The NISO virtual conference on October 20, 2021, focused on the evolving role of monographs in the humanities, discussing how digital resources like early English books online transform research and teaching dynamics. Participants highlighted the challenges of interpreting usage statistics, with many users preferring print books for their tactile qualities despite the increasing availability of e-books. Discussions emphasized the need for improving digital interfaces to better accommodate user habits and the ongoing debate between screen and paper reading experiences.

1. Humanities Roundtable
2021: The Monograph in
the Evolving Humanities
Ecosystem
NISO Virtual Conference
Wednesday, October 20, 11am - 4:00pm (Eastern)

2. Thinking About Usage in the
Humanities
Establishing the value

3. Waking up in the British Library
Remembering 2005
• Prof. Justin Champion, discussed the way in
which Early English Books Online not only
influences teaching and research in a traditional
sense, but also shifts the dynamic between
teacher and learner, invigorating new avenues
of research for both. …‘If we collectively assume
that one of the central functions of an arts and
humanities degree is to develop skills of
assessment, interpretation, and analysis, that’s
best done in dialogue with primary sources.’

4. Waking up in the British Library
• Matthew Steggle, from Sheffield Hallam University. “He
was also enthralled by the new ways it enabled research
across texts. Years of his PhD research were overshadowed
by a search of EEBO-TCP that took just a couple of
minutes.”
• Article Title: “Waking up in the British Library “
Author: Emma Beer
Publication Date: 30-April-2005
Publication: Ariadne Issue 43
Originating URL: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue43/wakingupinbl-rpt/

5. STEGGLE, MATTHEW. “THE CRUCES OF
‘MEASURE FOR MEASURE’ AND EEBO-TCP.”
The Review of English Studies, vol. 65, no. 270,
Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 438–55,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24541111.

6. Lisa Jardine
• British historian of the early modern
period.
• Democratization of access

7. Thinking About Usage in the
Humanities
The usage stats look less exciting

8. Challenges of
interpreting usage data
• Matthew Steggle found (I think) three physical
books in the British Library, and (I think) eight in
EBBO.
• In COUNTER reports that would be:
• Unique_Item_Requests= 8
• Unique_Title_Requests = 8
• 8 is not an impressive number but might inform
“years of his PhD research”

9. COUNTER Title Report
Note: Some columns are hidden for the slide

10. Thinking About Usage in the
Humanities
We have some work to do … librarians and publishers

11. Screen vs.
paper habits
“Habit and attitude appeared to be important, and a digitally
born textbook is by far the best alternative to a print
textbook when it comes to studying. But even those who
prefer to read on screens are originally native paper readers,
and as long as the existing application interfaces cannot
address the shortcomings of screens regarding spatial
landmarks, we will keep returning to paper under certain
circumstances.”
• Myrberg, Caroline, and Ninna Wiberg. 2015. “Screen Vs. Paper:
What Is the Difference for Reading and Learning?”. Insights 28 (2):
49–54. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.236

12. What the
students told us
2016
“The [print] book just isn’t always available in the library because ten people
have taken it already, so you have no choice but to use the e-book. Print books
are just easier on your eyes and tangible, whereas e-books? You just can’t feel
it in your hand and it’s just not really the same for me. A [print] book is an
asset that you’ve got, whereas e-books just feel like it’s something in the
background that you don’t really own.”

13. What the
students told
us
“I tend to use print books a lot more than I do e-books,
primarily probably for the reason that a lot of the books that I
have to read for my course are very long, hundreds and
hundreds of pages long. Maybe it’s a psychological thing, but
I like to know where I am in the chapter or in the book, I like
to keep flicking back to the end of the chapter to see how far
I’m going.”

14. What the
students told
us
“DRM (digital rights management) is Saleh Ahmed’s biggest
bugbear. ‘It feels pretty much like medieval armour or a
chastity belt. I want to be able to use e-books on different
devices and I do understand everything, but if you don’t treat
the users with respect, they will go somewhere else, or they
will try to remove it. ”
• Estelle, Lorraine. 2016. “What Students Told Us About Their Experiences and Expectations of Print
and E-books”. Insights 29 (1): 31–36. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.281

15. There are many nuances associated
with the use of ebooks and electronic
resources
• Usage statistics are useful, particularly for trends
across time, cost per use, but they are not a measure
impact.
• Low usage numbers may result in high impact e.g.,
three requests of a primary source material might
inform years of PhD research.
• We cannot compare usage of primary source
materials or of monographs with the use of journal
articles – particularly articles in the sciences.
• User habits and expectations … we haven’t solved
screen v. paper problem yet.

16. Thank you