Usage of Electronic Books in Academic Libraries: LIS Professionals’ View Point

Sadaf RafiqMphil Scholar (PU)Librarian (CMH LMC Lahore)

Presented by:

Dr. Nosheen Fatima WarraichAssistant ProfessorUniversity of the Punjab Lahore

Contents

Background of study Significance of Study Objective of Study Research Methodology Findings Conclusion Q /A

Background of study

Electronic book is becoming an essential element of academic institution

“An e-book is the contents of a book made available in an electronic form (Hawkins, 2000)

Popularity of e-Books has grown in 1971, when Dr. Michel Hart launched first book through the visionary project of Gutenberg

Andries Van Dam, professor from Brown University, first coined the term e-Book.

Two types of technologies available for using e-books

(Online/Offline)

Cont.

HEC provides around 75,000 e-books on different subject areas through

1) Oxford University Press

2) Taylor and Francis

3) Cambridge University Press

4) Emerald

5) John Wiley and Sons

6) McGraw Hill Book Companies

7) Springer Publishing Company etc.

Objectives of Study

• To provide an overview of current offerings of e-book in academic libraries

• To explore the perception of LIS professionals about usage of e-books in academic libraries

• To identify the different constrains behind the none use of e-books

Research Methodology

• PopulationLIS Professionals who worked in academic libraries of Pakistan

• Data CollectionAn online survey was conducted using Google docs.

Questionnaire consisted on 22 statements

• Data AnalysisThrough different statistics

Findings

Who participated?

Private Institutes= 36(45%)

Govt. Institutes= 27 (34%)

Semi Govt. Institutes= 17(21%)

The age range of total 80 participants was from 30 to 59 years old.

Total Participants Male Female

80 54(68%) 26(32%)

Access of e-books

Do you provide the facility of e-books? If yes through which resources provide the access to users?

•71(80%) provide access of e-books •09(11%) do not provide the access

In which frequency have you used e-books?

Daily (43%), Weekly (21%), Monthly (10%) , Occasionally (26%)

Preferred format of book

Which format of book library generally user’s prefer to use?

26% Print Format

08% Electronic Format

66% Both Format

For what purpose do you access e-books?

36% academic staff, 31% students, 19% personal use, 9% no print copy, 4% other

What types of e-books used?

50% Textbook Regularly used, 54% Reference books sometimes used, 20% others don’t know, 40% leisure reading books used rarely, 16% leisure reading books never used

Organization of e-books

How many libraries organize e-books and which software use to organize e-books?

•60% academic libraries organize e-books collection•40% do not organize e-book collection

Software which mostly libraries used

•04% Greenstone•18% Dspace•78% Others

How useful do you find e-books?

74% very useful, 21% somewhat useful, 3% don’t know & 1% not very useful.

Describe the Reasons to use e-books?

How would you rate your experience of using e-book?

While using e-books have you experienced the following issues?

In your opinion, will advances in communications technology, do you think library e-books are not being utilized properly by users?

• 54(68%) Yes

• 26(32%) No

Do you agree following are constrains for none-use of e-books

How can you improve library E-book Service?

20% Motivate library users

19% provide specific instruction about e-books use

17% advertise/promotion e-books through library website

17% include e-books titles in library catalogue

23% arrange workshop about e-books technology & services

5% others

Conclusion

successful provision of e-books in academic libraries. But still there is

need to tackle some issue regarding the provision of e-books.

HEC provide the access of huge collection of e-books in Pakistan.

Librarians need to provide access of such resources for the users,

arrange workshops and also promote e-books services for the library

users.

Thanks

Q/A