What factors influence the format preferences between e-books and their print equivalents within an academic library context? This session examines and analyzes findings from a two semester study in Claremont Colleges Library, comparing the usage of print and electronic equivalents of the same Course Adopted Book title.

1. Maria Savova
Collection Management
& Digital Integration Librarian
ER&L Conference – March 17, 2014

3. SHOULD WE BE BUYING
PRINT BOOKS
OR
E-BOOKS
FOR THE LIBRARY?

4. SHOULD WE BE BUYING
PRINT BOOKS
OR
E-BOOKS
FOR THE LIBRARY?

5.  Availability of content
 Urgency of the information need
 Purpose of the content use
 Discipline area of the content
 Scope of the content use
 Personal preferences of the user

6.  Required and recommended readings - part of the curriculum
 High usage expected within the period of the study
 Print books on Reserve
 Print books shelved in the
stacks with the regular
collection, 7-day loan and
not allowed on ILL
 E-books

7. SPRING 2013 FALL 2013
94%
2%4%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs
88%
5%
7%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs

8. SPRING 2013 FALL 2013
94%
2%
4%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs
88%
5%
7%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs
96 titles 123 titles

9.  Titles from the Course Adopted Books list:
 Excluded from the study:
 titles in the public domain;
 multiple print copies;
 available e-books, no MARC records in the catalogue

10.  Availability of content
 Urgency of the information need
 Purpose of the content use
 Discipline area of the content
 Scope of the content use
 Personal preferences of the user

11.  Do students tend to use print or e-
books for their course readings?
(looking to identify trends, but not to explain them)
Decision regarding format
purchases for the CAB service.

12. 42%
59%
48%
37%
10%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Spring p+e CABs Fall p+e CABs
AH SS ST

13. 52%
42%
56%
59%
33%
48%
31%
37%
15%
10%
13%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
All Spring CABs Spring p+e CABs All Fall CABs Fall p+e CABs
AH SS ST

14. 42%
59%
50%
10%
48%
37% 37%
84%
10%
5%
13%
6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Spring p+e CABs Fall p+e CABs All print books All e-books
AH SS ST

15. Print books:
 # of circulations
 # of renewals
 # of times the book is
re-shelved – i.e. internal
use
 length of the loan
period
o in days
o in hours (for reserve)
E-books
 # of online sessions
 # of downloads
 # of section requests
 # of unique users
 # of pages viewed
 # of pages copied/printed
 length of online session in
minutes
 length of downloads in
days

16. 1. Has the title been used at least once?
[yes or no]
2. How many times per average each
title has been used? [number of uses
(checkouts, renewals, online access
sessions, downloads) per used title]
3. Average scope of the usage per title
[length of the loan/download, length
of the online session, pages accessed]

17. Q1: Has the title been
used at least once?
[yes or no]

18. SPRING 2013
(P+E SAMPLE OF 96 TITLES)
28%
20%
37%
15%
Not usedE- only
Print onlyBoth formats
19%
10%
47%
24%
Not used
E- only
Both formats
Print only
FALL 2013
(P+E SAMPLE OF 123 TITLES)

19. 24%
23%
40%
13%
Not used
SPRING 2013 FALL 2013
28%
20%
37%
15%
Not usedE- only
Print onlyBoth formats
18%
11%
54%
17%
19%
10%
47%
24%
Not used
E- only
Both formats
Print only
Including borrowed print
Locally owned
or licensed content

20. 71% 66%
54% 57%
29% 34%
46% 43%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
electronic print electronic print
Spring 2013 Fall 2013
used not used

21. 73%
70% 70% 71%
47%
64%
33%
53%
83%
61%
20%
66%
51%
69%
33%
57%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
AH
Spring
SS Spring ST Spring Total
Spring
AH Fall SS Fall ST Fall Total Fall
E- used P- used

22. Q2: How many times
per average each title
has been used?
[number of uses
(checkouts, renewals, online access
sessions, downloads) per used
title]

23. 3.90
14.68
7.71
12.28
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
Print uses E-uses
Spring Fall
63 titles
used
246 times
77 titles
used
594 times
74 titles
used
1086 times
67 titles
used
823 times

24. 1.59
2.20
1.77
11.80
5.28
1.59
6.17
2.10
10.99
3.48
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
Checkouts Renewals Link+ requests Online sessions Downloads
Spring Fall

25. Q3: Average scope of
the usage per title
[length of the
loan/download, length of the
online session, number of pages
accessed]

26. 8.4 6.3
24.92
15.68
344.56
5.6 3.8
56.58
30.36
297.65
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Reserve (h) Time read online
(h)
CAB loan (days) Download length
(days)
Pages viewed
Spring Fall
E-BOOKS
PRINT BOOKS PRINT BOOKSE-BOOKS E-BOOKS

27.  How does being a CAB affect the usage
of a print book in comparison with
other print books?
 Does the fact there is an e-book
available for the same title affect the
usage of a print CAB?

29.  How does being a CAB affect the usage of
an e-book in comparison with other e-
books?
 Does the fact there is a print book
available for the same title affect the usage
of an e-CAB?

30. SPRING 2013 FALL 2013
94%
2%
4%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs
88%
5%
7%
Print CABs
E-book CABs
Both print and e-book CABs
96 titles 123 titles

31. 11.32
10.12
7.50
13.00
8.30
14.65
8.71
2.59
1.83
2.64
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
Spring EBL Spring Ebrary Fall EBL Fall Ebrary
Online sessions
p+e CABs e-CABs All e-books

32. 3.83
10.78
4.00
2.62
3.37
6.67
3.35
2.13
1.33
2.16
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Spring EBL Spring Ebrary Fall EBL Fall Ebrary
Downloads
p+e CABs e-CABs All e-books

33. 411
155
323
290282
524
311
44 50 43
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Spring EBL Spring Ebrary Fall EBL Fall Ebrary
Pages viewed
p+e CABs e-CABs All e-books

34. 364
228
207
278
32
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Spring EBL Fall EBL
Session length in min
p+e CABs e-CABs All e-books

35. 16
30
22
14
4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Spring EBL Fall EBL
Download length in days
p+e CABs e-CABs All e-books

36.  Course Adopted Books are a good investment
for the Library – in both formats
 The data does not show clear preference to one
format vs. the other across the disciplines
 We have no justification to prefer neither print
nor e- across the board and need to drill down
into the data on a subject level

37.  More data – including titles from syllabi and
reading lists, and including data from other e-book
providers.
 More data analysis – on a subject level
 More detailed analysis on the not used titles
 Correlating the usage data with other sources –
surveys, qualitative data, anecdotal evidence – to
try and figure out the “why”

38. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Used vs. not used p+e CABs - Fall 2013 Used Not used
0
2
4
6
8
Would you like the Library to purchase the course books you
assign to your students?
Yes. I would like the Library to purchase the course books in print format
Yes. I would like the Library to purchase the course books in electronic format
No. I think each student should purchase the books I assign

39. QUESTIONS?
maria_savova@cuc.claremont.edu
www.slideshare.net/mariasavova3