoid their use in the future.
Accessibility also seems to be an important aspect the more there are
available, and the hotter off the press (sic) they are the more likely they
are to be used. [Questionnaire response]
The third group of lecturers is described as antipathetic rather than antagonistic. This
label has been adopted because although these individuals were generally resistant to
the introduction of this new technology, their resistance was passive rather than
active. These individuals did not see e-books as a useful addition to the range of
resources available to help them with their teaching. However, neither did they see ebooks as something which would interfere with the quality of teaching or necessarily
degrade the experience and quality of learning among students. This medium just
wasnt for them. The reason for this groups unwillingness to engage with e-books
were many and various. Some were based on reasoned assessments of the relative
merits of this new technology; others were less well founded. Thus, three of the nine
academics not using e-books in the survey were concerned about the reliability of the
140
hardware and software needed to use these materials. These individuals were also
concerned about what they anticipated would be physical problems associated with
reading large amounts of text on screen.
Systems failure: the system breaks down frequently for long periods, often at the
beginning of term: it cant take the pressure. [Questionnaire response]
The main problem I have with this kind of resource is reading off a PC screen.
Whether or not this is a technical problem I cant say. [Questionnaire
response]
The last group of five higher education lecturers are labelled apathetic because they
said that they had not considered using this technology. The term apathetic is used
here in its literal sense and is not intended to be pejorative. The label is used merely to
draw attention to the `want of feeling, passion or interest122: in short, to the
individuals indifference to the use of this medium. Thus apathy towards e-books took
the form of a reticence to investigate the operation of e-books rather than outright
resistance to the use of this new technology. None of the individuals in this category
said that they considered that e-books held no advantages over print, or that they had
or should have no place in the library of a university. Although the staff in the
antipathy and apathy category made up one fifth of the survey respondents, the
reported views of these individuals did not appear to be a mask for antagonistic
attitudes. The voluntary nature of the use of e-books in the institutions in which these
individuals worked meant that it was not surprising that anti-feelings had not
emerged. If they didnt like them, they didnt have to use them, end of story.
However, in the wider field of e-learning there is evidence from elsewhere that when
it becomes a requirement or expectation that staff use these resources this can give
rise to more negative attitudes123.
7.3 Determining the effectiveness of e-books
Having commented on staff attitudes to the use of e-books and e-learning, this section
comments on the effectiveness of these resources as a means of supporting staff
teaching.
To date there has only been a handful of studies which attempt to comment on the
relationship between e-books and teaching and learning124 .There has however been a
122
Oxford Concise English Dictionary.

123 David Nobles work in the US has drawn attention to staff protests organised in opposition to the
requirement for academics to use e-learning methods in their teaching at the University of California
Los Angeles (UCLA) and York University, Canada, Noble, D. (op cit). Similar although less strong
feelings of antagonism are evident in a recent poll of academics undertaken by the National
Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE). Uttley, A. (2003) `Web burdens
hit staff, Times Higher Education Supplement, 11th July, p4.
124
For example De Diana, I and White, T. (1994) Èlectronic Study Books and Learning Style,
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol.10, No.2, pp113-125. Dearnley, J. and McKnight, C.
(2001) `The Revolution Starts Next Week: the findings of two studies considering the use of electronic
books, Information Services and Use, Vol.21, No. 2, pp65-78. UniS (2002) Testing the viability of the
introduction
of
electronic
books
at
UniS.
Guildford,
Internal
Report,
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Library/eBook_Project_Report.pdf (accessed at 15th July 2003). Finally, de
Jon, M. (2002) `Quality of Book-Reading Matters for Emergent Readers: An Experiment With The
141
more extensive range of studies into the effects of e-learning resources more
generally. These wider studies have tended to fall into one of the following three
categories.
First, there are studies which adopt quasi-experimental methods to assess the nature of
the relationship between electronic resources and student learning. Here measures of
the effectiveness or otherwise of these technologies tend to include impact
assessments of student satisfaction and output measures of assignment and
examination performance. The results of these studies have produced a mix of
conclusions. Some indicate that there are significant positive benefits associated with
using e-learning resources125. Meanwhile a much greater number of studies indicate
that there are `no significant differences between electronic methods of supporting
learning and more traditional classroom based approaches126.
The second group of studies examining the impact of e-learning on higher and further
education adopts a very different approach. Using press reports, interview transcripts
and occasional surveys of staff opinion, the authors of these studies adopt a more
critical orientation and tend to reach more pessimistic conclusions. For writers
associated with this approach the use of electronic resources is indicative of wider
moves to industrialise, standardise and revolutionise the work of further and higher
education institutions127. As such it is something to be regretted and lamented if not
openly resisted.
The last group of researchers uses a more extensive and systematic range of
methodologies. Drawing on material gathered from in-depth case studies and
ethnographic investigations, these writers seek to describe the use of e-learning in
specific social and cultural contexts128. The results of these analyses suggest that the
experiences of using e-learning resources vary between institutions and that specific
Same Book In A Regular or Electronic Format, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 94, No. 1,
pp145-155, March.
125
The `significant difference website provides a list of studies conducted primarily in the USA which
indicate that there are benefits or disadvantages associated with using e-learning resources. Of the 39
studies listed on this site in 2003, 32 indicated a significant positive difference and 7 suggested a
significant negative difference in performance between students using e-learning resources and their
counterparts using more conventional methods (http://teleeducation.nb.ca/significantdifference/).
126 The `no significant difference website summarises over 300 research reports and papers which
suggest that there are no significant differences in the attainment and experiences of students using elearning resources in comparison with colleagues receiving more traditional forms of instruction
(http://teleeducation.nb.ca/nosignificantdifference/).
127
For example David Noble adopts a neo-Marxian perspective in his critical assessment of the use of
internet based education in the USA Noble, D. (2002) Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of
Higher Education, New York, New York University Press. Meanwhile, Rhona Newman and Fred
Johnston use Foucauldian analysis to speculate about the possible impact of web based instruction on
universities in the future Newman, R. and Johnson, F. (1999) Sites of Power and Knowledge? Towards
a critique of the Virtual University, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 20, No. 1. pp79-88.
Finally, Carl Raschke develops the work of Lyotard and others in his account of how e-learning is
revolutionising the work of universities Raschke, C. (2002) The Digital Revolution and the Coming of
the Postmodern University, London, RoutledgeFalmer .
128
For example Cornford, J. and Pollock, N. (2003) Putting the University Online: Information,
Technology, and Organizational Change, Milton Keynes, Open University Press. Alsop, G. and
Tompsett, C. (2002) Grounded Theory as an approach to studying students uses of learning
management systems, Alt-J, Vol. 10, No.2, pp63-76.
142
impacts reflect the complex mix of pressures confronting staff and students in
different settings.
Apart from the lack of a significant body of hard evidence demonstrating that elearning resources are better than more traditional forms of teaching, there are sound
methodological, ethical and epistemological reasons why claims of clear and simple
relationships between these new technologies and educational outcomes should be
treated with suspicion.
The first methodological problem is the difficulty of defining exactly what is and
what is not an e-book, or e-learning for that matter. The dividing lines between
websites, e-zines, e-journals, video clips and e-books have become increasingly
blurred. Furthermore, patterns of student usage have become increasingly complex as
they merge and meld material from a multiplicity of media. These blurred and fluid
boundaries mean that distilling the independent effects of what is and what is not an
è-book is probably an impossible task.
A second methodological issue is the difficulty associated with randomly assigning
students to control and experimental groups. Students, rather than their tutors,
normally choose the courses on which they enrol and the electives or options they
study. Faced with this problem, many studies of the effects of e-learning have been
forced to compare students who selected to study using these resources with those
who have decided to take a course delivered by more traditional means. The failure to
randomise the group allocation process means that other uncontrolled or confounding
variables may be at work and as a consequence these factors may influence the
outcome of the trial. For example, students who choose electronic resources may be
more highly motivated learners than their colleagues and may get better results
because they are more motivated, not necessarily just because they use electronic
resources.
Another methodological problem associated with quasi-experimental designs is the
difficulty of preventing members of the experimental and control groups being
contaminated by other experiences outside the college setting. Most studies to date
have been conducted using information collected from students on one course or
module. With these students studying a series of related courses or modules at the
same institution and with weekly mobile phone and internet usage among 18-25 year
olds currently standing at close to 80 per cent, it is difficult to find students who do
not have regular experience of some form of e-learning. This is likely to contaminate
the findings of any study of e-learning.
The ethical issues raised by quasi-experimental methods include the impossibility of
establishing `double blind or even `blind forms of allocation between the
experimental and control groups. It is unethical both to exclude students from the
experimental group and to conceal the intentions of the evaluators from the tutors or
students who take part. With these limitations it is impossible to remove the
possibility of èxperimenter bias or a `Hawthorne effect influencing the recorded
results of the study129. This is particularly important when one considers the important
129
The term `Hawthorne effect is used to refer to circumstances in which the researchers interest in
the experimental subjects has more influence on their performance than any other changes within the
143
role played by the tutor of facilitator in the use of any electronic learning resource.
With many students reporting that their learning was powerfully influenced by the
motivations and the level of affinity they felt with their tutor, it is difficult to exclude
the impact of these potentially confounding variables.
The epistemological difficulties relate to the problems raised by determining what is
learning and what is it for. Existing assessments of the effects of e-learning tend to
concentrate on making judgements based on staff and student attitudes as revealed
through interviews and questionnaires, as well as student performance as indicated by
assignment and examination results. The problem associated with each of these
measures is that it is by no means certain that they truly evaluate learning. Student and
staff perceptions of whether they have learnt after an educational experience are
probably a poor guide to whether this educational experience is of value. These
perceptions will undoubtedly be coloured by the individuals general attitude to either
the technology, or to the individuals associated with introducing this equipment.
Similar problems are revealed by the use of assessment results. Education and
learning are both solitary and collective as well as directed and undirected activities.
In these circumstances, assessing what the student has learned by reference to what
the tutor believes they should have learned may do poor service to the learning that
the student has gained for themselves. As one of the interviewees commented.
I think we underestimate how people can learn [Librarian, New
University T]
There is little if any consensus among researchers about how individuals learn, how
they should learn or how academics and lecturers should teach130. In the absence of
this guidance, much of the advice which is available relies on summary
categorisations of the main traditions in the psychology of learning, from
behaviourism to cognitivism and on to constructivism. Either that, or recourse to
homilies. All of which takes us neatly on to B.F. Skinners famous aphorism and its
epistemological implications. As Skinner suggests, education is what survives when
what has been learned has been forgotten131. The point here is that it is difficult to
determine what has changed and what is of value until it has been tested, not by the
researchers survey questionnaire, but, by the experiences of life, what follows the
class room and lecture hall. This insight is particularly important when we review
how we might assess teaching and learning with electronic media. As Carol Twigg
has pointed out, the new media not only change the nature of knowledge, they also
change the skills that are needed to work within an environment of constantly
changing information132. As knowledge becomes increasingly recognised as
contextual, contingent and contested, the abilities and skills that students and tutors
need change. In this environment, what needs to be developed is not the skill of
acquiring a body of knowledge, but information skills to engage in lifelong
experimental setting. See http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/HAWTH.htm for a more detailed
explanation.
130
Crook, C. (2002) The Virtual University: The Learners Perspective, in Robbins, K. and Webster,
F. (Eds) The Virtual University? Knowledge, Markets and Management, Oxford, Oxford University
Press.
131
Skinner, B. F. (1964)) New Scientist, 21st May
132 Twigg, C. (1994) The Changing Definition of Learning, Sequence, Vol. 29, No. 4,
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticles/29422.html (accessed at June 14th 2003)
144
learning.133. These skills have the potential to change the balance of knowledge and
power between student and tutor so that the student knows more about a topic than
their lecturer. As one respondent commented.
The Internet being accessible via the web has meant that for the first time
you can actually get students to read original sources of things they would
never be able to get otherwise. Secondly, students can actually read things
the lecturer hasnt read and that has changed the nature of the relationship
between the student and lecturer. You want that, you want students to go
away and read things. Some lecturers feel threatened by that, but some have
grasped the opportunity. You basically say there's a lot of stuff out there,
where do I get my notes from? The Web. Where do you get your notes
from? Me and the web. You will find things I've not read, which might be
quite important. [IT Lecturer A, New University L]
With this potential change in the balance of access to information, while it may be
possible to assess the individuals information skills, it becomes more difficult to
assess their specific knowledge and understanding. It also becomes very difficult to
prevent plagiarism and to draw the lines between plagiarism and research.
7.4 The use of e-books and e-learning in practice

Although this chapter began by considering and classifying the attitudes and
approaches of academics to the use of e-books, it is important to remember that the
feelings and motivations of individuals, while important in explaining why people
might choose a particular technology, do not explain the actual pattern of usage. This
is because individuals do not always have the personal or institutional freedom to
make these choices. A lecturers choice of teaching and learning methods in any
particular set of circumstances is driven by a number of factors, many of which are
contradictory, and only a few of which necessarily reflect their own personal views.
Among the many factors at work are:
experiences of teaching and learning as a student,

lessons learnt when entering the research and teaching professions
conventions within their chosen subject and specialism
predominant patterns of practice among colleagues in their department
physical limitations imposed by rooming, timetable and resource constraints
demands associated with other work as well as personal and social activities
student expectations.
The point here is that teaching and learning are social activities in which patterns of
practice are established and sustained among groups of staff and students. This is not
to say that individuals do not make a difference, nor that some methods prove to more
133
See for example, SCONUL (1999) Information Skillls in Higher Education: A SCONUL Position
Paper, http://www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/pubs/99104Rev1.doc (accessed 10th August 2003) and
Harris, C. Davies, H. Mackenzie, A. Makin, L. Ryan, C. (2002) The Big Blue Information Skills for
Students, Leeds University Library and and Machester Metropolitan University Library,
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/bigbluecontni.html (accessed 22nd May 2003)
145
acceptable over time than others. Individuals may change the views and practices of
others, but in so doing they are battling against established and often ingrained
practice. This practice endures because it is valued, believed to be of value, or has
just become the accepted way of doing things. In the words of another famous author
culture is what is remembered after all else is forgotten134 Thus, if we want to
consider the impact and effects of e-books on teaching practice, an appropriate place
to start is to consider what academics and lecturers actually do and to consider how
they explain this behaviour. In doing this, we are of necessity concentrating on the
views of those we have previously labelled àntagonists and àdvocates. These
individuals, rather than the àmbivalents and àpathetics, have adopted particular
approaches and views. Having said this, these views are rarely expressed directly or
necessarily very cogently. The patterns of practice and conventions of a particular
subject are generally so taken for granted amongst practitioners that they are only
really questioned by novices and by those who travel between subject areas or
institutions. However, with this caveat in mind it would appear that the approaches
adopted by antagonists and advocates can be divided into four categories: synics135,
surface adopters, strategic users and systemic believers.
Lecturers in the `synical group tend to be older and more experienced than their
colleagues in other groups. Having gained experience of many passing fashions in
teaching and learning, and frequently having worked in more than one establishment,
individuals in this group tend to be wary of new developments, for fear that they might
prove to be fads. Staff in this group are also often in more senior positions.
Observations by these individuals were often raised with some embarrassment or
trepidation, as it appeared that they felt worried that their comments were somehow
nave, inappropriate, incorrect or even `Luddite. In the current study, examples, of
this approach were provided by a small number of lecturers who worked in art,
design, teacher education or professions allied to medicine. These respondents raised
concerns about the support available through e-books and e-learning technologies for
developing and improving students formal and informal practical skills. For these
practitioners, e-books and e-learning were seen as something of an irrelevance, or as
a further move towards textual forms of learning which they felt did not help to
develop the `right knowledge, skills and understanding in students. This view was
summarised in the following comment:
The only way to get good on an Art and Design course is through practice
and more practice. There is no strategic way through an Art and Design
course. It is dependent on the development of the individual and how they
develop, not really what they readwell certainly not that to any significant
degree. [Senior Art and Design Academic, New University V]
The second group of academics and lecturers were `surface adopters whose approach
appeared to be driven by the symbolism of their actions and the attitudes this style of
presentation conveyed. For the individuals in this group, being a technophile and
demonstrating technical literacy was a `fashion statement which demonstrated their
broader progressive inclinations. Examples of this approach are revealed by the
following quotations:
134
Original source Andr Gide.

The term `synical is misspelled deliberately. This is not just for alliterative purposes, but also to
indicate the personal concern that respondents in this category felt about going against popular opinion.
135
146
The Dean likes all this new technology, he wants us to look up-to-date and
business like. [Business Academic, Old University C]
On [this] course if you say oh no I dont bother with electronic or virtual
learning, then its like saying I dont want to update what I am talking
about. Its like teaching economics and not bothering about monetary
systems over the last twenty years. You have got to use electronic methods.
[IT Lecturer B, New University L]

This approach was also often inspired or encouraged by pressure from colleagues and
students. This pressure could be silent and incipient or more vocal and developed.
Thus it might come from staff viewing and reviewing the websites and reading lists of
other staff in their department or counterparts at other institutions, or it may arise as a
consequence of specific recommendation from other members of the teaching team,
course committee comments from students, external examiners reports, professional
advisers, or even, on occasion, preparation for subject assessment and external
accreditation.
Another form of what in learning terms might be termed `surface engagement, but
which in the broader scheme of an individuals working life is probably strategic, was
evident among staff who saw this technology as a labour saving device. By removing
the routine and mundane tasks of printing and photocopying, these individuals
believed that they would save themselves and others time which could then be used
for other `more important things, whether professional or personal.
Now I am missing out the photocopying. Thats my main aim, a common theme
throughout the discussion! Miss out the photocopying if you can! [Accounting
Lecturer, New University L]

Another form of surface adoption was revealed in the comments of new academics
who were more likely to adopt particular new practices in uncritical manner as part of
their socialisation into a department and subject area or profession.
You know how it is, part of your socialisation into an organisation, you learn all
the systems that are operating. Its quite different from somebody who has to
accept a new system after working in an organisation for a while, then you are
reluctant to use the system. [HRM Lecturer, New University L]
With the third group of lecturers the primary motivation for using e-learning
resources was much more clearly strategic. For these individuals, the use of e-books
and other electronic materials was a decision driven by an enthusiasm for the
medium, but also based on a view that students would learn more effectively,
efficiently and equitably by using these resources. As one of the marketing lecturers
commented, the skills of working with computer based data as well as accessing and
interrogating information were best taught through this medium.
My courses are particularly suitable because they are about the internet, by
getting people to use the internet I am actually teaching them how to use
it.[Marketing Lecturer: New University L]
147
Other comments drew attention to what they saw as the lower cost, at least for the
student, of these new mediums, as well as the added functionality. As one social
science academic remarked.
I find e-books particularly useful because they enable me to refer students to
good quality copies of standard texts, and I know that they will be able to get
them, they wont be out of the library and they wont be able to say they cant
afford them. [Senior Social Science Academic, New University V]
Others emphasised the great value of these texts as instruments for research and
reference.
One of the great things about it is you can actually search across entire books. I
gave a class a few weeks ago to some PhD students, one of them was searching
caricatures of the medical profession in Dickens. She was absolutely delighted
that she could actually search thousands of books for Dickens .doctor, nurse
medic, midwife and so on to search thousands of books [in the past] would have
taken her years to do. In that way, thats transforming how she can do her
research. [Librarian, New University T]
However, it wasnt just concern with the development of students or the minimisation
of costs to these individuals which appeared to be driving the decision to adopt. There
was also a concern to develop new educational products, service new markets, cater
for the needs of students who were either disabled or for whom English was not a first
language. In many cases, the tutors interest in e-learning and e-books came first and
subsequent concern with developing related commercial or educational initiatives
came later. Among the ventures documented were new distance learning masters level
courses in E-Commerce and Communications Management, as well as specialist
modules for deaf students and asylum seekers.
The last group of e-learning users were more likely to be members of the project team
and associated panels than they were to be other individuals contacted during the
course of this investigation. These `systemic believers, like a wider body of
commentators in a range of academic journals, appeared to believe that e-learning
resources offer the prospect of altering and deepening the nature of learning, research
and even the construction and reproduction of knowledge. For these individuals elearning and the use of interactive e-books were useful tools in promoting
`constructivist, àctive or `new paradigm forms of learning136. These individuals
were aware that the devices used to enable e-learning offered the prospect of
`breaking down boundaries between subject areas and disciplines, of breaking up,
layering and reconnecting information, of linking researchers, lecturers and students
across the world, and of enabling people in all walks of life to be readers, writers,
publishers, booksellers and teachers. In short enabling people to occupy any one or
more of the positions on the information supply chain.
136
Hughes, M. and Daykin, N. (2002) Towards Constructivism: Investigating Students Perceptions

and Learning as a Result of Using an Online Environment, Innovations in Education and Training
International, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp217-224. Kewell, B. and Beeby, M. (2002) Student and Lecturer
Responses to the Introduction of Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) in a University Business School,
Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp413-430.Mai, N. and TK, K. (2000) `Multimedia
Learning: A New Paradigm in Education, http://www.icte.org/T01_Library/T01_103.PDF (accessed
10th August 2003).
148
When I was talking to them [publishers] a couple of years ago they were just
experimenting it wasnt very creative. It was `lets put our textbooks on-line and
lets pay somebody to do the copy editing to make that happen. Not ` how are
people going to use this? I think they are waiting for someone to write to them
and say `heres my proposal for some rich texts, some embedded activities, video
clips, heres my idea of how we are going to break away from the traditional book
as a metaphor for getting students to interact with information! [Senior
Academic, New University V]
7.5 Student experiences

The evidence of student awareness of e-books is less extensive than that detailing the
attitudes of HE academics and FE lecturers. However, from the twenty two
respondents to the combined student questionnaire and focus group at two new
universities it is clear that students are generally more aware, more positive and more
frequent users than their tutors. Among the 16 students who took part in the
questionnaire survey and the six who volunteered for the focus group discussion, a
clear majority were favourably disposed towards these e-learning resources and half
were regular users. This level of interest is perhaps not surprising when set against
national trends in internet usage137. It is also worth noting that part-time and
postgraduate students were more frequent users than their colleagues on full-time
undergraduate programmes. These variations between students on different modes of
study appear to reflect the greater geographical distances travelled and periods away
from the host institution experienced by the part-time postgraduate students.
As a part-time remote student e-books are invaluable for general reading and
gathering information to complement the course and preparing assignment material.
More please. [Student questionnaire response]
It may also reflect the greater availability and access to personal computers
experienced by part-time postgraduate students. Surveys of computer ownership and
access frequently revealing that over 80 per cent of employees in professional and
managerial occupations have access to a computer at work or at home. Meanwhile,
surveys of computer ownership among undergraduate students tend to reveal lower
levels of ownership and home access figures of around 50 per cent.
The possible requirement to buy an e-book reader or PDA was seen as a barrier by
many of the students interviewed. As one of the librarians commented.
You need to be connected to a PC or a PDA, you need to have that
interface. You need to have bought the e-book or belong to a library which
has licenced the title. You need to be able to understand the software to get
at and interact with an e-book you need to become familiar with how to
read a book on screen and you may or may not be able to annotate it easily.
Basically, there are a lot of technical barriers to using an e-book which just
137
A consistent theme in recent surveys by the Office of National Statistics the variability in internet
awareness and usage between the young and the middle aged ONS (2002) Internet Omnibus Survey,
London, HMSO.
149
arent there with the printed form. .[A] book is a substantial it is a

`perfect machine. you can can carry them, read them in the bath or on the
beach and lots of things like thatyou can write on them as well. Obviously,
you cant do these things with an e-book.
[Librarian B, New University V]
In the student focus group, none had considered buying a personal digital assistant
(PDA) as they generally felt that they were too expensive. When asked whether they
would borrow them from a public or university library, one of the focus group
members appeared to speak for the group when he said that the library would
probably never have enough copies to lend out to meet demand.
Having drawn attention to the technical barriers to using e-books, there was evidence
from the focus group and questionnaire sample of students not only using e-books but
on occasion also buying their own personal copies. The means by which they were put
in contact with these resources seemed to owe more to the efforts of institutional
librarians and internet booksellers than any other groups. When asked if they had
ever been approached by lecturers, publishers or booksellers recommending e-books,
all of the students agreed that they had not.
Student approaches to reading and learning from e-books were surprisingly
conservative and conventional. Thus while the questionnaire respondents were keen
to use these resources and the focus group members liked the features that they saw,
the criteria against which they made their assessments of these new technologies
appear to have been derived wholly from the design features of print books. For
example, the focus group students were worried that some of the hand held e-book
readers did not display a page number (was this why the manufacturers of scrolls went
out of business?)138. They were also concerned that being presented with chapters or
sections of books may mean that material was not read in an appropriate context.
Finally, those that had used these technologies had generally not used the added
functionality of bookmarks, highlighting and annotation.
Reading through the questionnaire and focus group comments, one is struck by the
differences between the students views of their studying behaviours and the
comments made by other writers about the observed and recorded patterns of actual
behaviour. These other observations reveal a wide variety of different motivations and
approaches which run the full gamut of categories from `disengaged, `surface,
`strategic and on to `deep and àctive learners. While there is doubtless a mix of
students in these different categories on any course within any institution, analyses of
the information skills and use of e-learning resources by various researchers tend to
suggest that students fall into one or two categories: although what these
categorisations are said to be tends to vary from author to author. For example, the
authors of one study criticise students for not studying, those of another suggest that
e-learning encourages them to concentrate on acquiring and memorising bullet-point
information, yet others criticise students for `lurking and not taking part in computer
mediated conferences (CMC) or of adopting a `print and go mentality. Other
138
Dr. Monica Landoni adds: This is a common finding in e-book usability studies, and it possibly
relates to specific titles whose paper counterpart has already been in use for a while. Even more
intriguingly, it could be linked to the selective readings students perform, nased on the understanding
that some specific pages are more essential than others.
150
examples of the approaches students are said to have adopted include those which
draw attention to their targeting of materials and multi-tasking using several resources
at the same time139. What this summary reveals is that we do not know as much as
perhaps we should about the ways in which different students use different
approaches at different times and for what reasons. When assessing these questions,
as we should in the future, students own views of what they do need to be set against
diary analyses and observations of their actual behaviour.
7.6 Conclusions of this chapter

This chapter has demonstrated that there is growing awareness and use of e-books by
lecturers, academics and students. However, as with the emergence of other new
products in their early stages, it is clear that there is still some considerable
uncertainty about which of the many new technologies labelled è-books will become
the dominant industry standard. As we are currently in the midst of this `standards
battle it is perhaps not surprising that there are relatively few ardent advocates
supporting the adoption of these technologies among academic and lecturing staff.
Remember video disks. It is also perhaps not surprising that few further and higher
education staff have explored the variety of ways in which this technology might be
used to support teaching and promote student learning. The strategic users and
systemic believers are still a tiny minority.
Among the student population, the rapid diffusion of a wide range of electronic
communications technologies among young undergraduates and the spread of desktop
access to on-line databases for part-time students in commercial settings has created
an environment within which e-books are welcomed as a reference and research tool.
There is scope for experimentation with this format, and it seems likely that just as
technical standards will develop over years to come, there may also be innovation in
the design metaphors used to structure the form and operation of e-books. For the
customers, cataloguers and archivists of these electronic resources, these changes may
cause problems, as established stocks have to be reworked and restored. For the
producers and sellers it appears that there is little to fear. The consumers of these
technologies see them as a complement and not a substitute for traditional printed
formats. It seems likely that in the near future an increasing number of educational
staff and students will use e-books alongside hardbacks and paperbacks. To make the
most of this development, there is a need for planning and development at national,
institutional and departmental levels.
139
For example, Big Blue (2002) (op cit); Kewell and Beeby (2003) (op cit); Hughes, M. and Daykin,
N. (2002) (op cit); and Crook, F. (2002) (op cit).
151
Chapter Eight
Conclusions and Recommendations
8.1 Introductory Notes
The list of conclusions gathered from this report is here kept very short, as the issues
have been discussed in detail in the report itself. For the same reason, the
recommendations are not clarified with extra detail except where a point is raised that
has not been previously addressed in the report. The recommendations listed here
consist of the outcomes of the work of Panels A, B and D (the Technology,
Publishing and Distribution, and Pedagogical Issues Panels), plus additional
recommendations from those who have contributed to the report at various stages, and
from the project leader. The recommendations of Panel C, the Cataloguing and
Metadata Issues Panel are listed at the end of Chapter Six, as it did not seem helpful
to list them out of context. It will be noted that on occasion some of the
recommendations conflict with each other (for example, in making comparisons with
e-journals; estimations of netLibrary). Nevertheless, all recommendations considered
helpful have been listed, to give choice to those stakeholders wishing to act upon
them. The recommendations for each stakeholder group have been listed separately.
I am particularly grateful to Andrew Weinstein, Michael Holdsworth and Huw Morris
for all of the work that they have put into this chapter.
8.2 Conclusions
The conclusions are listed in the order in which the issues to which they relate are
addressed in the report; the order does not therefore reflect priority. The conclusions
are given in more detail as the Executive Summary.
1. Within the context of academic publishing, there is not an adequate definition
for the term e-book, and this is a source of confusion and therefore a barrier
to uptake.
2. The different software and hardware products associated with e-books are a
source of confusion and therefore a barrier to uptake.
3. E-books, if adopted in a widespread fashion, would provide an answer to
some of the challenges currently being faced by further and higher education.
4. Social and cultural issues related to expectations of the e-book as a teaching,
learning and research resource compared with the print book constitute a
barrier to uptake. Within the contexts of usage and evolution of uptake, it may
not be helpful to compare e-books with perceived related products, for
example, audio books, electronically disseminated music, e-journals, print
books.
5. The main active stakeholder groups in the e-book supply chain are authors,
publishers, aggregators, booksellers, librarians, academics, lecturers, students
and hardware / software providers. Publishers and aggregators consider that
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librarians occupy a pivotal role in promoting e-books, and concentrate less on

the other user groups. This in itself constitutes a major barrier to uptake.
6. There are differences between the print book and e-book physical and
information supply chains. The e-book information supply chain (for the
reason given in 5 above) is imperfect. Awareness of the main user groups,
especially of academics, lecturers and students, but also, in some cases and for
some products, of librarians, is low. This constitutes a major barrier to uptake.
7. Many publishers are reluctant to make their publications available in e-book
format and / or to promote them too strenuously, because they are afraid of the
effect on their revenues. This is especially true of the major textbook
publishers, who have instead invested heavily in producing supplementary /
complementary electronic materials to support print books. These related
points constitute a barrier to uptake.
8. Both publishers and aggregators have developed a wide range of charging
techniques for e-books, some of which are difficult to understand, and make it
difficult to assess whether value for money is being obtained. This constitutes
a barrier to uptake.
9. Booksellers have experimented with e-books in a limited way, but are finding
it difficult to carve out a role for themselves in the e-book supply chain
(although some library suppliers are beginning to see that their services are
needed). As they are therefore not filling the important role of information
providers that they occupy in the print book information supply chain, this
constitutes a barrier to uptake.
10. The four major points made in 9 above should be linked to the major point
made in 5 and 6 above: promoting awareness of e-books to the right people is
critical.
11. E-book users - librarians, academics, lecturers and students - have identified a
whole raft of barriers to uptake, as well as the advantages that e-books offer to
them, which are examined in detail in Chapter Three. It is suggested that
from this comprehensive range of issues, the following are the major ones that
need to be addressed if uptake of e-books is to reach its full potential in further
and higher education in the UK:
Availability of the publications that are required in e-book format.
Congenial and appropriate (to the subject matter) presentation of the
material, so that it is found to be equal or superior to other formats
within the context that it is being used.
A price structure which is viable for all stakeholders (i.e., all suppliers
and end-users).
Near-universal access of students to the Internet and appropriate
hardware.
12. Some academics and lecturers use e-books in innovative ways: their ideas
could be disseminated more widely.
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13. Students are confused about e-books and very imperfectly aware of them.
However, most are willing to try them.
14. Academics and lecturers use or expect to use e-books for a wide variety of
purposes, including teaching and research, lecture preparation and reference.
Librarians say that they expect the most common use of e-books to be for
reference. However, practice and expectations may be skewed by knowledge
of what is currently available.
15. It is particularly important that e-books feature on the main vehicle of

information used by most students: the reading list.
16. Assessing potential demand for e-books is difficult, because of the imperfect
information supply chain already identified, and because usage statistics
provided by publishers and aggregators are often difficult to understand, and
invariably inadequate for determining the quality and extent of usage. Some
modest successes and a few spectacular ones have been recorded by referring
to such usage statistics as are available. Of more significance in establishing
potential demand is that 71% of academics, 80% of FE lecturers and 72% of
students taking part in this study said that they would buy the e-book in
preference to the print book if it were significantly cheaper.
17. Some detailed analysis of individual e-book products has been undertaken by
separate groups of librarians; this work, which was time consuming to
produce, is very useful and could be shared more widely.
18. Librarians, academics and lecturers promote e-books in a variety of ways,
which have been recorded in Chapter Five. Some of these constitute best
practice, and could profitably be shared more widely. Librarians, in particular,
should not blame end-users for poor uptake; should put e-books on the
catalogue; should offer targeted e-book training sessions; should work with
academics on selecting suitable e-books; and should evaluate user feedback
and usage statistics, and act upon them. Publishers and aggregators should also
adopt as wide a variety of methods to promote e-books as possible. Examples
of methods currently used are also recorded in Chapter Five. This study
suggests that the most important things to get right are:
to ensure that the right people are being promoted to in the right way
with the right products (i.e., that the information supply chain issues
are being addressed).
that a mixture of print, personal and electronic promotional approaches
are used, as being most effective (but that it should be noted that costs
of promotion have to be borne, and by the customer).
that promotional attempts by all relevant stakeholders should be
underpinned by the following abstract attributes: enterprising,
pragmatic, energetic, innovative, and focused.
that imperfect (from the librarians point of view) provision of
cataloguing and metadata for e-books, though important, should not be
allowed by librarians to constitute a barrier to uptake in itself.
154
19. Despite the point made in 18c) above, there is a number of cataloguing and
metadata issues which should be resolved in order to achieve maximum
uptake; ways in which these can profitably be addressed by both librarians and
publishers are listed in Chapter Six.
20. A series of case studies, including examples of best practice, has been
developed for this study. These are given in supply chain order at the end of
this report, and, if read as a continuous narrative, highlight how some of the
perceived barriers to uptake can be removed, and how e-books can be
promoted more fully by a wider range of institutions and individuals.
8.3 Recommendations and Future Promotional Plan
Note: It has already been indicated, and should now be stressed, that it is not possible
for this report to design a template for e-book promotional activity for any of the main
groups of stakeholders involved, i.e., publishers, aggregators, booksellers and
librarians.
Librarians have local knowledge of what is likely to work for them, and need to build
their own promotional strategies, based on such knowledge. It is hoped, however,
that all of the examples given in this report, and the recommendations and case
studies which follow, will act as an enabling resource for them when they are engaged
upon this activity.
Publishers, aggregators and booksellers, though they may wish to learn from each
other, and it is hoped will draw rich insights from the experiences, observations and
ideas of the end-user groups which have been recorded in detail here, as well as the
case studies, have to create their own strategies, of which promotion of e-books forms
only a part. They are commercial organisations, and the other stakeholders in the ebook supply chains must acknowledge that they have a right as well as a need to make
a profit; and that all their services must ultimately be paid for by their customers. It
would therefore be an impertinence, as well as counter-productive, for a research team
or even a well-respected national organisation to try to prescribe to them what they
should do to promote e-books.
However, the report has attempted to point out the advantages to be gained by all
stakeholder groups from promoting e-books, as well as indicating clearly the barriers
to uptake which they jointly need to address. Encouragement should be taken from
the fact that the recommendations represent a compendium of the views of all
stakeholder groups as represented by the panels; and the publishers among them have
been especially brave and innovative in suggesting ways that they can be more
proactive.
I am indebted to Michael Holdsworth for devising the format in which the
recommendations are listed.
8.3iA. Publishers and Aggregators
1. Drive e-book demand by making more content available:
155
a) Break out of slow market / slow growth circularity.

b) Make frontlist and textbook content available not spent backlist.
c) Recognise e-book potential of monographs, which are slow sellers in
print.
d) Develop focused e-book collections for subscription or purchase.
e) Be prepared to take risks with e-book / print cannibalisation until
quantifiable either way.
2. Maximise e-book functional potential, follow the print book route and ejournals (when considering potential):
a) Learn from the print book information supply chain.
b) Recognise that e-journals usage now exceeds print journals usage.
c) Design better, intuitive, usable, born-as e-books (note: there has been
work carried out by librarians and academics on this to help publishers.
See, for example, http://www.ebooks.strath.ac.uk/;
http://readability.tees.ac.uk).
d) Exploit internal and external hyperlinks and cross-references.
e) Consider exploiting material developed as supplementary /
complementary to printed textbooks in purchasable e-book format.
f) Support intradocument fulltext and keyword searching.
g) Create fragments and chapter headings.
h) Allow bookmarking, annotation.
i) Retain pagination where text referencing is important.
j) Design layouts and fonts explicitly for screen use (no ex-print hybrids).
k) Make best use of current screens and bandwidth (which can only
improve).
l) Make use of standards when available; Openebook XML is all to be
discovered!
m) Try different platforms and co-ordinate efforts if possible with the
mobile / e-learning community.
3. Persevere with business model experimentation in immature market:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Price lower than print, recognising pro tem lower value of e-book.
Work with channel partners on sharing thin e-book margins.
Streamline a more efficient supply chain through EDI.
Recognise the value of bookseller and library vendor supply chain
roles.
e) Question all intermediarisation.
4. Persevere with usage model, avoid restrictive DRM [Digital Rights
Management]:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Remove the obstacles: allow simultaneous use.

No time-outs; no self-destructs; no return to shelf.
Permit modest printing and copy-and-paste.
Piggy-back on e-journals subscriptions, site-licence and
consortium models.
e) Work to allow usage on multiple devices.
156
f) At least consider escrow and persistency / archival issues.

5. Assuage the netLibrary*, Betamax, wrong platform jitters:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Standards, standards, standards.

Offer swap-out of superseded formats.
Offer choice of formats; always offer web PDF.
Seek out new killer business model; see past netLibrary* approach.
Understand reasons for failure of early adoption:
i. Remember the information supply chain.
ii. Old books, too few books, user unawareness = poor take-up.
Note: these comments about netLibrary reflect the views of the publisher group
and some librarians. As has been made clear elsewhere in this report, response to
the netLibrary product has been complex approving and disapproving - as well
as high profile, because netLibrary is the best-known aggregator. netLibrary has
been cited as an example of best practice in the case studies at the end of this
report because of its willingness to respond to user demands. The panels were not
made aware of the issues being discussed at netLibrary user group meetings, as
first hand experience of these was only acquired at a late stage of the research.
6. Promote and communicate to HE / FE:

a) Built the mind-share; demystify the experience.
b) Integrate e-book exposure / marketing with print.
i. Promote in parallel in print catalogues, space adverts.
ii. Create joint web catalogues (no separate e-store).
iii. Insert e-book flyers in print.
c) Use e-book formats experimentally.
i. For print and e-book catalogues (combined).
ii. For tasters, samplers, review copies, desk copies, inspection
copies.
d) Experiment with e-book / print bundles:
i. Free voucher-based access to e-book with print purchase,
marginal cost for singe user.
e) Promulgate successes:
i. OCLCs role in making netLibrary more user-friendly.
ii. Good working models: ORO, Xrefer, Books24x7.
iii. (Publishers / Aggregators) to write up their own case studies;
work the academic press.
f) Produce better quality usage statistics:
i. Easy to understand.
ii. Qualitative: what material was accessed, at what level of detail.
iii. Quantitative: how long was spent on material, and by whom?
g) Find a librarian to champion product.
7. Exploit metadata for discovery:
a) Integrate e-books into the proven e-journal environment.
b) Build e-books into JISC and similar information environments.
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c) Adopt recommendations from Panel C (Chapter Six).
8. Promote and communicate internally within publishing houses:

a) Demonstrate quick wins for marketing (refer to Point 6 above).
b) Establish no-extra-cost structured workflows.
c) Demonstrate XML-first as cheaper, faster, more agile, more accurate.
8.3iB. Booksellers and Library Suppliers

1. Assert your place in the e-book distribution and information supply chains:
a) Promote e-books in campus bookshops with posters, leaflets, etc.
b) Point out that titles are available in e-book format when
communicating with academics about reading lists.
c) Include e-books in print book lists for retail customers and librarians.
d) Work to demystify e-books for students. Keep it simple, and make it
easy for students to:
i. use e-books.
ii. buy e-books.
e) Start by working with the richer (in terms of availability) e-book
strands / subjects: Business, Law, Health / Medicine.
f) Be prepared to help customers by publicising the wealth of free e-book
material thats available this is likely to lead indirectly to both print
and e-book sales.
2. Think innovatively in order to capitalise on the potential of e-book sales,
rather than agonising over the drawbacks:
a) Dont assume that e-book sales necessarily mean cannibalisation of core
textbook sales:
i. Work with publishers to reinvigorate sales of the secondary
materials on reading lists, which are increasingly difficult to
sell in print format. (The Gold Leaf 2001 study showed that
3% of print books sales were for secondary reading materials,
compared with 87% for essential reading texts, and 10% on
non-reading list materials.)140
ii. Remember that only 56% of students unable to find the print
book that they want in the campus bookshop will wait for the
bookshop to order it.141 The rest of the sales are lost. To offer
the e-book as an alternative is better than losing the sale
altogether.
iii. Work with academics and publishers to make the large number
of O/P titles that academics wish to recommend (especially in
the arts and social sciences) available in e-book format.
140
141
Op. cit., p. 5.
Gold Leaf study, op. cit., p.7.
158
b) Give students the option of buying the e-book more cheaply than the print
book. Work with publishers to ensure that margin is not eroded.
c) Note that working on a) and b) together could result in more overall sales. As
with publishers, be prepared to take risks until the outcomes are quantifiable
either way (positive or negative).
3. Think innovatively by working with new channel partners:
a) Arrange for the bookshop catalogue to be integrated with the library catalogue
/ lending system and university / college teaching systems:
i. If a library book is out on loan, offer a link to an e-book
equivalent (if there is one) which can either be lent (using a
platform provider model such as Overdrives) or purchased ,
either via a link to the campus bookshop, or a partner online
bookseller (e.g., Swotbooks; Amazon).
ii. Keep close to academics, and try to integrate the information
that you give them with online teaching requirements: provide
simple links to e-book material within online texts / course
notes, etc.
iii. Work with publishers on formatting: e.g., by experimenting
with chapter-by-chapter sales.
b) Install trial e-book purchase ports in store:
i. Allow students / course leaders to purchase a range of
recommended e-books (perhaps in partnership with a publisher)
and download them to portable devices.
ii. Work with a manufacturer (e.g., Hewlett Packard or Dell) to
hire out handheld devices for a specific group of students or
to a specific course leader for a set period.
iii. (following on from b(ii) above) work with a publisher and a
platform provider to pre-load some course material on to the
device in order to kick-start the process.
8.3iC. Librarians at all levels

1. Maximise e-book discovery and access:
a) Work on OPAC, collection management, MARC integration,
integrated catalogue searching, etc.
b) Proprietary advertisements on library home-page.
c) Simplify / streamline on-campus and remote authentication (e.g., the
Huddersfield OneLog access method).
d) Deprecate any restrictive / unreasonable DRM models.
2. Promote and communicate to users and patrons:
a) Build the mind-share; demystify the experience (by integrating information on
e-books with regular training sessions, in library literature, liaising with
academics, suggest adopting e-books as reading-list acquisitions and / or for
VLEs / MLEs).
159
b) Start with faculty, then postgraduates, then undergraduates / FE students.

c) Set up e-book / e-journal help desks.
d) Either a librarian e-book champion or head librarian to take responsibility
for ensuring that all library staff are trained in e-books / how to use them.
e) Encourage access to public domain / free e-book collections as tasters. Help
academics to assess appropriateness for use of free collections. Catalogue free
collections if approved by academics.
f) Demand time for these activities.
3. Focus pilot activity:
a) Be systematic about e-book acquisitions.
b) Pilot, monitor, measure, report. Analyse usage statistics and act on the
information. Lobby publishers / aggregators for better usage statistics. Lobby
publishers / aggregators for user groups and contribute to them. Publicise
successes to colleagues / faculty. Lobby for time to carry out these activities.
c) Work at ownership of campus CMS, D-Space type activity.
4. Remember the best practice tenets:

a) Dont knock the customers!
b) Make best possible use of the catalogue.
c) Offer targeted training sessions, if possible to different groups at
different levels at different times.
d) Work with academics on e-book selection, and on suggesting which
formats are most suitable for which groups / activities when there is a
choice.
e) Evaluate usage statistics and user feedback, and act upon them.
f) Be innovative and diverse in the ways in which you seek to
disseminate information about e-books.
5. Build new partnerships
a) Use your influence to approach and work with new partners in the
emerging technologies.
b) Make suggestions to publishers and aggregators about the kind of
support materials you would like to be able to use.
c) Work with academics on designing information science modules for
credit; participate in the delivery of them.
d) Contribute to reviews, newsletters and other vehicle for evaluating
individual products.
e) Remember that your role is pivotal and that your opinions are valued.
6. Help to maintain best practice
a) Make use of the manual that accompanies this report.
160
b) Help to maintain it as a living document by giving feedback,

contributing new ideas and exercises, and case studies.
c) Make sure that you are involved in any cross-professional resource
material assessments set up by your institution or other professional
working groups to which you belong.
d) Take an active role in planning the use of e-books within the context of
the development of e-learning in your institution.
8.3iD. Academics
a) Recognise that many potential e-book purchasers and users are waiting
for greater certainty to emerge over standard text formats, e-book
operational functionality and lending conventions. Until there is
certainty in these standards and practices, it is unlikely that there will
be a big upsurge in interest and use.
b) Promote debate about the use of e-books through the commissioning of
special features in the higher education press and special editions of
mainstream higher education journals, especially the LTSN and
ILTHE journals.
c) Encourage institutions to establish senior management groups which
bring academics, lecturers, librarians, learning technologists and
information technologists together regularly to plan the development of
elearning and e-book resources.
d) Review the possibility of making it a requirement for higher and
further education institutions to specify their plans for e-learning, ebooks and printed resources in their teaching and learning strategy.
e) Incentivise the àdvocates to convert their àmbivalent colleagues by
introducing financial and career incentives. These incentives might
include additional salary increments or grade promotions for ICT
champions. They might also include teaching relief and/or sabatical
leave for staff involved in organising and promoting activity in this
area.
f) Make sure that staff are provided with continuous professional
development which enables them to periodically update their
knowledge, understanding and skills with e-learning technologies and
associated pedagogic issues. This development should include time for
a review of e-books. This support may encourage `synics and `surface
adopters to become `strategic users and even `systemic believers.
g) Consider making a special stream of funding available to promote
experimentation with the use of e-books by regional consortia of
universities and further education colleges. This activity should
encourage the transfer of understanding between institutions and staff.
h) Encourage ALT, UCISA, FERL and BECTA to sponsor the
development of a nationally recognised qualification for learning
technologists which combines technical IT skills with educational and
pedagogic development and an understanding of librarianship and
information management.
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8.3iE. JISC
Note: the recommendations for JISC include some for the wider organisation as well
as for the E-Book Working Group.
1. Generally, make librarians and academics more aware of JISC and its
activities, particularly, in this context, in the e-book field:
a) Streamline the website, and put on it an organogram with key contact
details.
b) Display the mission statement, or a longer rationale explaining JISCs
activities, prominently.
c) Supply the (newly-appointed) marketing manager with two simple,
attractive packages detailing JISC initiatives, ongoing work, etc. for
academics and librarians respectively.
d) Make the work of the E-Book Working Group, including details of
current projects and work-in-progress, readily available, with frequent
updates.
e) Appoint a co-ordinator to keep people working on different projects
informed about each others progress, act as a central repository for
information (to prevent reinvention of the wheel), and where possible
help to share resources.
2. Capitalise on existing e-book initiatives; support wider e-book initiatives:
a. Gather e-book evaluations of different products and pricing
models that have been made by librarians (and some
publishers), and store / add to them as a repository for librarians
wishing to assess these products.
b. Continue the work started by the E-Book Working Group to
lobby for better usage statistics.
c. Continue the work started by the E-Book Working Group to
address systems issues.
d. Publicise widely information about free e-books, especially
those collected by the Oxford Texts Archive.
e. Consult more closely with leaders of consortia, to benefit from
their understanding of their members requirements and
negotiating strengths.
f. Build on the acknowledged success of the Taylor & Francis /
Wiley / Pluto Press consultation earlier this summer.
3. Commission targeted follow-up work based on the findings of this study:
a) As well as lobbying academic journals for e-book reviews, commission an ebook evaluation mechanism (cf. TEEM evaluative mechanism set up for
secondary level educational resources).
b) Commission a quarterly e-book newsletter for librarians and academics.
c) Commission the detailed study of the use of e-books within an MLE
environment, following at least four cohorts of students at two universities.
[Proposal to follow from Gold Leaf working in partnership with several
162
universities, including the Universities of the West of England and

Huddersfield, both of which contributed to the project]
d) Commission a manual especially aimed at FE librarians and lecturers.
4. Lobby / negotiate within the wider community:

a) Lobby the government to improve ICT facilities at FE colleges.
b) Negotiate with ISPs to provide special deals suited to students living in offcampus accommodation.
c) Negotiate with hardware providers and universities / colleges to obtain special
deals for students, academics, lecturers and departments wishing to purchase
handheld readers; and for students wishing to buy PCs / laptops.
d) Work to make the e-book supply chain similar to the print book supply chain by
forcing tighter integration with library automations systems from the acquisition
process to check out / display.
e) Use influence to work towards a coalescence of reading platforms / technologies.
f) Use influence to work towards simplification of business models to 2 or 3 base
types with a common core functionality; it is suggested that differentiation of
each player within a business model would be through their supply of additional
functionality at additional cost.
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The Case Studies

Case Study No. 1
The Academic Authors Perspective
I teach Modern Languages, and I write translations for a well-known publisher. I am
on the steering group of a modern languages database that this publisher is putting
together. They wrote to ask my permission for making my books available in eformat, and I was happy about this. I am generally in favour of things electronic. I
notice that there is now a payment line from NetLibrary on the royalty statement.
Some time ago, I was consulted by our librarian about paying for electronic reference
books services. At the time I didnt think it was worth it, because there is some good
stuff free on the net. I am aware of the activities of the Oxford Texts Archive.
I feel that e-books have not been well promoted: it is partly a question of definition.
Also, the problem with the adoption of any electronic learning services is that there is
a lot of behind the scenes activity: both academics and library staff have to do an
awful lot of work to make them succeed.
I do recommend websites and appropriate databases to students and colleagues in my
department I feel that I have helped to raise the profile of electronic awareness here.
I used to keep a log of all our web activities, to see whether they were increasing and
how they were being used. There are problems of access for students: there are not
enough computers for them to use, despite the fact that we have been quite cutting
edge in introducing VLEs here. I have been kept well-informed of progress
throughout the university generally by the library, and I keep in touch with them on
new products that become available they buy some now. But I still wont let them
pay for stuff that we can get free.
I realise that there has been a great effort to provide annotated, edited e-book
resources to the academic community JISC is big on this but I dont feel the need
to use them myself. I keep my own list of resources I run a website for academic
journalists in the UK and Ireland, so I get plenty of information. More and more
people are trying to introduce these resources into higher education, but they are only
as good as the people who put them together. You just have to look at some of them!
I do actually promote electronic learning to all out students through the departments
websites. I have been interested in recent AHRB initiatives. People no longer rely on
specialists to design stuff for them they usually get a bright young academic to do
the job.
There are no distance learning students in this department, but there are some attached
to the Centre for Applied Language 20 or 30 postgraduates based in South-East
Asia. We use e-mail to correspond with them, not much live web interaction.
I have not used chapters or part-books on VLEs for my own teaching I am sceptical
about their use and about the cost benefit. Our groups or modules rarely attract more
than twenty students, so it is not necessary to use the VLE though it has been
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successfully rolled out across the campus. I can see the point of using VLEs, and
possibly making part books available to large groups of students, but for me it is
easier to give the student a handout.
As a university, we have found that students need careful training to use VLEs
properly- getting them to log on daily is difficult. Even contacting students by e-mail
has been a problem they have their own e-mail addresses, and dont see the point of
using the university one. In any group of 20 students, there will always be about 3
who never log on to VLEs and dont read their university e-mails.
Case Study No. 2:

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a Publisher: Oxford University Press142
Oxford University Press has developed a number of separate e-book initiatives, two of
which the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online and Oxford Reference Online
(ORO) are currently available to academic librarians as JISC deals.
The print version of the Oxford English Dictionary is the largest dictionary of English
in the world, which traces the evolution of over 600,000 words and demonstrates
changing usage through more than 2.5 million quotations. Clearly a work of this size
is a particularly suitable candidate for e-book format. Oxford Reference Online
brings together a large and growing selection of OUPs dictionaries and reference
works into a single, cross-searchable resource. Oxford is also about to launch Oxford
Scholarship Online, which will consist of a database of 750 scholarly titles with a lot
of added metadata to make cross-referenced searches possible Oxford has gone back
to the authors and asked them to write abstracts and identify keywords for every
chapter. On the whole, these are not textbooks Kate Jury, Marketing Director of
Oxford University Press, describes the majority as not the sort of books that you
would expect students to buy but perhaps some you would expect the faculty or
library to buy. The titles are mostly drawn from the Humanities and Social Sciences,
and are by authors who struggle to achieve enough sales to justify a traditional printrun. Therefore, making the material available in e-book format produces a win-win
situation for everybody.
OUP targets both HE and FE libraries with its products. Not many sales are made to
individuals. A separate schools division produces online products for schools.
Oxford charges by annual subscription fee, and modestly, for its online products its
prices are considered to be on the low side of reasonable but it is covering its
costs from e-books, and making money from some of them. Its strategy is to have a
wide range of subscribers paying affordable prices, rather than to sell at a premium
price to a select few. Providing access to as many users as possible is an important
part of its philosophy.
142
http://www.oup.com
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Although libraries are the main subscribers to OUP online products, it recognises the
importance of marketing them to academics. Susanna Lob, the Sales and Marketing
Director for online reference works, says: One vocal professor can exert a lot of
influence. Oxford therefore produces an attractive range of printed promotional
materials, including brochures, illustrated cards which explain how to conduct simple
and advanced searches, leaflets about the individual products, and fun items such as
promotional postcards and mouse-mats. It tries to liaise with different academic
departments at universities, in order to understand their teaching and research needs,
and also works closely with academic libraries to try to understand what their needs
are. Free trials are offered, and upon request libraries can also get help with
advertising Oxford products on their own websites for example, Oxford will provide
them with a logo to put on the librarys homepage, to draw attention to the fact that it
has an Oxford collection. All the information about the Oxford / JISC deals is
available on Oxfords website. If a library approached Oxford direct and was
unaware of the JISC offers, Oxford would inform it about these.
Now that it is about to launch Oxford Scholarship Online, Oxford is working on a
new access control system through which customers can gain entry to all Oxford
products to which they have subscribed from one log-in.
The most significant problem that Oxford has encountered with e-books is librarians
expectation of perpetual access. As Susanna Lob says, no-one can guarantee supply
for ever. She feels that Oxfords subscription fee is the equivalent to a service
charge, and she believes that this is of benefit to the customer, as if the product were
to be sold outright to the library, there would be no incentive for the supplier to
continue to develop content and functionality.
Oxford is widening its promotional activities to include learned societies, such as the
American Association for British Studies, and library consortia. So far, however, it
has made no plans to promote to students, although several focus groups of students
and academics were set up both in the UK and the US in order to gather their views
on content and functionality when Oxford Scholarship Online was under
development.
Case Study No. 3

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis began its electronic publishing programme in 2001. It is aimed
primarily at the HE market, with a few FE titles available, mainly in Psychology.
Eventually, it will address the professional market as well. Its e-book publishing
programme includes publications from each of the categories of monographs,
textbooks and reference works. It is the companys aim to make e-books financially
viable in their own right, and it has already recouped its initial investment in epublishing.
Taylor & Francis sells e-books via its own website, which is exemplary in terms of
ease of access, explanations of what e-books are and how to use them, and
descriptions of the different e-book Readers. It also sells e-books through the
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websites of D.A. Books (Australia), Coutts / John Smith, Dawsons, Blackwells,

Overdrive, e-books.com, NetLibrary and Baker & Taylor.
As well as engaging in partnerships with booksellers, Taylor & Francis actively
promotes e-books to academics, librarians and students. In this it is unusual:
relatively few publishers address all four stakeholder groups. It goes about reaching
the latter three groups in the following ways:
It lists e-book ISBNs alongside those for printed books in its catalogues
There is a random advertisement for e-books every few pages in the
catalogues
A fold-out rice-paper leaflet, aimed at students and academics, is inserted into
each of its printed books before sale
Journals contain an electronic book alert to academics (but not students)
Its advertising campaign for e-books is largely conducted via print, rather than
electronically, at present, and the company does feel that it should gear itself up to
electronic advertising. Nevertheless, there is evidence that publishers who rely on
electronic advertising for e-books are less successful than those who adopt more
visible print methods.
Taylor and Francis sells e-books as complete entities, on a chapter-by-chapter basis,
and on a slice-and-dice basis to end-users. It is also happy to negotiate deals with
libraries and consortia, and has just concluded a very well received library offer with
JISC.
For the JISC deal, Taylor and Francis limits one pair of eyes to a book at any one time
but there are no limits to the number of users accessing each package, so with 180
books you can have up to 180 users and if a specific book is being used the student
may book it in advance for when it next becomes available. Access is gained either
by IP range or library ID number, or by using ATHENS authentication. The
institution pays a fee according to its band size, established by JISC.
Case Study No. 4

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by an Aggregator: netLibrary
netLibrary was founded in 1998, in Boulder, Colorado; its mission was to offer
librarians as comprehensive access as possible to e-book collections. In view of some
of the comments made about netLibrary during the course of the report, it may seem
an odd choice for an example of best practice: but it has been chosen because, of all
the publishers and aggregators interviewed, it is the most flexible about responding to
customer demands.
netLibrary began with university press books, and, as it gained more credibility, was
able to widen the content range progressively. Its main target customers are academic
and college libraries, but it has now started to promote to the professional market as
well. At the time of writing (July 2003), the netLibrary collection consists of 56,000
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titles, and is being added to daily. Between 1200 and 1500 titles are added each
month.
The netLibrary collection is added to in specific areas, following feedback from
individual customers and the netLibrary user groups. It also looks at the usage data
that it provides to customers, to try to ascertain where the gaps are. In the UK, where
it has been operating since 2000, it has listened to the criticism that the content is US
focused, and has tried hard to add European and international titles to the collection.
Subscribers to netLibrary are required to start with a collection consisting of a
minimum of 100 books (it used to be 500, but, again listening to its customers,
netLibrary recognised that many felt that this figure was too high). The netLibrary
pricing model consists of paying the hardcopy price of the book x 1.8 plus a service
charge in the first year, then just the service charge thereafter. It is a one book, one
user model: e-books out on issue from the collection can only be borrowed by a
second user upon their return. (The library can, if it chooses, stock several copies of
the same e-book.) The library customers decide the length of the issue period.
netLibrary supplies them with user statistics, and also turnaway statistics a record
of books that would have been borrowed had they been available. Once more
responding to customer feedback, netLibrary has improved the layout and
transparency of its user statistics considerably.
Most netLibrary titles are monographs or reference works. It does hold some
textbooks, but their representation in the overall range is insignificant. It is currently
experimenting with expanding the service by offering part-books and journals.
The netLibrary e-book database allows users to perform full text word and phrase
searches in their e-book collection. The Reference Centre, created following
feedback from users, highlights the reference content in a librarys e-book collection
by providing the ability to search by entry.
The majority of its promotional material for librarians newsletters, new product
mailings, etc. is delivered electronically, so that librarians can choose to opt out if
they no longer wish to receive it. Newsletters are sent out every thirty days. The
netLibrary new title notification system sends an e-mail to libraries identifying new
titles by subject area. Libraries may subscribe to this distribution list at
http://www.netlibrary.com/about_us/lead_generation/. New and forthcoming e-book
titles are also displayed in netLibrarys TitleSelect catalog
(www.netlibrary.com/titleselect).
In addition, netLibrary produces quite a lot of point-of-use material in print. This is
directed at students, and explains how to access the collection, how to search it, and
how to best to make use of the e-book functionality. There are also free point-of-sale
fun products, such as bookmarks and balloons, to capture students interest.
netLibrary makes no overt attempt to capture the attention of academics, though they
are of course free to pick up these promotional materials on visits to the library.
netLibrary provides full MARC 21 records, so that when a library purchases a
collection, the library can link to the records via an embedded URL. Libraries who
make use of this facility have higher usage statistics than those who dont. Any
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library purchasing a netLibrary licence automatically gains access to 3,800 out-of

copyright e-books at no charge.
netLibrary has recently launched several content-specific promotions that are
designed to explore alternative e-book offerings. It is also working with publishers to
persuade them to discount backlist titles so that librarians can purchase electronic
copies of highly-used title currently held only in print.
netLibrary has grown 300% in the UK in the last three years. 23 representatives from
UK and European libraries currently belong to the user group another initiative
developed to link in new developments closely to what the customer wants.
It continues to work with users to address issues that prevent maximum uptake of ebooks in the UK academic sector. For example, a current hot topic at present being
examined by the user group is the one book, one user model. Previously, the group
has looked at distance learner access and different ways of paying.
Case Study No. 5

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a Bookseller: Swotbooks
Set up in 2000, Swotbooks is an innovative online bookselling company which
mainly sells print books to the HE market. It also deals, but to a much lesser extent,
with FE and corporate customers.
Swotbooks first offered e-books in 2001, via the Taylor & Francis EbookStore model
(also used by Blackwells and John Smiths). It has since moved on to the Overdrive
/ Midas digital warehouse model, which enables it to stock e-books from a wide range
of academic publishing houses and sell them seamlessly from its own website.
Swotbooks does not distinguish between types of e-book: it just wants to sell any that
are commercially available.
The Swotbooks strategy was to launch with paper books on-line, and then to add
electronic books primarily as a customer service feature. It expected to gain more
margin from e-books on a sale-by-sale basis, and has achieved this. Swotbooks ebook sales have achieved a twenty-fold year on year growth, but from a very low
initial base.
Swotbooks itself does not support e-books with paid-for advertisements, but says that
Overdrive does quite a lot of advertising on behalf of its clients. Currently, the
company feels that the turnover on e-books is too low to put serious money behind
advertising them, especially as it perceives that availability of content attractive to the
UK market is fairly limited.
Swotbooks always sells e-books at a discount this is driven by its company policy of
discounting (from published RRP) everything that it sells. It offers the Taylor &
Francis explanatory information about e-books on its website; this consists of some
quite comprehensive FAQs, and a brief Idiots Guide. The aim is to demystify the
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format. Nevertheless, most of the complaints it receives relate to technological issues.

On average, it receives two per fortnight. The most frequent complaint is from people
trying to download the book when they have not or have not been able to activate
Microsoft Reader (which needs doing first). Also, people sometimes buy the book
on-line and are then not sure how to access it. Most problems therefore stem from
downloading issues.
Swotbooks aim is to provide customers with a format-agnostic catalogue, i.e., to fully
integrate its e-book and print book lists. It believes that this is the best way for
academics to find out about e-books. All books and all formats are also listed in both
the paper and on-line catalogues: David Taylor, Chairman and Founder of Swotbooks,
says that this is a strong promotional tool, and easy to do.
True to its trademark innovative approach, Swotbooks has attempted some joint
initiatives for promoting e-books in the HE sector. The most ambitious of these was
developed as a proposed joint initiative with a prominent university and a handheld
reader manufacturer in 2002. The university was keen to provide History and Politics
students with pre-loaded e-book readers that contained all the materials for the course
for one semester. However, the project stalled because no hardware suppliers would
contribute by offering price concessions, and because the university itself wished to
put what turned out to be impractically stringent control mechanisms in place. David
Taylor, who tried to broker the deals with the various parties, says that the publishers
were enthusiastic about the idea, and willing to help. If it had worked, Swotbooks had
a longer term plan to roll out the offer to a number of universities. David Taylor is
philosophical about the fact that it did not succeed, and remains optimistic that such
joint ventures will be successfully carried off in the future: he considers that it is key
for all members of the emerging e-book supply chain to work together on such
initiatives in order to exploit e-book technology to its fullest extent.
Case Study No. 6

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a University (1): The University of Aston
Aston is a relatively small university with a student population of approximately
6,000 studying in four main subject areas: Life and Health sciences; Engineering and
Applied Science; Business; and Languages and European Studies. The library had
subscribed to a number of journal services for example, Science Direct, IEEE for
some time, and the librarians felt it was the right time to experiment in certain subject
areas with e-books. They also knew that computer science students, in particular,
were not the most habitual library users, and wanted to give them good quality
information via the Internet.
The Library and Information Resources budget at Aston is divided between the four
schools, then between individual subject areas. The School of Engineering and
Applied Science also has a development fund of 10,000, which can only be exploited
during the first year of purchase of any product: thereafter, the library has to find a
fund-holder prepared to take on the experimental purchase on a more permanent
basis. The academic staff are always consulted by the library, and it wouldnt
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introduce a new resource unless they gave it the go-ahead. Some academics were
much more supportive of the concept than others.
Aston has been subscribing to netLibrary since 2001; currently its collection consists
of 169 computer science and IT books. In 2002 it began its subscription to the CRC
Press handbooks (it took all the six packages available at the time, but others have
since become available); and at the same time, started subscribing to three Wiley
chemistry encyclopaedias.
Although Amanda Poulton, the Information Specialist for Engineering and Life
Sciences, and Frances Hall, the Information Specialist for Engineering and Applied
Science, both say that they could have done more work with the user statistics, they
have in fact carried out quite a lot of useful analysis. E-books have come out well in
their sporadic comparisons between the loan stock and the e-book collections. They
have also charted use of netLibrary, Wiley encyclopaedias and CRC Press (see
Figures 7, 8 and 9), and can demonstrate that, whilst usage of both is highest in
October and November, at the time when the library gives demonstrations to students,
there is also a smaller peak in February (in the case of netLibrary, almost as great as
the one in November), which shows that students and academics are using the e-book
collections of their own accord, with no extra prompting from the library.
Aston has experimented with the provision of selected free e-books. In particular, it
has assessed and promoted PubMed bookshelf, FreeBooks4Doctors and NetLibrarys
free collection. (we havent done much with netLibrarys free collections, as theyre
mainly relevant to arts & humanities, and FreeBooks4Doctors is something that
Amanda discovered just a few days before our presentation, so we havent done much
with that either. PubMed is the main one weve added those books to our catalogue)
Amanda Poulton says that the librarians main concern next to quality is that the
URLs are maintained and stable: i.e., that the library does not have to worry
continually about possible withdrawal of access of these titles.
E-books are promoted by the library to academics and students in a range of ways,
some of them original and imaginative. Information on e-books is included in
information skills sessions for students, and in academic staff development sessions;
except for CRC Press, e-books are included on the catalogue; CRC Press is not
currently included because of the large number of titles involved and the short
contract if it subsequently opts for a five year deal, CRC Press titles will be added.
netLibrary is used as a case study in a first year information skills module run by the
Computer Science group; e-mails about e-books are regularly sent to staff and
students; information about e-books is included in LISten, the library newsletter to
academic staff; and e-books are featured on the librarys website. In addition, the
librarians have many one-to-one conversations with staff and students about e-books,
and are constantly trying to think of other ways of promoting them, particularly in
non-autumn-term times.
Reactions to e-books from staff and students have generally been favourable. The
students are keen to see reading list items and core textbooks more generally
available. There has been some expression of dislike of reading on the screen (though
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one PhD student said that he actually preferred reading on screen). The academics are
concerned about whether e-books offer value for money when compared to print
books. The library is also concerned about cost, and finds most of the pricing models
expensive which will have an impact on its ability to maintain the collections and
expand provision of e-books to its users. Availability of content, currency of material
and limits on usage (relating both to off-campus use and simultaneous user
restrictions) are also worries, as are archiving considerations and restrictions imposed
by some publishers on printing and / or downloading.
However, Frances Hall points out that many (its not unilateral!) students and staff
like e-books; that there are inherent risks in any innovation; that many of the issues
hold true for all electronic resources; and that the benefits of e-books balance the
concerns.
To date, Astons development of e-book collections has been concentrated in the area
of science. Future developments are planned to wider the subject matter held in ebook format. Currently, the library is considering whether it might subscribe to Safari
computing e-books and Oxford Reference Online (as a general library purchase). The
librarians feel that both e-book provision and uptake of e-books by academics and
students are almost certain to expand.
Case Study No. 7

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a University (2): Edgehill College
Edgehill College is an HEI with a diverse student base that includes many part-time
and distance learners, particularly working in the health sector. It operates from
several sites.
Edgehill has a fairly modest resources fund in comparison with other universities. It
spends on e-books 1.2% of the amount that it spends on print books. netLibrary ebooks, chosen across a range of subjects, form the nucleus of its e-book collection.
It buys e-books in order to provide additional copies for students; to make
supplementary texts available to them; to provide access to reference material; to
improve distance learning access; and to try to offer some reading list material in ebook format.
It promotes e-books to students and faculty in a range of ways, by providing links to
the e-book collection via the library website, via the library catalogue, through
induction and training sessions, by means of printed newsletters and factsheets, and
via its VLE. The librarians take care to ensure that e-books are included in both
college wide and departmental staff development and student induction and
information skills sessions, and that where available they are included on reading lists
and within online courses.
The netLibrary collection has gained a particular champion in Leo Appleton, the
Academic Liaison Adviser for Health Studies at the Library and Information
Resource Centre. He began by actively recruiting an e-book user group amongst part-
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time nursing students, and has now branched out to promote e-books to the whole
cohort of health students. He has also been actively engaged in embedding e-books
into the Colleges VLE.
Leo and his colleagues have paid detailed attention to user feedback on the netLibrary
collection, and recently conducted a full-scale evaluation exercise which was based on
feedback gathered from responses to 37 questionnaires. The respondents were a
mixture of students and academics. Leo is an active member of the NetLibrary User
Group, and therefore able to relay both positive and negative feedback to NetLibrary
as issues either to share with others or to address.
The following are the comments recorded from the evaluation exercise (which also
analysed specific questions on the presentation of, using and borrowing NetLibrary
books):
Question: What did you like best about using netLibrary E-Books?
Excellent search facilities (15 comments)
Speed of access (11 comments)
Accessibility ease of access plus good for remote access and distance users
(10 comments)
Keywords in text displayed in red (2 comments)
Facility to create book marks and favourites (2 comments)
Useful alternative resource / variety of resources helps to develop IT skills. (2
comments)
Format of search result summary, dictionary facility etc very good
Different access points e.g. via the web page or Library Catalogue
Short term loans
Dont need a library card
Book cannot get lost or damaged
Self check-in
No fines
Registering with NetLibrary was easy
Ability to browse before check-out
Could work well for Recommended Reading chapters on reading lists
Quite intuitive and nice interface.
Question: What did you like least about using netLibrary E-Books?
Strain on the eye (8 comments) (1 suggested would need an anti-glare filter
fitted)
Slow to load pages. Will be restricted by speed of computer (4 comments)
Not easy to find NetLibrary pages from Edgehill web page (4 comments)
Constraints of user access to limited resources, inc only one person can access
at a time, and loan period and browse period not long enough
Not able to reserve books (3 comments)
Page by page scrolling (3 comments)
Checking in problems - not easy to check book back in, find out when copies
are due back, or check in all books together (3 comments)
Struggled with keywords and searching, due to Boolean based search. and
English spelling not taken into account. (3 comments)
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Not easy to navigate

Kept asking for username
Miss physically holding a hard copy of a book.
Question: Have you any suggestions for improving the experience of using EBooks?
Would like to see many more titles available (suggestions included access to
reading list materials, class input for current students, and more Midwifery
books) (10 comments)
Longer loan periods, e.g. 2 hour, 2 day (3 comments)
Facility to reserve books (2 comments)
Direct link to Library from Edgehill webpage
ATHENS authentication
Should be able to go straight to next occurrence of a word in the text
Ability to alert user when e-book becomes available.
Edgehill has been included here as an example of best practice because of the
exceptional care that it has taken both to promote e-books and to obtain insight into
what users think about them; and for its holistic approach in introducing them. It is
now engaged in trying to address as many of the user comments as possible in order
to improve the e-book reading experience for its students.
Case Study No. 8

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a University (3): the University of
Huddersfield
E-books have formed part of the learning resources offered by the University of
Huddersfield for the past five years. An initiative from the School of Humanities led
to a joint project between the school and the library the Humanities Innovation
Project, for which the university provided funding. Academics identified free texts
available on the internet to be used as course material, e.g. folio editions of literary
texts. They were passed to Technical Services for adding to the library online
catalogue, so that access was easily identified for students.
The library at Huddersfield is open to new products and developments, so Technical
Services Manager, Eileen Hiller approached netLibrary for information about their
services. The potential for distance learners and for saving space was recognised and
so Huddersfield became the first UK university to subscribe to netLibrary, opening an
account in 2000. The initial collection of 500 books consisted mostly of computing
texts as the Academic Librarian, Jane Kaye, wished to experiment with a significant
collection in an area where students would be most receptive to the electronic format.
netLibrary now only requires new subscribers to choose 100 books, but Huddersfield
has retained its collection of 500, and has also added a few new titles.
Eileen Hiller and Jane Kaye, also the Science and Computing Librarian, both say that
the librarys pioneering spirit and willingness to take risks was crucial to its success.
Just do it and get on with it was our attitude, says Jane. If we couldnt find quite
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as many relevant titles as we would have liked, or the catalogue records supplied
werent quite what we expected, we just went ahead and did the best we could with
what was available. Waiting for perfection doesnt work. The netLibrary collection
was chosen by academic librarians identifying material that either matched or was
similar to books on reading lists, or to frequently issued books from the short term
loan collection. Choosing the e-books, they acknowledge, was a lengthy and tedious
process and the collection had a bias towards US material in some areas.
Subscriptions to Oxford Reference Online and Books24x7 followed. Jane discovered
Books24x7 by conducting a web search. She was looking for a reliable supplier for
computing e-books, because print computing collections are notoriously difficult to
keep up-to-date, poor value for money because they age so quickly, and at the time
netLibrary did not cover some of the significant publishers of computing books in
their collection. She approached Books24x7 herself the company normally targets
professional rather than academic libraries. It operates a one user licensing model
based on the number of FTEs studying at the university. The collection, which comes
as a complete entity consisting of a rich repository comprising literally thousands of
complete and unabridged works representing more than 400,000 knowledge
objects143including 3000 complete books in XML format, is edited and maintained
by the supplier: librarians do not choose individual titles. Although bundling may
sometimes annoy librarians wishing to experiment with e-books, Jane says that in this
instance it solves the problems of short shelf life and obscurity attendant upon
computer books. The computing collection has been so successful that Huddersfield
has just increased its subscription from one to three simultaneous users. Despite this,
Books24x7 still regards itself as primarily a business service. It produces virtually no
off-line promotional material, and is little known to UK academic librarians and
academics. Jane says leaflets about the product and lists of the books that can be
accessed would be a good idea.
The subject librarians at Huddersfield find that introducing students gradually to ebooks works best. The library now conducts very short induction sessions for new
students lasting about ten minutes during the first week of term, and follows these
up with more detailed sessions on specific learning resources, including e-books, later
on. This is because experience has shown that students are unable to take in large
amounts of information during their first week at university. The later more detailed
sessions are often conducted with tutorial groups as part of study skills modules, some
of which count for academic credit. In addition, Huddersfield offers all students and
academics a well-set-out handbook which describes how to use all of the librarys
resources, and contains a section on e-books. It also produces shorter leaflets which
describe the NetLibrary and Books24x7 products, and how to access, search and
annotate them most effectively. Understanding the implications of click fatigue,
Huddersfield has tried hard to make student access, both on and off campus, as easy
as possible by developing its OneLog system.
The library conducts training sessions for academics as well as students two took
place last year at which about ten members of staff turned up on each occasion
and information on all the learning resources available is placed in the staff
development handbook. E-mails about new products are sent to individual staff
143
Books24x7 online promotional material, from http://www.books24x7.com, accessed 27th June 2003.
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members. The library works particularly closely with the I.T. lecturers when
disseminating information about electronic products.
Huddersfield has become a centre of excellence for e-learning by pursuing a number
of initiatives, some of them very ambitious. The work of the CPCET consortium is
described in Case Study No. 14. Huddersfield is also home to the INFORMS project,
led by Jenny Brook, which works to demystify I.T. and promote best practice usage of
I.T. in universities this is described in more detail as Case Study No. 15 - and has
advised and given practical help to the current project. A Learning and Teaching
Innovation Unit has been set up at Huddersfield, at which a number of academics, led
by Professor Glenn Hardaker, develop ways of approaching learning through ICT.
Through the latter, a number of e-book experiments have been carried out. A
particular success resulted from the provision of handheld readers to a cohort of thirdyear English students for the study of Shakespeare. Hugh Robertson, the lecturer
leading the module, loaded different early versions of Shakespeares texts on to
handheld readers so that students could carry out textual comparisons during
seminars. This innovative way of using e-books to study in an area that usually
demands cumbersome comparison of several print texts was well received by the
students. Finally, a growing number of academics at Huddersfield is exploring the use
of e-books as a resource for students to explore through Blackboard. Hugh Robertson
says: Having these facilities makes you think what you can do with them
appropriately to the students needs and can extend and change how you teach.
Huddersfields can-do approach to e-books helps to explode some of barriers to
uptake myths that have grown up around the format. For example, a general
complaint from librarians has been that the netLibrary collection is too American for
UK libraries. Analysis of the Huddersfield netLibrary user statistics over the past
three years shows that, when if the e-books in the Huddersfield collection are divided
into American, British/ European and International, they can be shown to issue
at a similar rate of three issues per book over any one year period (there are of course
huge individual variations in this: the most-borrowed e-book issued 50 times; and
each year there is a long tail of single issues). All is not plain sailing, however: only
about half of the e-books in the netLibrary collection is used in any one year, and use
of the collection has remained static over the three years (due in part to the success
enjoyed by books24x7, which has converted computing students to using the latter
product at the expense of the former).
Huddersfield does not expect wholesale uptake of e-learning initiatives, including ebooks, to happen overnight: it believes in incremental success, driven by a Yorkshire
just get on and do it approach.
Case Study No. 9

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a University (4): the University of
Staffordshire
Staffordshire University decided to stock e-books in part as a response to a
government resources assessment exercise: the library staff believed that supporting a
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range of modules with e-books would enable them to make their resources budget go
further.
Staffordshire is a netLibrary subscriber, and is also the only UK university currently
to offer Ebrary to its students. David Parkes, the librarian responsible for the e-books
collections, says that he feels that the university needs a mixed economy of ebooks: netLibrary follows curriculum requirements more closely; Ebrary offers huge
breadth of material, but is not curriculum based. The latter is much favoured by PhD
students. netLibrary books are placed on the catalogue; Ebrary titles arent, because
the database is huge, but students are given instructions in how to search the
collection.
David Parkes says that students are time savvy: there is a three-month window to
interest them in types of learning material after their arrival at the university: if it is
slow or difficult, it wont work for them.
Staffordshire is particularly keen on offering an organised round of training sessions
tailored to the users needs, each of which features e-books. Geoff Walton, the
subject librarian for Psychology and Sports Sciences, is developing a suite of user
guides to put on the web, to support these sessions.
Different sessions are offered for first, second and third year students, postgraduates
and academics. The aim is to offer two sessions per year (September and May) for
staff in each subject. There are also extra sessions on new products when they are
acquired.
For Sports Science students, for example, there is a Level 1 training session, which
may be either embedded in a research studies module or stand-alone. Direct entrants
to Level 2 receive a similar session. An Accessing Research Literature Workshop is
offered to Level 2 students in September, with a top-up in February. Level 3 students
and postgraduates are invited to the top-up session. Psychology students get a standalone induction at Level 2, followed by drop-in workshops. Two sessions are
provided for postgraduates in Health Psychology, both embedded in the Research
Methods module that they study.
In addition to this, the librarians all operate an open-door policy; there is a help desk
in the library; and also an electronic help desk.
Geoff Walton says that there is a definite pay-off from the training sessions in terms
of the way students are using the e-books. The library now receives few low level
enquiries about access issues, and more about conducting refined keyword searches,
etc. No password is required to access the e-books on campus; off campus, the
prospective user has to obtain a password from the help desk. Information about the ebooks collections is also displayed on the library home page.
Staffordshire has ten affiliated FE colleges; degree-level students at each of these are
also able to access the e-books collections held by the university.
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Case Study No. 10

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by a University (5): the University of the West
of England
Liz Weeks and Elspeth Williams, respectively the acquisitions librarian and the
business librarian at UWE, first looked at e-books two years ago. They made
comparisons between netLibrary and Ebrary and a couple of other e-aggregators, and
came down in favour of netLibrary because it seemed to be the more organised of
offerings at that point. They waited, however, until netLibrary had become
established before deciding to make the first e-book collection. The first collection
was bought in summer 2002 ready for the new academic year.
Elspeth did not have personal knowledge of the business texts that the students were
likely to want to read, so she spent a lot of time on selection, both by matching the
books she chose against reading lists, and by checking the spreadsheets of the short
term loan collection.
Some of her colleagues were deterred by what they perceived to be the Americanness
of the netLibrary collection; others thought it was less of an issue, as many
management texts used in the UK are of American origin. She began the collection
with a selection of e-books on project management, and encylopaedia / dictionary
type things. She felt that reference would be a key usage area. This year, when there
were usage statistics available, Elspeth bought extra copies of books that had frequent
issues or turnaway statistics. Elspeth and other faculty librarians searched by key
topic areas in several subjects, and selected appropriate stock . The e-books were all
added to the catalogue using the MARC records provided by netLibrary. Links to
netLibrary were also provided on the library web pages from both the database list
and from a Types of Resources: E-books page. Initially a link was also provided
from the library news page. All books have been given a 24 hour loan period. Library
inductions, which include information about e-resources and how to use them, are
carried out at different levels at UWE. Undergraduates start with basic half-hour
inductions which are usually built on later. They are shown how to find an electronic
journal or book on the catalogue and how to access it. Now that netLibrary has been
piloted it is likely that faculty librarians will make further efforts at induction sessions
to promote the e-books. Postgraduates receive two hours hands-on library training to
help them with their research. Other students have special tutorials on managing online searches as part of their courses: this requires both a high level of input from the
library, and academics giving up teaching slots to make it work. The library works
with the academics to devise exercises that are relevant to the subjects studied. It
finds that on-line sessions for undergraduates which arent directly linked to study /
credit only achieve 40% attendance - then afterwards students will knock at the door
and say that they dont know how to access on-line materials. Distance learning
students have special sessions some of them are not technically speaking distance
learners, but attend the university part-time because they are working; others could be
anywhere in the country.
Elspeth was pleased and surprised by the first year usage statistics of the initial
collection: of the 109 books chosen, 104 had issued. The highest issuing title was
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borrowed 56 times during the year; the next nine titles issued 44, 34, 32, 27, 25, 25,
24, 21 and 21 times respectively. Only 14 titles issued just once. The collection was
accessed 977 times in total.
Elspeth thinks that e-books raise a big cultural issue which needs addressing: the
engagement of students in the learning process. To help this and to maximise the
use of resources, Elspeth has been involved with health faculty librarians in devising
a reading strategy proposal for consideration by faculties. Its stated purpose: To
maintain the breadth of the Library collection and invest in the provision of electronic
sources, the Library proposes to reduce multiple copy provision to a maximum of two
copies .Arising from the proposal is an opportunity to ensure that students develop
their information seeking skills at appropriate points in the curriculum. Early in a
programme students might have most of their reading provided for them. Later they
could be encouraged to explore the Librarys databases and be given guidance on how
to construct a search. Towards the end of a programme they might be expected to
find relevant literature for themselves with very little guidance. The Library is keen
to work with Faculty colleagues to identify e-resources and to ensure that library and
information skills are developed at appropriate points in the curriculum.
Case Study No. 11

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by an HEI Consortium of Four Northern
Universities
The four universities that took part in this project were part of a consortium of eight
universities that had obtained HEFCE funding to trial various innovative ideas and
products together. The four universities concerned agreed to trial an e-books product
from a publisher (here called Publisher D) specialising in a specific subject. Publisher
D cannot be identified as it has a right to remain anonymous. The other four
universities belonging to the consortium did not participate because either the subject
or the specific product were not relevant to their needs.
Three other publishers eminent in the same subject were contacted by the interested
sub-group from the consortium, but it was not possible to reach an agreement with
them, either because of lack of enthusiasm on their part, or because their terms were
unacceptable to the consortium the most significant issue was the fact that they
objected to not being able to offer free printing from the e-books to their users.
In April 2002, Publisher D attended a project team meeting and demonstrated its ebooks service, which offered electronic versions of their entire catalogue to libraries.
The books could be bought in multiple copies; each copy had a multiple-user licence,
typically allowing 5 10 users to borrow the same copy at any one time. The cost
of a typical e-book represented a 20% saving on the hard copy price. Print rights
were not available for the libraries to buy up front they could only buy view
access. If users wished to purchase the print rights to a particular chapter, they might
do so online, using their own money.144 The books were not to be borrowed
144
This is against the philosophy of some universities, including those members of the consortium who
chose not to participate, that believe that access to library users in all its forms should be free of charge.
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through the institutions own issue systems, but via an Athens-authenticated interface
that would be customised to resemble institutional web-page styles.
The four interested universities eventually came to an agreement with Publisher D
that they would purchase one copy of every book in its e-book catalogue, with five
users per title, for a six-month period, and receive a consortial discount of
approximately 40% (therefore representing up to 60% discount on the print price of
some titles).
The trial began in late September 2002, and initial usage data indicated that:
34 users registered for the trial

Users registered at all four sites participating in the trial
A total of 90 books had been borrowed by February 2003
34 re-borrows were made
4 registered users did not borrow any books
The trial ended in March 2003. Although the initial user statistics were modest, the
project partners felt that the ability to purchase consortially on this occasion allowed
the participating institutions to provide a new value-added service to their users which
would probably not otherwise have been possible. It also set a precedent for
negotiating future purchases with other e-book publishers. However, at the time of
writing (June 2003), the fact that Publisher D had not produced a final set of user
statistics for the consortium meant that exact demand for the e-books and value for
money obtained were both impossible to calculate.
Case Study No. 12

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by an FE College (1): Barnsley College: a
study in energy and persistence
Barnsley College is a large College of Further Education which operates from five
sites. It spends approximately 60,000 on printed books each year; last year, it spent
1,800 on e-books.
Lesley Dickinson, the librarian, says that she is subscribing to e-books to offer
students supplementary texts, and also to provide distance learning access. She adds:
[E-books are] also purchased to raise awareness amongst the student body of
different formats of information and to teach research and information seeking skills
on different specialist databases, rather than just the Internet. She takes advantage of
four of the JISC initiatives, and is also continually on the look-out for good-quality
free e-books.
Lesley says that promoting the librarys e-resources is relentless hard work, though
rewarding. At the moment, she is doing a big push on ATHENS, highlighting
various resources only accessible through the IP address. She offers workshops by
subject areas for tutors and students, which aim to raise their awareness of electronic
resources. This has been especially successful in some subject areas: notably, Social
Sciences and Humanities.
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Each time the library gets a new e-resource, it puts notices in the staff and student
newsletters, which are accessed via the colleges intranet. It also sends a list of
electronic resources, regularly updated, to Heads of Department. However, Lesley
says that she is aware that these dont always get passed on to the other members of
the departments, and a project for the summer of 2003 is to e-mail all staff with a list
of these resources.
She says that the library never stops. It is a chicken and egg situation all the time
we try to provide information in any format for every request.
As new e-resources are released, she asks the tutors for feedback on its usefulness.
This can be slow in coming, but in time she gets a picture of what they think.
Another job for the summer of 2003 is to compile a brochure listing all the eresources held by the college, to be distributed electronically with some print copies
available in the library.
The library has recently conducted a student survey into the importance of provision
of electronic resources by the college. On each of the five sites, most students rated
access to the Internet and Word Processing facilities of maximum importance.
Access to electronic databases, including e-books, was rated of maximum importance
at the main site, and of medium importance at the other four sites. Given the low rate
of usage of e-books generally encountered at FE colleges, this is a major achievement.
Case Study No. 13

Best Practice in e-book Promotion by an FE College (2): Yeovil College
Like Barnsley College, Yeovil College is fortunate to have a librarian who
champions, e-books, Chris Irwin. She has been interested in electronic learning
products for a number of years. She feels that Yeovil is well supported by the
University of Bournemouth, for which it acts as a feeder college. It is one of a
number of FE colleges for which Bournemouth has bought modest e-books
collections; and Bournemouth is giving some of these colleges further funds so that
they can take advantage of the new JISC / Taylor & Francis offer. Yeovil has a free
hand concerning the titles that it decides to choose. The college now has a VLE in
place which it has started to use.
Yeovil is also lucky to be one of the few FE colleges that appoints subject librarians,
though in the summer of 2003 only three of the full complement of five were in post.
The subject librarians try to make the academic staff for whose subjects they are
responsible aware of all new acquisitions. The librarians regularly spend time in each
of the departments, promoting new resources. They also post a newsletter containing
information about acquisitions on the corporate intranet. The process is beginning to
succeed, and some of the lecturers have also been persuaded to act as champions for
certain products: one lecturer recently gave a short presentation on INFOTRAC to a
group of colleagues. As a result of these various promotional activities, the library has
noted a steady increase in staff and student requests for ATHENS passwords.
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Yeovil is extremely happy with its close relationship with Bournemouth, which it
believes is of great benefit to students taking degree courses. In common with a
number of colleges interviewed for this study, it would like to be able to extend the
same advantages to non-degree students. Unfortunately, at present the licensing
regulations do not permit this.
Enterprising co-operation between a university and its feeder colleges in promoting ebooks and e-learning is further considered in Case Study No. 14.
Case Study No. 14

Best Practice in Sharing Resources: how Huddersfield University helps its FE
feeder colleges
A number of universities in the UK have special relationships with the FE colleges
with which they liaise. Unique among these in its collaborative approach is the
University of Huddersfield, which launched the Consortium for Post-Compulsory
Education and Training (CPCET) in 2001. The consortium consists of a partnership
between the university itself and 32 colleges. CPCET enhances the professional skills
of staff who support post-school learners.
Member organisations participate as equal partners: in contrast to much FE/He
collaboration, the Consortium is based on:
equality and reciprocity

openness and transparency
shared resources and responsibilities
Through the Consortium, there are approximately 2,000 students on in-service, parttime programmes for teachers and trainers working in post-compulsory education.
These programmes lead to the following qualifications from the University of
Huddersfield:
Certificate in Education (PCET)

Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PCET)
BA (Hons) in Education and Training
Foundation Degree (Learning Support)
In addition, the Consortium is engaged in other initiatives that include:
Sponsoring CPD and scholarly activity among staff in colleges who deliver
CPCET programmes
Improving provision through HEFCE sponsored development of innovative
ICT applications to a dispersed collaborative partnership and a fully integrated
MLE
Negotiating preferential terms for members and their students with publishers
and other suppliers
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Managing implementation of a large-scale development project to expand

teaching capacity in Basic Skills at four local LSCs
Exploiting the combined strengths of academic expertise and a wide
practitioner base to secure funding for research to inform PCET policy and
practice.
All of the students from the consortium are registered as University of Huddersfield
students, and given Huddersfield ID s and passwords. Their status is the same as that
of Huddersfield part-timers. They are offered full access to all Huddersfield
resources, including e-books and other electronic provision. The colleges are also
required to provide a high level of support. Part of their validation means that they
must have a library which offers a good service, qualified staff, and the full range of
texts.
In order to help them to achieve this, Huddersfield has appointed one full-time and
one part-time librarian to carry out training with the member colleges. These
librarians have been given extra funding by the university to conduct a full support /
training programme, and also to buy extra licences for e-products. Huddersfield
already has several e-books collections; use of them by the colleges will become more
pronounced when the current JISC Taylor & Francis deal is finalised, as Taylor &
Francis publish many relevant education titles which the library intends to purchase.
The librarians from all the colleges attend training sessions at Huddersfield. They are
also given an excellent manual to use when they return to their colleges. A cascade
system is then set in motion. Tutors at the colleges receive two hour training sessions
from the librarians: it is not necessarily expected that these will immediately make
them proficient, but it does make them aware of what is available. New training
sessions are developed on each new resource as it comes along. The intention is that
the librarians have access and are trained; the tutors have access and are trained. Then
the librarians cascade to the students, working in partnership with the tutors.
The Huddersfield Onelog system simplifies access to the e-book collections, and all
the students are automatically registered for ATHENS. Most of them are able to
access from home.
There have been some problems with access, caused by firewall applications used by
individual colleges: the respective systems staff are in the process of addressing these.
Due to licensing arrangements, the use of Huddersfield resources is restricted to
students at the FE colleges who are enrolled on the degree courses specified. Other
students at the FE colleges are therefore currently denied access: but it might be
possible to develop the model to make it more inclusive in the future.
This summer, an evaluation exercise is planned, to find out whether:
the users feel that they have received adequate training

which resources they have used
whether they feel that the electronic products have been of benefit.
The aim is to find out the impact on teaching of using the electronic resources offered.
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Case Study No. 15

Demystifying I.T. and Promoting Understanding of I.T. Resources and how to
put them to Practical Use: the INFORMS Project
I am indebted to Jenny Brook, Director of the Informs Project, for writing this case
study
The INFORMS Project based at University of Huddersfield has created a range of
innovative, interactive information skills units loosely based around the SCONUL 7
pillars of information literacy.
The units, written initially by 5 institutions, Huddersfield University, Leeds
Metropolitan University, the University of Central Lancashire, Loughborough
University and the University of Oxford, make use of live, freely available and
subscription information resources across a wide range of subjects.
They have been written specifically to guide students in using key information
resources and to develop their searching and retrieval skills. The uniqueness of the
units is that they are bite-sized, include short self-test quizzes and are easily
customized by librarians to fit the institutional context.
These units have been tested within a number of different teaching and learning
settings within the above 5 institutions:
Embedded for use by students at different levels of study in selected modules
within the institutions VLEs through collaboration with academic teaching
staff.
Used in face- to- face teaching sessions in computer labs.
Linked into library web sites.
The research undertaken at all the institutions involved in the project into the use of
these units clearly indicates that the collaboration of academic teaching staff with
librarians is a key factor in the use of electronic resources by students. The most
widely used unit within the INFORMS database is one written by an academic that is
embedded into his module in a VLE.
Two of the problems highlighted by the project are the complexity of and
continuously changing e-learning landscape. The range of available electronic
information resources is overwhelming for most students, this, coupled with
complicated access arrangements, poses considerable barriers to use of these
resources.
It is a simple process to include step-by-step guidance for users through the access
routes to the different electronic resources within the online teaching and learning
units produced by the INFORMS Project.
An additional problem highlighted was the lack of discrimination in students
information searching behaviour. The majority of students use a search engine (e.g.
Google) in the first instance to search the Internet, without actually having any
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underlying concept of how best to search. Also of concern is that many students think
of the Internet as a source for good quality information.
The project found that embedding customized information skills resources
accompanied by a relevant information task directly into lecture notes was a
successful method for introducing quality information resources.
Overall the online teaching and learning units were useful for introducing key quality
electronic information resources to new undergraduate students, adults returning to
education and distance learning students. In addition, until access to e-learning
resources is seamless, then the INFORMS units are also useful in guiding students
through the complex routes to access these.
Case Study No. 16

Best Practice in Teaching with e-Books: the FE Lecturers Perspective
I teach learning and information technology, mainly to the staff here and to education
students. My job is to make them see that the internet is not an evil world there is
good out there! How many of us need training to use a cashpoint machine? None.
We need to make the web more intuitive it is going that way. I encourage students
to find out what are good resources on the Internet, and then how to use them to
support other learners. I am myself studying for a Masters degree in Education, and
actively looking for e-books for support.
Im looking at how Media students use the web and I also look at their writing
styles, etc. Often their literary skills are quite weak, and trying to engage them to use
web resources can help. I find that English students are likely to be quite passionate
about having the actual book. I teach students of all ages all teachers and
prospective teachers, so I dont fully understand how much more confident the
younger ones are but I suspect it is the case.
I always try out web resources, including e-books, before I recommend them, and I
have experienced things that I wouldnt like as a learner. Most resources are still
much too HE biased. Most of the e-books that I use are free. I have heard of the
Oxford Texts Archive, but I havent used it.
I found a brilliant e-book to help with my job the On-line Tutoring E-book. Chapter
9 is about the tutors role in learning on-line. There have been similar books, but this
is the one that I remember most. My students are expected to evaluate and promote
the learning materials that they have used as part of their course assessment. None
has come back with an e-book recommendation this year, which is disappointing. A
couple of years ago, the students were keener [on e-books], and we had some
interesting responses. For example, there was a paramedic who was also dyslexic who
used e-books extensively. He found that he could set his browser to read to him it
meant that he could get more out of the information but he said that he would have
liked to find a package with a better voice.
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Here are some of the things I dont like: first of all, everything is in text-based format.
Secondly, as there is no human interaction, care needs to be taken with giving
instructions, etc. Publishers need to remember that e-learners are out there on their
own if the links fail and there is no support mechanism, you think it is just you, but
often it isnt. If there is a helpline, they should remember peoples feelings: I have
had some brusque responses that have really upset me.
I have never been asked to review an e-book, and I would like to review them.
For me the role of e-books is strictly confined to work, and I would like to keep that
distinction. I still prefer to hold a book in my hand for social reading and relaxation.
Reading on screen is bad for the eyes and posture. It is easier to search and reference
on the screen, but I am not likely to read the whole thing. It is particularly good when
I am looking for specific topics. Easily-laid-out e-books are the best it is important
how theyre presented. I like the fact that I can get to where I want, and crossreference easily.
I think that my students use of e-books in teaching will be very mixed e-books are
still at a very developmental stage. I had one student this year who was not at all
confident. He will now use web-based resources he is just starting his web literate
journey but I think that he will stay at the level of only using e-books to support his
professional practice, not to disseminate to students. We are all learning. E-books
themselves are in a state of transition.
Case Study No. 17

Best Practice in Studying with e-books: Ashleys Perspective
Ashley is a disabled student who attended the Huddersfield focus group meeting. I
am grateful to him for writing this case study
I have used e-books for the past three years. I first started to use them when I was
studying for a degree in Business Administration. While I was searching for a course
textbook on amazon.co.uk I noticed a promotion on the site promoting a new e-book
service. I decided to investigate and downloaded a free book on e-commerce. I was
so impressed with the fact that I could download the book and start reading it straight
away that I decided to look for different textbooks.
I am now studying an MSc in electronic business. For one of my assignments on the
course I downloaded an e-book that I needed extensively to prepare both a
presentation and a written report.
I have a physical disability, which makes it difficult for me to carry things such as
textbooks. By using e-books I am able to download the textbook on to my laptop,
which enables me to take the textbook wherever I go without increasing the weight of
my bag.
I use Adobe e-book reader to read all of my e-books. I personally believe that this
software is fantastic for reading e-books I have been able to use features such as find
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to go back through the text looking for a quote or reference that I have wanted to
include within a project. One or two of the textbooks that I have downloaded also
have a feature where the text can be read aloud which can be extremely useful if you
do not have time to read through the text.
In the future I think e-books should have features on them that allow readers too
access the books collectively and make notes so that everybody has access to the
notes and ideas generated by the readers. This would-be particularly useful when
working on group projects.
I also believe that in order for e-books to be more widely used publishers producing
them need to spend more resources on promoting the books so more people are aware
of how they can use them.
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Appendix One
Methodology
Rationale and Objectives
This report has been commissioned by JISC in order to find out how e-books are
currently being promoted in further and higher education in the UK, what the barriers
to uptake are, and what the demand for e-books is now and might be in the future if
promoted to the maximum possible extent to potential users. The word promoting
has been used precisely: it embraces a wider concept of proselytisation of the medium
than of straightforward marketing; but of course marketing by relevant stakeholders is
an important element, and is considered in some detail. Examples from overseas as
well as the UK have been cited where appropriate. The report is intended to help all
interested stakeholders, both by providing an understanding of the status quo, and by
suggesting effective ways in which e-books might be promoted in the future.
The following constitute the objectives outlined in the JISC brief for this study:
1. To assess the demand for e-books within the sector and at institutional level:
An industry overview, looking at specific types of e-book or e-book

service, their key attributes and impact to date
Broad perceptions of the e-book experience, including identification
of core user segments, their attitude to e-books and uptake
An assessment of current demand for e-books within UK higher and
further education, including an analysis of factors impacting on
demand and actual use
A review of current barriers such as technological, legal, economic,
organisational and cultural issues.
2. An assessment of e-book distribution
An investigation and review of the existing barriers within the supply

chain that influence purchasing and acquisition by institutions. These
will include mechanisms for discovering e-books and problems of
bibliographic access and control, including a review of metadata and
other relevant standards. Recommendations on how e-books can be
integrated more effectively into the acquisitions process of libraries.
A summary and evaluation of the mechanisms by which users may
discover and make use of electronic books material, for example,
OPACs, MLEs and publisher web sites. Identifications of case studies
of good practice and recommendations for new approaches that might
be taken
3. Promotion of e-books within the sector
188
An assessment of promotional strategies of publishers, booksellers and

other e-book intermediaries, such as content aggregators. Examples of
good practice found and recommended ways forward
An analysis of the approaches to e-book promotion within individual
institutions or across organisational groupings, such as library
consortia, both within the UK and internationally. Examples of good
practice and suggestions for innovation
An appraisal of current promotional awareness-raising programmes of
key professionals within the academic sector, including academic staff,
librarians and other learner support professionals. Examples of good
practice and recommended strategies for development
The production of a promotions plan for e-books at a national and
sectoral level, with suggested models for institutions to adopt. The
latter will take the form of a practical guide which will be produced as
a companion to this report, to be accessed and utilised by staff in HEI
institutions (as a result of the findings of this report, it has been
recognised that FE colleges need a separate kind of guide)
Recommendations for all key stakeholders, including booksellers,
librarians and academics for the effective marketing of electronic
books within the academic community. Recommendations on how
these groups might work together more effectively to promote
electronic books, including appropriate roles for the JISC E-Books
Working Group.
Methodology
The methodology used to prepare this report was planned to take place in several
stages:
Stage One consisted of:

a) a comprehensive literature review on how academic e-books have
been promoted since the year 2000, when their first significant
introductions to the UK higher and further education community
were made. This included a review of many unpublished articles
and reports, prepared by librarians and others, which have
continued to be discovered and accessed throughout the study. It
also included detailed examination of as many publishers and
aggregators websites, and as many different e-book products as
possible
b) A series of structured interviews with the following:
i. 12 leading academic publishers either actively
engaged in or interested in selling e-books. A
further four publishers were approached, but no
response from them was obtained.
ii. 6 e-book aggregators. A further two e-book
aggregators were approached, but no response from
them was obtained.
iii. 6 booksellers (two retail, two pure e-tail, two
library suppliers) currently selling e-books
Transcripts of all the interviews were made. In the report, these
189
interviews are referred to as Publisher 1, 2, 3, Aggregator 1, 2, 3,

Bookseller 1, 2, 3, etc.
Stage Two consisted of:

a) The setting up of four panels, each to address a specific aspect of e-book
promotion. Panel A, which addressed Technological Issues, was led by
Andrew Weinstein of Lightning Source Inc. Panel B, which addressed
Publishing and Distribution Issues, was led by Michael Holdsworth of
Cambridge University Press. Panel C, which addressed Cataloguing and
Metadata Issues, was led by Brian Green, of Book Industry
Communications [BIC]; Panel D, which addressed Pedagogical Issues,
was led by Huw Morris, of the University of the West of England. Each
panel included at least two librarians, one from HE and one from FE, and a
number of other participants, chosen jointly by the panel leader and the
project leader to reflect as wide a range of stakeholder interests and
expertise as possible. Membership of the panels changed (and expanded)
over time. A full list of all the panel members is given in Appendix A.
Professor David Smith, of the University of Huddersfield, assisted by
Professor Glenn Hardaker, agreed to act as the overall project adviser. Dr.
Monica Landoni, of the University of Strathclyde, agreed to act as the
overall librarian adviser.
I should like to record here that I am extremely grateful to all of the
people named above, as well as to all of the panel members. All have
contributed a great deal to the project; far more than was originally
anticipated.
b) Each of the panel leaders was sent a series of documents, called a toolkit,
by the project leader. The toolkit consisted of a document summarising
barriers to uptake of e-books for librarians and academics, as discovered
by the literature search; a select bibliographical list, including the
addresses of useful websites; a list of all the panel leaders and panel
members; a summary of the structured interview transcripts; and a set of
questions for each panel to consider. Some of the questions were common
to all of the panels. The panel leaders distributed these documents to their
panels, and agreed with them a timescale for addressing the questions.
Each of the panels worked in different ways. With Panel A, Andrew
Weinstein conducted a series of telephone conference calls across three
time zones on a weekly basis for six weeks, and sent the project leader a
report after each call. Michael Holdsworth arranged for Panel B members
to e-mail him with a series of responses, which he summarised
and sent to the project leader. Brian Green and Panel C worked
with a mixture of e-mailed responses and one conference call. Brian
then wrote the Cataloguing and Metadata Issues chapter himself, and
circulated it to the rest of Panel C for final comments. Huw Morris
conducted a series of structured telephone conversations with the members
of Panel D. He wrote the chapter on Pedagogical Issues.
190
Stage Three was originally to have consisted of:

a) The circulation of a questionnaire to librarians at HEIs and FE colleges,
with the aim of getting quantitative and qualitative information on
how they receive information about e-books, how they promote e-books
themselves, what the user reactions are, how much they spend on e-books,
and any observations they might have on the advantages of e-books and
barriers to uptake.
b) A synthesis of published and unpublished work describing academics
lecturers and students views on e-books, and publishers aggregators
and booksellers comments (from the structured interviews) on how they
are marketing to these groups; the results of a straw poll of 68 academics
undertaken by the project leader to kick-start the project; other work
undertaken by Gold Leaf for publishers on academics requirements from
supplementary electronic learning materials produced to accompany print
textbooks; and the results of a comprehensive piece of research, including
twelve case studies, undertaken by a very large university, which will be
referred to as Atlantis, during the course of its implementation of
Blackboard. It should be noted that to avoid confusion, throughout this
report the term academics refers to teachers in universities and
researchers in all types of institutions, and the term lecturers refers to
teachers in FE colleges .
However, when the project had been under way for ten weeks, the
representatives from JISC to whom the project leader was reporting
decided that they also required some original research to be undertaken
with these groups. This was not part of the original proposal, partly
because of time and cost restrictions, and partly due to timing: since the
bulk of the research had to be done during the summer vacation, I as the
project leader and author of the proposal had considered that it would be
difficult to obtain responses from actual and potential end-user groups. It
was suggested that some focus groups would provide the appropriate
information. I was not satisfied with this suggestion, because I felt that
focus groups on their own would not meet the same standards of
qualitative and quantitative information gathering that had been carefully
put in place for the rest of the research. Therefore, a further four sets of
questionnaires were devised: one each for academics, FE lecturers,
university students and college students. In addition, four focus groups
were carried out: one each for academics and students at the University of
Huddersfield, one for students at the university identified as
Middlemarch, and one for part-time nursing and midwifery students at
Edgehill College. The latter was conducted by Leo Appleton, to whom I
am indebted for a great deal of help, support and information during the
course of the whole project.
Two structured interviews with academics at the University of
Huddersfield also took place, and three at Middlemarch.
The difficulties of obtaining information at the time of year (it was by now
June, and therefore a considerable scramble ensued to get the work done
191
before everyone disappeared for the summer) were overcome in the

following ways:
1. Support from Professor David Smith and a team of librarians
(Jenny Brook, Jane Kaye and David Worboys) at the University of
Huddersfield in finding students and academics willing to respond
to the questionnaires and by giving demonstrations to them of
several e-book products.
2. Support from Elspeth Williams and Liz Weeks at the University of
the West of England in persuading a cohort of sixteen distancelearning students to complete the questionnaires.
3. Support from a student at Middlemarch, who conducted the
focus group there, obtained responses to the questionnaires, and
interviewed the three academics.
4. Support from several librarians situated at different universities,
who helped by obtaining responses to the academics
questionnaires.
5. Support from Paul Davy, of JISC, who helped to obtain responses
to the lecturers questionnaires.
6. Support from the librarian at a London college, who managed to
obtain six responses to the FE students questionnaires.
7. Support from David Pattern, technical manager of the INFORMS
project, who set up a website on which the questionnaires could be
posted after it was discovered that most FE librarians and lecturers
and some university ones could not receive e-mails with
attachments.
8. Support from Leo Appleton, as already recorded.
I am indebted to all of the above (some of whom, unfortunately, it has not been
possible to name) for making this very considerable body of extra work possible.
All of the undergraduate students and the FE college lecturers were given incentives
to help (not budgeted for in the original proposal).
The outcome of the above was that the following original research was collected for
the project:
1. 46 responses to the HEI librarian questionnaires (which were
originally circulated and then chased by Tony Bainton of
SCONUL, to whom I am indebted for doing this).
2. 37 responses to the FE librarian questionnaires (circulated through
BECTA, and through extra approaches to feeder colleges from the
Universities of Huddersfield and Staffordshire: I am grateful to all
of those involved, especially Chris Kelland of BECTA, Celia Poole
of Huddersfield University Library and David Parkes of
Staffordshire University Library).
3. 24 responses to the academic questionnaires, from six universities.
4. 20 responses to the lecturer questionnaires, from sixteen colleges.
5. 28 responses to the student questionnaires, from three universities.
6. 6 responses to the student questionnaires, from one FE college.
192
7. Transcripts of four focus groups, three with students and one with
academics.
8. Transcripts of nine in-depth interviews with academics and
lecturers (some of them telephone follow-ups to the
questionnaires).
9. Transcripts of 19 follow-up calls with HEI librarians and five with
FE librarians.
c) The following meetings were attended during the course of the project:
1. Launch meeting at the British Library.
2. Training session on e-books for academics, given at the University
of Staffordshire.
3. A meeting organised on behalf of Blackwells (booksellers) at
which representatives from JISC, three publishing houses and Gold
Leaf were present.
4. A meeting of the STLG librarians at the University of Leeds.
5. A meeting of the SUPC consortium at Bournemouth University.
6. A meeting of the netLibrary User Group in Birmingham.
7. Monthly steering group meetings took place with Professors David
Smith, Glenn Hardaker and others at the University of
Huddersfield.
As project leader, I gave presentations on the project at the first, fourth, fifth
and sixth of these, and gathered information from the librarians present.
d) One conference was attended: Beyond Labels: Working Towards
Equality and Diversity Through ICT, at the University of Huddersfield.
The original methodology and the changes subsequently made to it have been
described in considerable detail, because the latter have had a material effect on the
format of this report. Most of the results of the additional research are reported in
Chapter Three, which has therefore become a very long chapter. I had considerable
misgivings about this at first, but I have been assured by members of the project team
that the information captured is extremely useful, and builds up a well-rounded rich
picture of stakeholder attitudes to e-books at the present time. However, synthesis of
previous work has been scaled back, as this would undoubtedly have made the chapter
(and the report itself) of inordinate length. Similarly, it is the usual practice when
reporting research of this type to include the questionnaires, structured interview
questions, etc. used for the work: but in the case of this project, it would involve
publishing six different questionnaires, three different sets of structured questions, and
all of the toolkit information and questions supplied to the panels. Together, these
would constitute a body of work of similar size to the report itself! Therefore, it has
not been included; but I will supply any of the documents to those interested upon
request. Likewise, the Bibliography has been supplied in two parts: a list of
documents directly used for the report, and the working bibliography issued to the
panels.
A further point about the methodology is worth noting: due to the speed at which the
report had to be completed, and the variety and complexity of the methodology finally
193
used, it was not possible to give all of the findings to the panels before they made
their recommendations (though every attempt was made, including interim analysis of
the questionnaires as they were received). This may have led to some of the minor
inconsistencies between the findings recorded and the recommendations made;
however, these may have arisen anyway, since such a large and diverse group of
stakeholders took part; and the report may be the more helpful for recording the
discrepancies.
194
Project Team Acknowledgements

The project is particularly indebted to the efforts of the project advisers and panel
leaders, and all the project team members. Others have contributed to the panels at
different times, and it may not have been possible to record all contributions. If this is
the case, please accept my apologies and very sincere thanks for your work.
Project Leader
Linda Bennett, Gold Leaf.
Project Adviser
Professor David Smith, University of Huddersfield. Assisted by Professor GlennHardaker, University
of Huddersfield.
Librarian Adviser
Dr. Monica Landoni, University of Strathclyde.
Panel A: Addressing Technological issues

Panel Leader
Andrew Weinstein, Lightning Source Inc.
John Akeroyd, South Bank University.
Stephanie Bean, netLibrary.
Nick Bogaty, Open e-Book Forum.
David Pattern, University of Huddersfield
Susan Peterson, Baker & Taylor.
Steve Potash, Overdrive.
Tom Prehn, Palm.
Ann Lawson, Oxford University Press.
Jo Rowley, Tamworth College of FE
Panel B: Addressing Publisher and Distribution Issues

Panel Leader
Michael Holdsworth, Cambridge University Press.
Mark Bide, Rightscom.
Christoph Chesher, Taylor & Francis.
Tim Goodfellow, Butterworth Heinemann.
Jane Kaye, University of Huddersfield.
195
Sonny Leong. Cavendish Publishing.

Matt Nauman, Blackwells Booksellers.
John Lewis Needham, Ebrary.
Loree Potash, Overdrive.
Chris Sugden, John Smiths
David Taylor, Swotbooks.
Margaret Weaver, St. Martins College Lancaster.
Bernadette Williams, Leek College of FE.
Panel C: Addressing Cataloguing and Metadata Issues

Panel Leader
Brian Green, Book Industry Communications.
Bill Jackson, Warwick College of FE.
Robina Clayphen, British Library.
Michael Healy, Nielsen BookData.
Cliff Morgan, John Wiley.
Alan Morrison, Oxford Text Archive.
Panel D: Addressing Pedagogical Issues

Panel Leader
Huw Morris, University of the West of England.
Pam Berridge, Warwick College of FE.
Jenny Brook, University of Huddersfield.
Giles Clark, Open University.
Professor Glenn Hardaker, University of Huddersfield.
David Parkes, University of Staffordshire.
196
Further Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to all of the following, for their invaluable contribution, and
apologies to anyone who has, inadvertently, been omitted:
Name:
Attree, Mary
Bainton, Toby
Ball, David
Bean, Stephanie
Berglund, Ylva
Boiros, Pam
Carter, Penny
Chan, Alexia
Chesher, Christoph
Cox, John
Cuthbertson, Richard
Dalton, Mark
Davies, Linda
Davy, Paul
Dearnley, James
Dickinson, Lesley
Edwards, Louise
Farrell, Winnie
Fragnito, Michael
Galloway, Colin
Green, Kirsty
Gwyther, Tony
Haggis, Jan
Hall, Frances
Halliday, Stuart
Harbord, Elizabeth
Hayes, Gerard
Hiller, Eileen
Hodgkin, Adam
Hoque, Farhana
Howard, Helen
Hoy, Carrie
Ingraham, Bruce
Irwin, Chris
Jeffery, Anne
Jeffrey, Stephen
Jennings, Ian
Jones, David
Jury, Kate
Kelland, Chris
Kerr, Diane
Killen, Clare
Knight, Dominic
Lambert, Jill
Lane, Jonathan
Organisation:
Hodder Arnold
SCONUL
University of Bournmouth and SUPC
netLibrary
Books24x7
Cambridge University Press
Hodder Arnold
Taylor & Francis
NUI Galway Library
Templeton College
Elsevier
University of Cardiff Library
JISC
Loughborough University
Barnsley College Library
Cranfield University Library / JISC
University of Huddersfield
Barnes & Noble
Glasgow University Library
University of Surrey Library
John Wiley
John Ruskin College Library
University of Aston Library
Sunderland University
University of York Library
RSC (Eastern)
University of Huddersfield Library
Xrefer
CRC Press
University of Leeds Library
McGraw-Hill
Teesside University
Yeovil College Library
Pearson
Sheffield University Library
Oxford University Press
BECTA
Dawsons Booksellers
Newbury College
Palgrave
Amazon.co.uk
197
Leong, Sonny
Lob, Susanna
Mahar, Tim
McCarthy, Austin
McComish, John
McKnight, Cliff
Mercer, Diana
Miller, Marion
Neal, Rufus
Needham, John Lewis
Paulton, Amanda
Poole, Celia
Potash, Loree
Pothen, Philip
Price, Kate
Reynard, Clive
Reynolds, Jonathan
Reynolds, Paul
Robertson, Hugh
Robinson, Moira
Rosy, Rich
Shaw, Philip
Sidwell, Katy
Skytte, Petra
Sowden, Peter
Stevenson, Gill
Taylor, David
Taylor, Graham
Vendryes, Linda
Walker, Paul
Walton, Geoff
Webb, Keith
Weeks, Liz
Weissmann, Claudia
Williams, Elspeth
Woodward, Hazel
Worboys, David
Wynn, Dominic
Wynn, Martin
Wynne, Ben
Young, Sue
Cavendish Books
University of Northumbria Library
Loughborough University
University College London Library
RSC (Yorkshire and Humberside)
Cambridge University Press
Ebrary
Overdrive
JISC
Roehampton University Library
independent consultant
Templeton College
University of Swansea Library
Treloar College Library
netLibrary
Elsevier
University of Leeds Library
McGraw-Hill
independent consultant
Yorkshire Coast College Library
Lightning Source and Swotbooks
Publishers Association
Coutts
Knovel
University of Staffordshire Library
University of the West of England Library
Overdrive
University of the West of England Library
Cranfield University Library / JISC
Blackwells Booksellers
University of Sussex Library
Bruna Books
198
Select Bibliography
This bibliography is presented in three sections.
Section One lists the publications and non-published work directly referred to in the
report, in order of first appearance.
Section Two lists articles read by the project leader and members of the panels which
have influenced the report, although they have not been directly referred to.
Section Three consists of the annotated toolkit bibliographical list given to the
panel members at the start of their work.
Section One
Publications and non-published work referred to in the report, in order of first
appearance.
E-Books: A Traditional Publishers Perspective, paper by Graham Bell, Harper
Collins, delivered at E-Books and the Supply Chain of the Future, a PIRA
conference, on 26th April 2001.
The Second Gutenberg, http://promo.net/pg/upi_interview_05_02.html. Accessed
30/06/2003.
What is Project Gutenberg?, http://promo.net/pg/history.html. Accessed
30/06/2003.
A book of abstracts was published after the MLEARN 2003 Learning with Mobile
Devices conference, which was organised by the Learning and Skills Development
Agency and took place in London on 19th-20th May 2003.
www.LSDA.org.uk/events/mlearn2003.
Higher Education in the Learning Society: the Dearing Report. National
Committee of Education. London, HMSO, 1997.
Learning Works: Widening Participation in Further Education: the Kennedy Report.
Further Education Funding Council. Coventry, FEFC, 1977.
Learning for the Twenty-First Century: First Report of the National Adviser Group
for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning: the Fryer Report. National
Advisory Group for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. NAGCELL, 1997.
Lifetime Learning: a Policy Framework. Department for Education and
Employment. DfEE, London, 1996.
Lifelong Learning: the Politics of the New Learning Environment, Elliott, G., Jessica
Kingsley, London, 1999, 1 85302 580
199
http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/learninglink/resources/vle/.
and VLEs).
(For definitions of MLEs
JISC Briefing Paper No. 1: MLEs and VLEs Explained,

http://www.jisc.a.cuk.mle/reps/briefings/bpl.html Accessed 05/11/2002.
Association for Learning Technology Journal. www.alt.ac.uk.
British Journal of Educational Technology.
www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/journals/BJET.
Pearson, M. Researching the Use of E-Books for Teaching and Learning: a Pilot
Study. The University of Huddersfield 2002. Unpublished. Accepted and funded
by the University. Due to be completed in August 2003.
Reality IT: Technology and Everyday Life. Crabtree, Nathan and Reeves. The Work
Foundation. July 2002. 1843730022.
The Scale of Future Publishing in Digital and Conventional Formats. Bide, M. and
Others. The British Library. London, 2000. p.11. Available from
http://www.bl.uk/concord/otherpubblpu.html.
A Survey of Student Book Buying, 2001 / 2002, Gold Leaf, 2002.
A Circulation Analysis of Print Books and E-Books in an Academic Research
Library. Littmann, D. Capstone Project presented to the Faculty of the College of
Education, University of Denver. Denver, 2002.
Quick Guide 14: Electronic Publishing Contracts. Society of Authors. London,
2002. Free to members, 10 post free to non-members (from Society of Authors, 84,
Drayton Gardens, London SW10 9SB).
CAPP Student Survey: Student Information Sources and Book Buying Behaviour
2003. Prepared for the Publishers Association by Book Marketing Limited, May
2003.
http://www.openebook.org/doc_library.htm, for a very useful repository of
information on e-books from the Open E-Book Forum.
http:// elpub-subscribe@ketlux.demon.co.uk.
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html.
E-texts: a targeted approach. Roberts, S. and Appleton, L. A paper given at the
UKSG seminar ER: promoting and managing electronic resources without the
trauma, November 2002. Published in Serials Vol. 16, no. 1, March 2003.
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/ebooks/analysis.pdf.
200
Virtual Learning Environments in Business and Management: A Review of Some

Recent Developments, Morris, H. and Rippin, A. International Journal of
Management Education. (forthcoming)
The impact of E-Learning on the Work of Staff in a Higher Education Institution: A
Case Study of the Introduction of the Blackboard Learning System at Monarch
University E-Learning at Monarch University Morris, H, et al. 2003. (unpublished)
Institutional Level Review: An Evaluation of the Blackboard Pilot Project.
Preliminary Results. Morris, H. et al. 2003. University of the West of England.
(unpublished)
The E-Book Mapping Exercise: Draft Report on Phase 1, Armstrong, C. and
Lonsdale, R. 2002. Information Automated Limited and Department of Information
Studies, Aberystwyth University.
Web burdens hit staff, Uttley, A. Times Higher Education Supplement, 11th July
2003.
Electronic Study Books and Learning Style, De Diana, I and White, T. 1994.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol.10, No.2, pp. 113-125.
The Revolution Starts Next Week: the findings of two studies considering the use of
electronic books, Information Services and Use, UNIS 2002, Vol.21, No. 2, pp. 6578.
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Library/eBook_Project_Report.pdf (accessed at 15th July
2003).
Quality of Book-Reading Matters for Emergent Readers: An Experiment With The
Same Book In A Regular or Electronic Format, de Jon, M. 2002. Journal of
Educational Psychology, Vol. 94, No. 1, pp145-155, March.
http://teleeducation.nb.ca/significantdifference.
Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education, Noble, D. 2002. New
York, New York University Press.
Sites of Power and Knowledge? Towards a critique of the Virtual University,
Newman, R. and Johnson, F. 1999. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol.
20, No. 1. pp. 79-88.
The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University, Raschke, C.
2002. London, RoutledgeFalmer.
Putting the University Online: Information, Technology, and Organizational Change,
Cornford, J. and Pollock, N. 2003. Milton Keynes, Open University Press.
201
Grounded Theory as an Approach to Studying Students Uses of Learning

Management Systems, Allsop, G. and Tompsett, C. 2002. Alt-J, Vol. 10, No.2, pp.
63-76.
http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/HAWTH.html.
The Virtual University: The Learners Perspective, Crook, C. 2002, in Robbins, K.
and Webster, F. (Eds.) The Virtual University? Knowledge, Markets and
Management, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002.
New Scientist, 21st May, 1964. Article by Skinner, B.F.
The Changing Definition of Learning, Twigg, C. 1994. Sequence, Vol. 29, No. 4,
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticles/29422.html (accessed June
14th 2003).
Information Skillls in Higher Education: A SCONUL Position Paper, SCONUL.
1999. http://www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/pubs/99104Rev1.doc (accessed 10th
August 2003).
Big Blue Information Skills for Students,
Harris, C. Davies, H. Mackenzie, A. Makin, L. Ryan, C. 2002. The Leeds University
Library and and Machester Metropolitan University Library,
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/bigbluecontni.html (accessed 22nd May 2003).
Towards Constructivism: Investigating Students Perceptions and Learning as a
Result of Using an Online Environment, Hughes, M. and Daykin, N. 2002.
Innovations in Education and Training International, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 217-224.
Student and Lecturer Responses to the Introduction of Computer Assisted Learning
(CAL) in a University Business School, Kewell, B. and Beeby, M. 2002. Teaching in
Higher Education, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 413-430.
Multimedia Learning: A New Paradigm in Education, Mai, N. and TK, K. 2000.
http://www.icte.org/T01_Library/T01_103.PDF (accessed 10th August 2003).
Internet Omnibus Survey, ONS. 2002. London, HMSO.
Section Two
Publications which influenced this report, although not referred to directly (in
alphabetical order of first author)
Armstrong, C. and Lonsdale, R. The e-Book Mapping Exercise, unpublished
report, JISC, 2003.
Armstrong, C., Edwards, L. and Lonsdale, R. Virtually there? E-Books in UK
Academic Libraries. 2002. Program: Electronic Library and Information Systems,
36 (4), pp. 216 227.
202
Bakos, Y. and Brynjolfsson, E. Bundling and Competition on the Internet,

Marketing Science, Winter 2000, Vol. 19, Issue 1, p. 63.
Ball, D. and Pye, J. Library Purchasing Consortia in the UK: Activity and Practice,
Library and Information Briefings, Issue 88, November 1999.
Maltz, E. and Chiapetta, V. Maximising Value in the Digital World, Sloan
Management Review, Spring 2002, pp. 77-84.
Wilson, R. and Landoni, M. EBONI: Electronic Textbook Design Guidelines.
http://www.eboni.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/guidelines/index.html.
Woodward, H. and Edwards, L. Shaping a Strategy for E-Books: an Issues Paper,
JISC / DNER E-Book Working Group, September 2001.
Section Three
The annotated toolkit bibliographical list as supplied to panel members.
Ebook web resources.
This list has been compiled as part of the panels toolkit, with the aim of helping
panel members to achieve an all-round view without fazing you with dozens of
references and articles. It consists of a selection of about forty of the best websites,
chosen from several thousands available on the web, and also lists the key publisher
and other supplier websites. It is not meant to be exhaustive; and references to
articles, etc., not available on the web have not been included, as they were regarded
as too impractical for all panel members to access. As you will see from reading the
list, I have several articles and reports in pdf of Word format which I shall forward to
you upon request.
Please feel free to use any other materials that you may have collected (giving
references if possible), and to copy details of them to the project team if you regard
them as particularly useful.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
JISCs website contains information about all of the projects it has commissioned and
is currently sponsoring in the field of electronic learning. It includes links to related
work, and full reports.
http://www.publishers.org/digital/dec2000anderson.ppt
Andersen Consulting. Reading in the new millennium. A bright future for eBook
publishing: facilitated open standards.
http://www.jupitercommunications.com
Robert Hertzberg. Limited scope of E-Book opportunity comes into focus. Feb 2001.
(access limited)
The Scale of Future Publishing in Digital and Conventional Formats, by Mark Bide
and Associates. February 2000. I have this in pdf format, or it can be downloaded
203
from the British Library website:http://www.bl.uk/concord/otherpubblpu.html

Although it is somewhat dated, still contains much useful information and some
interesting long-term predictions.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Research/Report/Summary/0,1338,10088,00.html
Forrester Research: Books Unbound. December 2000. (Summary)
www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/ . Survey conducted by Leeds University and Manchester
Metropolitan University on what information skills are needed by FE / HE students in
order for them to access on-line learning materials properly.
The Bookseller on-line archive: www.bookseller.com. Limited access to nonsubscribers. Note: I have made the 17 main articles from the archive into a Word
document, and will e-mail them to panel members upon request.
ElPub is a rich source of information on e-publishing. To subscribe, send a blank
e-mail to: elpub-subscribe@ketlux.demon.co.uk
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html . Free Internet Resources newsletter, for
academics, students, librarians and social scientists.
news@rightscom.com. Available only to subscribers (though it is sometimes possible
to obtain subscriptions free). I have links leading to all the relevant articles that have
appeared during the last year into a Word document, and will e-mail to panel
members upon request.
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/ebooks/websites.htm
A useful directory of some eBook hardware and software manufacturers sites.
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july01/snowhill/07snowhill.html
Thoughtful article on the future of eBooks in academic libraries, with a number of
helpful links to primary source material.
http://www.equalmedia.com
Resources for media developers, but with good publishing, marketing and strategy
sections in particular.
http://www.onlinepublishingnews.com/subjectEbooks.htm
Online Publishing News; great resource for hardware/software/strategy. Much here.
http://www.educause.edu/asp/doclib/lib_term_detail.asp?TERM_ID=425&BREADC
RUM
Worthy directory of eBook articles from Educause, the US equivalent of JISC.
Running a search on Educause will bring up a glut of material.
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/central/ebooks/
All sorts! A librarians viewpoint, with some interesting links, and good on tech.
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/
Large assortment of free eBooks and links to many sellers sites.
204
http://www.00ebooks.com/
A site aimed at self-publishers; the links page has some useful material listed.
http://www.netlibraryebooktoolkit.com/index.asp
NetLibrarys Ebook Tool Kit aimed at librarians.
http://www.primaryresearch.com/
The Primary Research Group has some very good, professional articles on eBook
strategy, aimed at both publishers and libraries, but only short extracts are viewable
without paying for them.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed01/21.pdf
Like a lot of the web content, this PDF article is written from the librarians point of
view; it contains a broad collection of hardware and software resource references, and
expresses an overview including perceived problems.
http://www.onlinepublishingnews.com/subjectAcademic_publishing.htm
Online Publishing News. A very strong resource, covering all the key publishers.
Many worthwhile articles on strategy and issues, particularly in the Academic
Publishing and Ebooks sections.
http://www.ebooks-in-print.com/
ISBN-style cataloguing system for eBooks. Good hardware links.
http://publishing.about.com/msub19.htm?pid=2840&cob=home
General about links, but plenty to go at and may conceal some gems...
http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/
Includes a list of dedicated eBook publishers, and downloadable readers.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/index.html
Columbia University Presss digital publishing. May be useful for some best
practice ideas.
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/e-booksinpublib/index.html:
Project which has just started, and runs for 9 months in Loughborough and Essex.
Systematic evaluation of use of e-books by two public libraries. Useful for best
practice and the results, which will be published at intervals on the website.
http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/
The University of Michigan Press Journal of Electronic Publishing. Useful scholarly
articles. (Soon to move to Columbia University Press).
http://www.publishers.org/press/releases.cfm?PressReleaseArticleID=144
American association of publishers article on eBook sales
http://www.openebook.org/doc_library.htm
Document library of the Open eBook Forum. Surveys, trade statistics etc. Note: I
have a pdf of a user survey that Open eBook conducted, usually available only to
205
members, which Nick Bogaty (Chief Executive) has kindly made available to the
project. I will e-mail it to panel members upon request.
http://promo.net/pg/index.html
Project Gutenberg; the original free eBook provider (est. 1971).
http://12.108.175.91/ebookweb/stories/storyReader$1289
Electronic Book Web website. An article about the experience of publishing
academic eBooks in the U.K. by two British academics. Other, similar assessment
articles, and info. on publishers, hardware and software.
http://www.gspp.com.au/plr_and_ebooks.htm: good articles about PLR and eBooks.
http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?MenuID=2&WebPageID=1
Planet eBook. This is one of the best commercially-orientated websites, with crossindustry articles, research, links, eBooks themselves etc.
http://www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm
Metadata resources from the International Federation of Library Associations.
http://www.ebooks.strath.ac.uk/
Strathclyde Universitys Ebook Research Group.
http://media2.bmrc.berkeley.edu/projects/edtech/index_js.html
Higher Education in the Digital Age research database from the University of
California, Berkeley.
http://dlc.clevnet.org: Cleveland Public Library download circulating library website.
http://www.obhe.ac.uk/resources.html
Technology developments in HE from The Observatory of Borderless Higher
Education. Research, articles and links.
http://www.aln.org/index.asp
The Sloan Consortium, proponents of online education. The Publications and
Resources sections both contain worthwhile material.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/library/help/ebooks.shtml
Dartmouth College has compiled a very interesting, varied range of resources here.
The Adobe HE eBook project is probably worth a follow-up
http://metatext.com/index.jsp
MetaText, yet another eBook format! This one is aimed at students.
http://www.seyboldreports.com/TSR/index.html
The Seybold Reports contain several articles on e-books. Access is restricted, though
some of the reports are free or free summaries are provided.
206
Key Commercial Websites

This is not an exhaustive list additions welcome!
Publishers
www.cup.cam.ac.uk: Cambridge University Press. Datashop. Fathom connections.
www.tandf.co.uk : ebookstore. Nearly 3,000 e-books, available from completed
books to micropurchases.
www.cavendishpublishing.com: Law e-books.
www.wiley.com: STM e-books.
www.oup.co.uk: Oxford Reference on-line. Demonstration site includes free tour
and downloadable pdfs.
http://ebooks.kluweronline.com/ Kluwer - academic publishers ebook purchasing
site.
www.palgrave.com: mainly reference.
www.sagepub.co.uk:excellent e-journals service; interested in developing e-books.
www.pearsoned-ema.com: market leader in academic publishing in UK. At forefront
in development of on-line learning solutions, companion websites and on-line
courses. Less development in e-books space see also www.safari.com.
www.thomsonlearning.com: similar approach to Pearson.
www.mcgraw-hill.com: originators of slice-and-dice model, but mainly for elearning rather than e-books.
www.elsevier.com: toe-in-the-water on e-books and electronic learning, but
interested.
E-Book Wholesalers and Aggregators

www.netlibrary.com: the original aggregator. Librarians often do not like the one
book, one borrower model. Library subscribes to a minimum of 100 titles of its
choice; library signs licence and administers account.
www.ebrary.com: has won plaudits from librarians in user studies. Search and view
is free. Printing charged per page.
www.ebooks.com: Sign-up as member required, but free; some small collections in
academic subjects; can create ePacks for course material; copy, print, download.
www.overdrive.com: relative newcomer; some interesting ideas; energetic!
www.books24x7.com: relative newcomer; has found considerable favour with
librarians.
www.questia.com: student-buyer model: not an especially popular model. $19.95 per
month, $149.95 annually. Annual password. Humanities and Social Sciences,
mainly. Subscribe before view full text; pay per page printed.
www.mightywords.com Open credit card account; end user agreement upon
registration. Some academic titles, but mainly popular business texts. PDF files,
from which user can copy, print and download.
www.engnetbase.com: Annual subscription 1900. Engineering handbooks from
CRC Press.
www.xrefer.com: select range of reference works.
www.lightningsource.com: digital wholesaler. At present more active in POD
market, where it is highly praised.
207
www.safari.com: joint venture between Pearson and OReilly to supply computer

books on-line. Every book in collection carries a points value: from one-half to three.
Subscribers purchase points, which they use to acquire titles for their collection.
Book selections can be swapped monthly for replacements of equivalent value (e.g.,
one two-point book for two one-point books). Points can be bought in denominations
of 25 2000.
www.sealedmedia.com: mostly offers hosting services.
Academic e-Booksellers
www.amazon.co.uk: as well as selling for themselves, they also sell on-line for
Waterstones.
www.swotbooks.co.uk: uses Overdrives Midas product.
http://blackwell.etailer.dpsl.net/Home/html/index.asp Blackwells eBooks online store
(hosted by Taylor & Francis).
www.johnsmith.co.uk: also uses Taylor & Francis model.
http://www.ebooks.com/ One of the largest digital bookshops.
Library Suppliers
www.couttsinfo.com: interested in electronic delivery and actively involved in
promoting it.
www.blackwell.com: new and developing interest.
www.dawsonbooks.co.uk: active already and seeking to develop further.
Software / Hardware Providers

www.microsoft.com: perfected Cleartype and is seeking to develop electronic
paper.
www.adobe.com: developed e-books from Adobe Acrobat pdf format. Took over
Glassbook, one of the initial software developers, in 2001.
www.corp.palm.com: One of the first and still one of the strongest companies in the
field.
www.franklin-uk.co.uk: Franklin Electronic Publishers, one of the first hand-held
reader suppliers to operate in the UK.
www.gemstar.inc : one of the first hand-held reader manufacturers in the market, it
has had some reversals, but keeps on reinventing itself.
Others
www.openebook.org: Set up about three years ago to promote standards within the ebook industry
www.open.ac.uk: the Open University. The original HE distance learning provider, it
has pioneered delivery of electronic learning materials.
208

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1

Promoting the Uptake of E-Books

Lists of Figures and Tables

Chapter One: Academic e-books: an overview of the current commercial,

3.2.6ii: Librarians prioritisation of e-book acquisition,

3.2.10iie: Views on e-books as a resource for

3.5.4ii: Huddersfield focus group: extra

Chapter Four: demand for e-books; library evaluations

Chapter Six: Cataloguing and Metadata Issues

Chapter Seven: E-books and Teaching and Learning

7.6: Conclusions of this Chapter

Chapter Eight: Conclusions and Recommendations

The Case Studies

Appendix One: Methodology

Select Bibliography (Toolkit Bibliography)

Figure 1: The traditional academic print book supply chain

Table 1: Ebrary customer endorsement sheet: indicates advantages of

effect on their revenues. This is especially true of the major textbook

13. Actual expenditure on e-books by HEI institution was relatively low. 30 of

20. It is particularly important that e-books feature on the main vehicle of

b) that a mixture of print, personal and electronic promotional approaches

technologies labelled e-books will become the industry standard; as a result

6. Ensure that staff are provided with continuous professional

After Project Gutenberg, e-book initiatives gradually gathered momentum: for

2. Stream-based XML-type formats, such as those favoured by Open e-Book

though VAT is a complicating factor17. The role of VAT in academic publishing

1.6 E-books and E-learning within the current academic context

In 1998, the government introduced annual university tuition fees of 1,000

Chapter 7 looks at pedagogical issues in much more detail.

of student life (a recent report published by the National Union of Students

1.9 E-books: comparisons with other publishing technologies

E-books differ from e-journals, because (with a few exceptions) academics

The possible commercial hazards of disseminating e-books have been

Bookseller Transcript No. 1.

2.2 Passive Stakeholders

2.3 Influencing Stakeholders

2.4 The print and e-book information supply chains: a comparison

preferred not to recommend

A Survey of Student Book Buying, 2001 / 2002, Gold Leaf, 2002.

Fig 5. Titles used in print or e-book

Fig 6. Circulating print titles, before and after

Circulated in year after, but not year

Circulated in year before, but not

Circulated in year before and year

Academic Interview No. 1.

A second very large textbook publisher (also a conglomerate) expressed a similar

Publisher Interview No. 4.

Publisher Interview No. 8.

Publisher Interview No. 6.

3. Knovel, which aggregates e-books in Science and Engineering subjects, has

4. CRC Press69 also aggregates e-books in Science and Engineering. It has

subscribers paying affordable prices, rather than to sell at a premium to a

Table 1: Ebrary customer endorsement sheet: indicates advantages of

suppliers among them were beginning to gear up to more comprehensive e-book

Bookseller interview No. 2.

Bookseller interview No. 1.

If each e-book could have multiple users, it would solve the

3.2.6i.b) Stock Maintenance and Administrative Tasks

Core texts / key texts to allow greater access [independent user

3.2.6ii. b) Material types sought

Specific user groups

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