Out with the Old?The Future of the Print Book in Academic LibrariesRachel Owens, Faculty Services LibrarianDaytona State CollegeApril 21, 2015

Let’s talk about…• What are students’ attitudes toward e-books?

• What are academic libraries’ experiences with e-books?

• What is the status and future of e-textbooks?

• What are publishers up to?

Students’ Attitudes Toward E-Books

Survey says…Love ‘em

• Cost (sometimes)

• Portability and weight

• Numerous books, one device

• Searchability

• Sharing capabilities

• Purchase allows use of pictures, graphs, etc. without copyright concerns

Hate ‘em

• Reading from screen creates eyestrain

• Takes too long to open the book, turn pages, find a section

• Too many distractions when reading on the Web

• More difficult to navigate

• Tethered to internet

• Inability to highlight or make notes

But wait! There’s more!Love ‘em

• Interactive components that assist student comprehension

• Ability to access on any computer

• Ability to share notes and highlights with instructor

• Accessible to multiple concurrent users

• Content currency

• Perceived as more environmentally friendly

Hate ‘em

• Restrictions on number of pages that can be printed

• Inability to cut and paste on some platforms

• Limited download period

• Incompatibility across devices

• Images difficult to view

• Difficulty browsing

• “Cold” feeling – print is “warm”

Reading Comprehension Comparison

• Scientific American reviewed studies on reading comprehension in paper vs. screen (Jabr, 2013):– Navigating long texts on screens may subtly alter reading comprehension

– Screens may drain more of our mental resources while reading, making it harder to remember when we’re done

– People approach computers and tablets with a mindset less conducive to learning when compared with paper – we play games on tablets

– We remember where in written text a piece of information appeared; form a mental map as we read – not possible with seamless scroll of words

– Screens impair comprehension by limiting the way people navigate text

– Students recognize this; print out long articles from databases

The Ultimate Outcome…

• Getting a job.– Employers find that new graduates’ IT applications

knowledge is excellent (Conference Board, 2006).

– Employers find that new graduates’ reading comprehension and communication skills are poor.

– How would academic e-books contribute to this?

What do students want?

• 92% prefer print for serious reading– They can concentrate best with a hard copy

– They get distracted on screens: apps, Facebook, etc.

• They want to know how far they’ve gone in a book

• They want to save the environment, but are concerned about how many e-books they have to buy to make up for the environmental production cost of a tablet

• They want to save money – not always the case, particularly with e-textbooks

• They want to be able to sell textbooks back

Robb, 2015 – interview with Naomi Baron, American University, author of Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World

Academic Libraries and E-Books

Can e-books replace print in academia?• Not yet.

• Study in a mid-sized academic library: how many of current holdings are available electronically? (Anderson and Pham, 2013)

Available

Buyable

33% 26%

Studies on Preferences in Academic LibrariesE-books preferred for/by:

• Reference books

• Commentaries

• Reserves

• Research protocols

• Pharmaceutical information

• Postdoc researchers

• Physical sciences/engineering

• Search and discovery

Print books preferred for/by:

• Textbooks

• Manuals, style guides

• Research methods, statistics

• Undergraduates

• Arts and humanities students

• Faculty

• Reading, note taking, text comparison, deep study

Patron-Driven Acquisition• Concerns (student and faculty):

– Seminal/specialist works with small audience will not be purchased

– “Trendy” titles will be purchased but not used long-term

– Staffing cuts due to decreased librarian workload

– Lessened importance of library as physical space

E-Textbooks

Hewlett-Packard Study (Tan, 2014)

Prefer print textbooks• 57% overall• 62% age 18-35

Reasons for choosing print• Ease of use, note-taking ability,

physical feel, costReasons for choosing e-text• Light weight, convenient access,

search function, cost, interactivity

• San Jose State, 527 students

• 75% age 18-35

• 57% graduate students

• 29% LIS students

• 21% preferred e-text; 21% preferred both

• Willing to pay more to get both formats

• Conclusion: not so fast with the all-digital classroom

2012 study in Texas (Sun, Flores and Tagama)

• Compared e-text use in classroom (computer lab) vs. assigned e-text used in regular classroom

• SLOs enhanced, perceived usefulness increased when e-text used in class – recommend a computer classroom when using e-text

DSC E-Text Pilot Study – 2 years• http://

www.educause.edu/ero/article/study-four-textbook-distribution-models

• Economics and English classes (had to change courses involved)

• Classes assigned to print purchase, print rental, e-text rental or e-text rental with device (had to change device chosen from Kindle to Dell notebook)

• E-text problems:– Instructors spent class time troubleshooting tech issues

– IT infrastructure not robust enough to support in-class textbook access

– Only saved $1.00 over print

– Lack of basic computing skills in students

Hardware-Software Compatibility• Buell (2013): not all e-devices are compatible with all e-

textbook software platforms

• Current e-textbook companies (CourseSmart, Inkling, Kno, Amazon) work best with iPad or laptop– Two of the most expensive e-devices

• A device must also support offline reading for e-textbook adoption; not all do

Bottom line:

• 60% of students will buy a print textbook even when the e-version is free (James Madison University, 2014).

• And, most e-textbooks are NOT free.

• Students want lifetime access to e-textbooks (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012).

Academic e-books and the publishing industry

Current status• Students spend $1,100/year on textbooks

• 70% of students have not bought a textbook because of price

• 20% in FL use textbooks on library reserve (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012)

• E-texts simpler for publishers

• 54% FL students spent >$300 on textbooks Spring 2012 (Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas, 2012)

• Publishers make 77 cents per dollar on print text sales – no incentive to change! (Waller, 2013)

Open-source textbooks

• Lindshield and Adhikari (2013): – More F2F students used the e-version; more online

students printed out the PDF (Why? Online students more often work during the day and don’t want to read from a screen in the evening for school.)

– F2F students do not like animations, links, etc. – most of them are used in class

– Faculty reluctant to create open-source material without compensation

Open-source textbooks• Prasad and Usagawa (2014):

– Found high level of acceptance toward open texts

– Greatest barrier for adoption is students’ preference for reading printed material

– Greatest motivator: FREE!

– Students perceive open-source as possibly lower in quality

• Donaldson, Nelson and Thomas (2012): Most FL students have never heard of open-source texts.

Final thoughts• Digital literacy ≠ information literacy

• Reading an e-book for enjoyment is very different from reading an e-textbook on which you will be tested in the future

• We may be reaching a tipping point (Marques, 2012)– As tech delivery of e-content improves

– As compatibility across devices improves

– As K-12 schools keep moving toward e-text use

Questions??