In a white paper to be published in the spring of 2015, the presenter examines worldwide usage of e-books based on data from ebrary and EBL. This presentation builds on that paper, exploring some of the conclusions in more depth. In addition to presenting trends in usage that may be helpful to libraries for benchmarking their own usage, this study explores models and methods for measuring usage that can be applied by libraries or consortia locally.

1. E-Book Usage on a Global Scale:
Patterns, Trends, and
Opportunities
UKSG
Glasgow
March 30-31, 2015
Michael Levine-Clark
University of Denver
michael.levine-clark@du.edu

2. What (we think) we know
• E-books are better/worse
– For some subjects than others
– For some types of use than others
• E-books don’t work for immersive reading
• E-books don’t work for the humanities

3. Tons of Data
The Project
• Worldwide usage data
– EBL 2013-2014
– ebrary 2013-2014
– All customers
– Aggregated by title
• Today:
– EBL 2013
– ebrary 2014

4. The Shape of the Data
• Spreadsheets for the world and by region
• One title, with all associated data
– LC Class, Subclass, BISAC
– Publication Year
– Number of libraries with title available
– Number of libraries with usage
– Multiple measures of usage

5. Some Data Snags
• EBL and ebrary data are not yet merged
• Call numbers
– Missing
– Errors
• xQ102… (Q102)
• BBF1427… (BF)
• Not easy to retroactively build a list of titles
visible to a library at a particular time

6. Benchmarking
• What can we learn from worldwide usage
data?
• Do trends across a huge data set matter?
• Is every institution so unique that only local
data is meaningful?
– Every institution has other resources competing
for each user’s time.
– e-books take up varying portions of an overall
collection

7. 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 (EBL and ebrary)
• Chapter Download
(ebrary)
• Usage Time
– Minutes (EBL) or
seconds (ebrary) spent
looking at the book
• Copies
– A count of pages
copied/pasted
• Prints
– A count of the number
of pages printed

8. Academic Complete
• Subscription package
• About 120,000 titles
• Same package at about 2,000 libraries
worldwide
• BIG IMPACT on ebrary data

9. Titles Available
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000

10. Titles Available Worldwide By LC Class
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000

11. Titles Available Worldwide By LC Class
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000

12. ONE TITLE, WORLDWIDE DATA

13. Booth, Craft of Research
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Libraries with availability
Libraries with Usage

14. Booth, Craft of Research
97%
17,089 Sessions
Academic
Public
Special
86%
Sessions by Region
Africa
Asia Pacific
AUS/NZ
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
South Asia
UK/Ireland

15. Booth, Craft of Research
• Additional Measures of Usage
– 368,879 page views
– 1,162 pages copied
– 62,009 pages printed
– 0 downloads
– 2,323 chapter downloads
– Used 17,453,759 seconds (4,848 hours)

16. How do you make sense of that?

17. Categories of Analysis
• LC Class and subclass
– Broad academic division (humanities, social
sciences, STEM)
– Subject
• BISAC
• Publication date
• Region (Africa, Asia Pacific, etc.)
• Publisher or publisher type

18. Academic Divisions
Arts & Humanities
B (Philosophy, Religion)
excluding BF (Psychology)
C, D, E, F (History)
M (Music)
N (Fine Arts)
P (Language & Literature)
TR (Photography)
Other
A (General)
G (Geography, Anthropology,
Recreation)
Z (Bibliography, LIS)
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) (excluding TR)

19. Titles Available by Academic Division
194,420
185,558
184,053
78,854
STEM A&H Soc Sci Other
(12%)
(30%)
(29%)
(29%)
110,292
102,409
118,732
53,561
(14%)
(29%)
(27%)
(31%)

20. Average Number of Libraries with Title Available
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450

21. Average Number of Libraries with Title
Available – Academic Divisions
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM Other
412.26

22. Average Number of Libraries with Title
Available – Academic Divisions
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM Other
88.89

23. Average Number of Libraries
with Title Available - LC Class
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
412.26

24. Average Number of Libraries
with Title Available - LC Class
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
88.89

25. LIKELIHOOD THAT A LIBRARY WILL
SEE USAGE OF A TITLE

26. Average Number of Libraries With:
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
A & H Soc Sci STEM Average
Session
View
Download
Copy
Print
Libraries with title available
76.78 100.63 87.56

27. Percentage of Libraries With:
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
A & H Soc Sci STEM Average
Session
View
Download
Copy
Print

28. Percentage of Libraries Using a Title
Region Average # of
Libraries with Title
Average # of
Libraries with Use
of Title
% of Libraries Using
Title
UK/Ireland 18.97 2.15 11.33%
Australia/NZ 16.86 1.39 8.22%
North America 204.70 5.26 2.57%
Europe 60.36 1.48 2.46%
Asia Pacific 169.97 1.78 1.05%
South Asia 58.06 0.56 0.96%
Middle East 87.51 0.71 0.81%
Africa 69.14 0.51 0.77%
Latin America 119.40 0.93 0.68%
World 412.26 9.25 2.24%

29. Percentage of Libraries Using a Title,
By Discipline
Region Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM
Africa 0.33% 1.08% 0.85%
Asia Pacific 0.71% 1.24% 1.31%
Australia/NZ 6.23% 9.42% 9.34%
Europe 2.07% 2.81% 2.47%
Latin America 0.42% 0.80% 1.19%
Middle East 0.54% 0.88% 1.12%
North America 2.42% 2.72% 2.58%
South Asia 0.60% 1.04% 1.32%
UK/Ireland 9.84% 13.22% 11.01%
World 1.93% 2.48% 2.36%

30. Conclusions about Likelihood of Use by
a Library
• For EBL, a higher percentage of libraries use
titles in the arts & humanities
• For ebrary, a higher percentage of libraries
use titles in STEM and Social Sciences with
variation by region

31. LIKELIHOOD THAT A BOOK WILL BE
USED: ARE THESE THE RIGHT
BOOKS?

32. Titles Available / Titles Used
53.08%
46.88% 46.71%
38.59% 36.20% 33.13% 32.62% 32.16% 30.81%
25.41%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Titles With a Session Titles without a Session

33. Percentage of Titles Used By Discipline
63.84%
59.47%
50.20%
53.08%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities STEM All Subjects
Useed Unused

34. Percentage of Titles Used By Discipline
73.99%
67.36% 67.36% 68.75%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities STEM All Subjects
Useed Unused

35. Percentage of Titles Used By LC Class
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Session No Session

36. Titles Used By LC Class
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Session No Session

37. Percentage of Titles Used, By Division
Region Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM
Africa 14.95% 30.77% 33.96%
Asia Pacific 45.80% 48.95% 46.48%
Australia/NZ 35.61% 40.24% 40.69%
Europe 36.79% 37.97% 25.36%
Latin America 26.83% 35.65% 34.11%
Middle East 25.65% 29.62% 41.59%
North America 54.16% 54.67% 43.94%
South Asia 24.01% 32.28% 43.88%
UK/Ireland 38.17% 38.45% 31.66%
World 59.47% 63.84% 50.20%

38. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
5%
29%
34%
32%
Titles with a Session

39. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
26%
40%
30%
Sessions

40. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
28%
39%
29%
Page Views

41. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
33%
35%
28%
Titles with a Download

42. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
28%
39%
29%
Downloads

43. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
25%
38%
33%
Titles with Copy/Paste

44. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
20%
45%
31%
Copy/Paste

45. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
26%
36%
34%
Titles with Printing

46. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
32%
36%
28%
Printing

47. Availability vs Use
12%
30%
29%
29%
Availability
Other STEM
Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
4%
24%
40%
32%
Time Spent

48. Conclusions about Likelihood of Use
• Social Science titles are more likely to have at
least one use
– But, some humanities subjects are most heavily
used. P (languages and literature) is relatively
poorly used.
• In general, social sciences titles are used
above what one would predict, with sciences
lower.

49. LIKELIHOOD OF HIGH USE

50. Page Views Per Session
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
18.00

51. Page Views Per Session: By Academic
Division and Region
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
A&H Soc Sci STEM

52. Page Views Per Session By LC Class
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
18.00
20.00

53. Downloads Per Session
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7

54. Downloads Per Session: By Academic
Division and Region
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
A&H Soc Sci STEM

55. Downloads Per Session by LC Class
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3

56. Copies Per Session
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2

57. Copies Per Session: By Academic Division
and Region
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
A&H Soc Sci STEM

58. Copies Per Session by LC Class
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18

59. Prints Per Session
0
1
2
3
4
5
6

60. Prints Per Session: By Academic Division
and Region
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
A&H Soc Sci STEM

61. Prints Per Session by LC Class
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3

62. Time Per Session
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600

63. Time Per Session: By Academic Division
and Region
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
A&H Soc Sci STEM

64. Time Per Session by LC Class
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400

65. Likelihood of High Use: Conclusions
• Views Per Session
– Lowest in Developing
world
– Generally highest for
STEM
• Copy/Paste Per Session
– Regional variations
– Generally highest for
Social Sciences, lowest
for STEM
• Downloads Per Session
– Highest in Developing
world
– Generally highest for
STEM
• Printing Per Session
– Regional variations
– Generally highest for
STEM

66. Time Per Session
• Shorter in developing world
• Longest in Arts & Humanities
• Shortest in STEM

67. THE MOST HEAVILY-USED TITLES

68. Top 10%* of Titles with Sessions
• Worldwide
– 45,350 titles (10.08%)
• 107 sessions or more
– 13,708,391 sessions (70.20% of all sessions)
– Available at 1,681 libraries on average
*Based on an earlier, smaller data set that did
not include some of the unused titles

69. % of Sessions Represented by Top 10% of Titles
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%

70. Disciplinary Representation Within Top
10% of Titles Used
Other
4%
STEM
26%
Soc Sci
38%
A&H
32%
Titles
Other
4%
STEM
27%
Soc Sci
41%
A&H
28%
Sessions

71. Titles Available by Academic Division
12%
30%
29%
29%
Other
STEM (Q, R, S, T-TP, TS-
TX)
Social Sciences (BF, H, J,
K, L, U, V)
Arts & Humanities (B-BD,
BH-BX, C, D, E, F, M, N, P,
TR)

72. Disciplinary Spread within Top 10% of Titles Used
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
A & H
Soc Sci
STEM
Other

73. % of Sessions within Top 10% of Titles
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Other STEM Soc Sci A & H

74. % of Sessions Represented by Top 10% of Titles
65.06%
73.66%
70.69%
60.00%
62.00%
64.00%
66.00%
68.00%
70.00%
72.00%
74.00%
76.00%
A & H Soc Sci STEM

75. % of Sessions Represented by Top 10% of Titles
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
A & H Soc Sci STEM

76. High-Use Titles: Conclusions
• Top 10% of titles represent 70% of sessions
worldwide
• Social Sciences more heavily represented than
in the data set as a whole
• Arts & Humanities more heavily represented,
but accounts for fewer sessions than would be
expected
– Usage spread more deeply across titles for A&H

77. INTENSIVE / EXTENSIVE USE

78. Breadth vs Depth
PERCENTAGE OF TITLES USED
AVERAGEAMOUNTOFUSE

79. SESSIONS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Session
AverageSessionsPerTitle

80. VIEWS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With View
AverageViewsPerTitle

81. DOWNLOADS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Download
AverageDownloadsPerTitle

82. COPIES
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Copy
AverageCopiesPerTitle

83. PRINTS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Print
AveragePrintsPerTitle

84. COMBINED
Sessions
Views
Downloads
Copies
Prints

85. SESSIONS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Session
AverageSessionsPerTitle

86. VIEWS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With View
AverageViewsPerTitle

87. DOWNLOADS
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Download
AverageDownloadsPerTitle

88. COPIES
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With a Copy
AverageCopiesPerTitle

89. PRINTING
Percentage of Titles in LC Class With a Print
AveragePrintsPerTitle

90. COMBINED
Sessions
Views
Downloads
Copies
Prints

91. USAGE BY YEAR OF PUBLICATION

92. Titles Available
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
1651
1764
1772
1778
1787
1792
1799
1804
1809
1815
1820
1825
1830
1835
1840
1845
1850
1855
1860
1865
1870
1875
1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
All Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

93. Titles Available
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
1651
1764
1772
1778
1787
1792
1799
1804
1809
1815
1820
1825
1830
1835
1840
1845
1850
1855
1860
1865
1870
1875
1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

94. Titles Available by Publication Year,
2000-2015
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
All Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

95. Titles Available by Publication Year,
2000-2015
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

96. Titles with a Session by Publication Year,
2000-2015
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
World A & H Soc Sci STEM

97. Titles with a Session by Publication Year,
2000-2015
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
A & H Soc Sci STEM

98. Sessions by Publication Year, 2000-2015
0
500000
1000000
1500000
2000000
2500000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
World A & H Soc Sci STEM

99. Sessions by Publication Year, 2000-2015
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
A & H Soc Sci STEM

100. Titles with Session vs Availability, by
Date, 2000-2015

101. CONCLUSIONS

102. One Size Does Not Fit All
• Arts & Humanities
– Highest likelihood a library with access to a title will make
use of it
• Social Sciences
– Highest percentage of available titles used
– Even higher percentage of overall sessions
• STEM
– Most page views per session
– Most downloads per session
– Least amount of time in the book

103. Don’t Rely on a Single Measure of Use
• Comparing multiple factors tells a more
complete story
– Actions per session
– Use relative to availability
– Intensive vs extensive use

104. Think Broadly
• All subjects get used
• Publication date does not appear to be a
major factor

105. Questions?