Investigations into the information sources used by UK students in December 2011, including their purchasing of materials in print and in digital, the sources they use and their views on digital vs print material

1. Students (still) like books!
Some key findings from Students’ Information Sources
in the Digital World, December 2011
Jo Henry, Managing Director of BML Bowker
Presentation for the APSBG, March 2012
BML
18-20 St Andrew Street
London EC4A 3AG
020 7832 1782
jo@bookmarketing.co.uk
www.bookmarketing.co.uk
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2. Methodology
 13th December 2011 to January 3rd 2012
 1008 respondents
 Undergraduate students at HE Institutes in the UK
 Quotas for sex / year / 6 main subject groupings:
• Arts & Humanities
• Business & Management
• Law
• Medicine
• Science & Technology
• Social Sciences
 Online via OpinionPanel
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3. How do students learn?

4. Study resources used at all, by >25% of students
Printed books 88
Lecturer hand-outs 87
Online/digital journals 79
eBooks 62
Wikipedia articles 49
Printed journals 42
Open Access websites 36
Online databases 36
Accredited websites 33
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) 31
Lecturer websites 27
Online/websites for specific… 25
0 20 40 60 80 100
Under 25% = Printed course packs, online discussion forums/workshops, PC-based databases, digital
course packs, CD-Roms, other online/printed resources
Base: All students

5. Study resources used at all, 2011 vs 2003
Lecturer hand-outs 96
87
Printed books 95
88
Printed journals 66
42
Online/digital journals 66
79
Online databases 62
36
2003
Printed course packs 57 2011
24
PC-based databases 42
17
0 20 40 60 80 100
Base: All students 5

6. Study resources used most (up to 3)
Printed books 62
Lecturer hand-outs 42
Online/digital journals 41
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) 12
Online databases 10
Wikipedia articles 9
Open Access websites 8
Printed journals 7
Accredited websites 6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Under 5% = Printed course packs, lecturer websites, online/websites for specific textbooks,
online discussion forums/workshops, PC-based databases, digital course packs,
CD-Roms, other online/printed resources, e-books
Base: All students

7. Study resources used most, 2011 vs 2003
Printed books (owned in 2003) 73
62
Printed books - borrowed (2003 only) 65
Lecturer hand-outs 62
42
Online databases 28 2003
10
2011
Printed journals 26
7
Printed coursepacks 23
24
Online/digital journals 23
41
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
In 2011: % saying that resource is one of three used the most
In 2003: % rating their use of that resource 3 or 4 out of 4
Base: All students 7

8. Purchasing of resources – all students
New printed 2nd hand books Printed course packs
E-book extradcts Complete e-books Digital course packs
73
71
49
20
18 17
16
11
3 1.6 4 3
0.7 1.1 0.7 0.4 2 1
% buying Ave. no/student Ave. spend/student
Base: All students

9. Purchasing of resources – all students
Core texts Other recommended texts Other
77
71
54
30
19
8
4.1
2.1 1.4
% buying Ave. no/student Ave. spend/student
Base: All students

10. How students usually acquire printed books
Borrow from library 48
Buy new 29
Buy second hand 20
Other 1
Borrow from other students 1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Base: All using printed book (884) 10

11. How students usually acquire e-books
Download for free 48
Borrow from library 38
Buy new 9
Borrow from other students 3
Other 2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Base: All using e-books (624) 11

12. How students usually acquire online resources
Institution subscribes on behalf of students 60
Use free resources 29
Have free personal subscription 8
Pay to subscribe yourself 2
0 20 40 60
Base: All using online resources (967) 12

13. Effect of e-book use on print buying – excluding 1st year students
I have stopped I did not buy
buying new printed printed books
books, and am only before I started
using ebooks now using ebooks
5% 11%
My expenditure on
new printed books
My expenditure on
has increased in
new printed books
spite of using
has reduced but I
ebooks
still buy printed
11%
books too
19%
My expenditure on
new printed books
has not really
changed at all
54%
Base: All non-first year students using e-books (418)

14. Full report contents
Appendix 1: Additional analysis available in full report
Students’ Information Sources in the Digital World: December 2011 now available from BML Bowker;
includes detailed key findings section from Linda Bennett to contextualize the information plus:
• Job status, by course, sex, year and university type
• Study resources used: variations by type of course
• Finding out about and acquiring resources: variations by type of course
• Purchasing of each type of resources by course and year*
• Purchasing of core/recommended/other, by course and year*
• Average price paid for each type of resource. by type of course
• Purchase sources used at all and most, for print and digital
• Value for money of core/recommended resources by type of course, sex, year and type of university
• Importance of features in which resource to buy
• Specific online resources used
• Devices used to read e-books
• Print vs. e-book benefits
• Most value e-book functionalities
• Pricing of e-books
• Digital study resources required
• Use of social media in study
• How lecturers recommend core texts
*includes % who buy and estimates of maximum number bought, average number per student,
maximum spent, average spend per buyer, average spend per student
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15. Thank you!
BML
18-20 St Andrew Street
London EC4A 3AG
020 7832 1782
jo@bookmarketing.co.uk
www.bookmarketing.co.uk
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