Levine-Clark, Michael, “Diving into E-Book Usage: ALA Update,” Invited, ProQuest Day: Transforming Libraries, Transforming Research. Las Vegas, June 27, 2014.

1. Diving Into E-Book Usage:
ALA Update
Las Vegas
June 27, 2014
Michael Levine-Clark
Associate Dean for Scholarly Communication
& Collections Services
University of Denver

2. Previous Presentations
• Different data set
– All books available across a four-year period
(ebrary) or three-year period (EBL) ending in 2013
– No information about time spent in book
– No information about number/type of institutions
with access to a particular title
• Tested the methodology
http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelLevineClark/
presentations

3. Data Overview
All e-books from ebrary and EBL
• Usage for 2013
• Worldwide
• Three library types
– Academic
– Public
– Special

4. Usage Definitions
• Session
– Any time that a user interacts with an e-book
• Page View
– A count of the number of pages examined
• Download
– A download of the entire book
• Usage Time
– Measured in seconds, the amount of time spent
looking at the book

5. Some aspects of usage aren’t comparable
• ebrary has far more libraries than EBL
– Averages and totals only useful when comparing
within one aggregator
• There may be some platform differences that
drive usage in different ways:
– More downloads per session on EBL = fewer pages
viewed
– EBL has a landing page and ebrary doesn’t.

6. What can we learn by examining usage
on such a large scale?
• Are we collecting the right things?
• Does quality matter?
• Are there general patterns by subject?
• Can we identify disciplinary preferences?
• What are the best ways to measure use?
• Can those patterns and preferences help
shape our collections and guide our services?

7. The Complete Data Set
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
Academic Public Special
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
Academic Public Special

8. Academic Library eBooks
• 280,008 titles
– Available on average in 724
libraries
• 278,428 titles with LCCN
– Available on average in 727
libraries
• 379,111 titles
– Available on average in 72
libraries
• 345,891 titles with LCCN
– Available on average in 73
libraries

9. Number of Titles Available: ebrary
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
H
P
Q
R
B
T
D
L
J
G
K
E
N
M
S
F
Z
U
NOLCCN
C
V
A

10. Number of Titles Available: EBL
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
H
Q
P
NOLCCN
R
T
B
D
L
K
G
J
E
S
N
M
F
U
Z
C
V
A

11. Academic Library eBook Usage
278,428 titles with LCCN
On average in 2013, each title:
– Was held by 726.6 libraries
– Had 424.9 sessions
– Had 6,623.1 page views
– Had 14.7 downloads
– Was viewed for 54,556.8
seconds (15.2 hours)
345,891 titles with LCCN
On average in 2013, each title:
– Was held by 73.3 libraries
– Had 27.8 sessions
– Had 571.7 page views
– Had 3.5 downloads
– Was viewed for 278.5 seconds
(4.6 minutes)
Averages are per title across all libraries.

12. Academic Library eBook Usage
278,428 titles with LCCN
On average in 2013, at each
library, each title:
– Had 0.58 sessions
– Had 9.12 page views
– Had 0.02 downloads
– Was viewed for 75.09 seconds
345,891 titles with LCCN
On average in 2013, at each
library, each title:
– Had 0.38 sessions
– Had 7.79 page views
– Had 0.05 downloads
– Was viewed for 3.80 seconds

13. Average Number of Libraries with
Title Available by Discipline
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Arts &
Humanities
Social
Sciences
STEM
ebrary
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Arts &
Humanities
Social
Sciences
STEM
EBL

14. Title Availability: Ebrary
0.0
200.0
400.0
600.0
800.0
1000.0
1200.0
E F U D M Z V B C P H J N A Q K G S R T L
Average number of academic libraries with title available

15. Title Availability: EBL
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
H L J G E M Q D Z T B N F C R K P A V S U
Average number of academic libraries with title available

16. ARE THESE THE RIGHT BOOKS?

17. Sessions Compared to Availability
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
ebrary
Availability
Sessions
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
EBL
Availability
Sessions
On this and the next two slides, sessions are multiplied to fit scale
(ebrary X 1000, EBL X 100)

18. Sessions Compared to Availability: Ebrary
0.0
200.0
400.0
600.0
800.0
1000.0
1200.0
1400.0
1600.0
E F U D M Z V B C P H J N A Q K G S R T L
Availability
Sessions
Sorted by average availability (number of libraries with access)

19. Sessions Compared to Availability: EBL
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
H L J G E M Q D Z T B N F C R K P A V S U
Availability
Sessions
Sorted by average availability (number of libraries with access)

20. DO HIGHER-QUALITY E-BOOKS GET
USED MORE?

21. University Press Books
• A proxy for quality
• ebrary – 41,177 titles
• EBL – 34,525 titles
Do better books get used at a higher rate?

22. University Press Title Availability by Discipline
19075
13260
7533
Arts & Humanities
Social Sciences
STEM
14233
10390
7325
Arts & Humanities
Social Sciences
STEM

23. Overall Usage: titles with at least one session
97.3% 99.5%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
ebrary
73.5%
80.1%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
EBL

24. Overall Usage:
average sessions per title per institution
0.584
0.615
0.000
0.100
0.200
0.300
0.400
0.500
0.600
0.700
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
ebrary
0.379
0.357
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
EBL

25. Overall Usage: average page views per title
9.12
9.51
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
ebrary
7.79 7.58
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
EBL

26. Overall Usage: titles viewed at least once
99.3% 99.3%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
All Titles with
LCCN
University
Press Titles
ebrary
72.3%
79.1%
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
All Titles with
LCCN
University
Press Titles
EBL

27. Overall Usage: time per title (in seconds)
75.10
83.73
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
ebrary
3.80 3.87
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
All Titles with
LCCN
University Press
Titles
EBL

28. University Press Summary
• Used at a higher rate across most categories.
• Does this mean that users are seeking out
quality books?

29. BROAD DISCIPLINARY DIFFERENCES

30. The Disciplines
Humanities
B (Philosophy, Religion)
excluding BF (Psychology)
C, D, E, F (History)
M (Music)
N (Fine Arts)
P (Language & Literature)
Social Sciences
BF (Psychology)
H (Social Sciences)
J (Political Science)
K (Law)
L (Education)
U, V (Military, Naval Sciences)
STEM
Q (Science)
R (Medicine)
S (Agriculture)
T (Technology)

31. Percentage of Titles Used
ebrary
Discipline % Titles with a
Session
% Titles Viewed % Titles
Downloaded
Humanities 96.62% 96.35% 34.64%
Social Sciences 98.61% 98.40% 32.06%
STEM 96.38% 96.06% 30.45%
Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 97.27% 97.01% 32.24%

32. Percentage of Titles Used
EBL
Discipline % Titles with a
Session
% Titles Viewed % Titles
Downloaded
Humanities 70.78% 69.64% 38.94%
Social Sciences 76.59% 75.71% 47.25%
STEM 72.83% 71.31% 43.58%
Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 73.53% 72.34% 43.58%

33. Average Usage
ebrary
Discipline Sessions Page Views Full Downloads Time (Seconds)
Humanities 0.48 7.32 0.0156 63.41
Social Sciences 0.68 10.45 0.0234 87.88
STEM 0.59 9.61 0.0225 72.99
Baseline (all titles with
LCCN)
0.58 9.12 0.0203 75.09

34. Average Usage
EBL
Discipline Sessions Page Views Full Downloads Time (Seconds)
Humanities 0.30 6.16 0.0351 3.17
Social Sciences 0.45 8.90 0.0561 4.40
STEM 0.36 7.69 0.4858 3.51
Baseline (all titles with
LCCN)
0.38 7.79 0.4796 3.80

35. Actions Per Session
ebrary
Discipline Views Per
Session
Downloads Per
Session
Time Per
Session
Humanities 15.12 0.032 130.61
Social Sciences 15.42 0.035 129.42
STEM 16.40 0.384 124.06
Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 15.59 0.035 128.05

36. Actions Per Session
EBL
Discipline Views Per
Session
Downloads Per
Session
Time Per
Session
Humanities 20.49 0.117 10.55
Social Sciences 19.97 0.126 9.86
STEM 21.59 0.136 9.86
Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 20.59 0.127 10.03

37. Disciplinary Summary
• Social sciences far outperform humanities and
STEM in two categories
– Percentage of books used
– Average amount of use
• STEM outperforms the others in actions per session
• Readers in the humanities spend more time in the
book per session

38. MEASURING PREDICTED USE

39. Performance Relative to Predicted Use
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
H B J R D L K M E G Q N C A S V Z U F T P
% of available % of titles with a session

40. Performance Relative to Predicted Use
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
H R L N D M E A B G C Z V J U F S K P T Q
% of Titles Available % of Sessions

41. Performance Relative to Predicted Use
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
H L T J R N D M E Z A V S C G B U F K P Q
% of Titles Available % of Titles with a Session

42. Performance Relative to Predicted Use
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
H L R G N J A C Z V M U S F E D K B T P Q
% of Titles Available % of Sessions

43. INTENSIVE / EXTENSIVE USE

44. Breadth vs Depth
PERCENTAGE OF TITLES USED
AVERAGEAMOUNTOFUSE

45. ebrary Sessions – Avg and %
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)

46. EBL Sessions – Avg and %
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)

47. ebrary Page Views – Avg and %
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)

48. EBL Page Views – Avg and %
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)

49. ebrary Downloaded – Avg and %
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)

50. EBL Downloaded – Avg and %
Narrow (low %) but
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Broad (high %) and
Deep (more usage of
each title)
Narrow (low %) and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)
Broad (high % and
Shallow (low usage of
each title)

53. CAN WE DETERMINE LEVEL OF
IMMERSION IN A BOOK?

54. Page Views Per Session
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
18.00
20.00
T Q F N R D H G C E M L Z P J B S K U A V
15.86

55. Seconds Per Session (Time in the Book)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
160.00
E D F U H J M R G P K L C Q T N B S Z V A
128.05

56. Page Views Per Session
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
F N V M T E R Q G A D C H S P J K B Z U L
20.59

57. Seconds Per Session (Time in the Book)
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
F E D J M C V G A K U R H P Q B T N S L Z
10.03

58. Summary: Level of Immersion
• Users spend the most time (in seconds) in
history books (D, E, F)
• Users examine a lot of pages in technology
books (T) but spend a relatively small amount
of time

60. CONCLUSIONS

61. There are many ways to measure use
• Difference from predicted use
• Depth vs breadth
– Books used a lot vs a lot of books used
• Type of use (session, view, download)
• Amount of use per session

62. Quality Matters
• University press books used at a higher rate by
most measures
• Users appear to be making some judgment
about quality

63. There are clear (but nuanced) differences
by subject
• Two examples
– F (History, Americas)
• Low usage as % of available F titles
• Low average usage rate
• Very poor performance relative to availability of F titles
• High # of page views by session
• Lots of time in the book
– L (Education)
• High usage as % of available L titles
• High average usage rate
• Very strong performance relative to availability of L titles
• Relatively low # of page views by session/time in book

64. How do we use these observations
to build better collections and
better serve our users?

65. White Paper…
…coming soon
• Merged data (EBL and ebrary)
• Longer time range
• Analysis by library type
• Analysis by region
• Will be on the EBL and ebrary web sites
Plus future publications and presentations

66. Thank You
Michael Levine-Clark
Associate Dean for Scholarly Communication and
Collections Services
University of Denver Libraries
michael.levine-clark@du.edu
http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelLevineClark