Rational: Academic libraries are increasingly offering online e-books because they provide convenient access for students, cost savings, logistical advantages and significant portability. Current research suggests that this trend will continue in the future. In parallel with the growth of the e-book market and the development of e-book library collections, librarians and information scientists have conducted a number of research studies to investigate the impact of e-books on collection development: specifically, relating to the challenges and questions of e-book management and service. Consequently, researchers have considered it pertinent to explore the behaviours and strategies of e-book readers.Scope: In January 2020, institutions around the globe faced significant disruption due to COVID-19. Many universities accelerated their adoption of online/e-learning approaches in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. Though e-books were at an early stage of adoption and the culture of using them in academia was slowly growing, they suddenly became the preferred option, if not the sole option because libraries were closed. Accordingly, some of the popular publishers; for example, Cambridge University Press, have offered online higher education textbooks as free-to-access. Over 700 textbooks were available for more than 2 months, regardless of whether those textbooks had previously been purchased. Furthermore, MIT Press offered complimentary access to its catalogue of e-books to support faculty and students who were working and learning remotely. Methodology: Despite increasing interest from librarians and learning technologists, prior to 2020, there were few well conducted studies investigating the habits of e-book users, especially amongst engineering students. Notwithstanding the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, an opportunity has arisen to survey student attitudes regarding the adoption of e-reading in an academic context. In this paper, a case study is presented that investigates the impact of the mandatory use of an e-book textbook in a final year undergraduate engineering module at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The paper investigates Science and Engineering students' usage and attitudes towards e-books when using their available e-readers, which include PCs or portable devices. A cross-sectional survey containing 5 nominal questions, 2 open questions and 17 Likert questions was developed and deployed to final year students from two programmes: Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Mechatronics Engineering. These students were attending the module titled Integrated Circuits and Systems.Findings: The results of this study highlight approaches for improving support for e-reading in an academic environment.

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This paper investigates the impact of digital reading during educational disruption on science and engineering students’ learning experience. Before the pandemic, some studies explored whether university students preferred using printed or digital resources for their academic readings. Amidst the pandemic, online learning became essential. Several studies showed students’ preference for printed text. This paper extends a pilot study that was conducted during the first COVID-19 wave in China. A survey consisting of Likert questions and open questions was designed using MS-Forms. The survey was shared with the science and engineering students in Years 2–4 (Levels 1–3) of their study at SWJTU-Leeds Joint School, Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China. This covered students from four undergraduate programs: Civil Engineering with Transport, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science. In total, 223 students participated in this study. The survey was anonymous and was made available to students for a month. The participation rate is nearly 27%. Findings indicate that the behavior of science and engineering students toward digital reading was different than other majors, and it is generally favorable. The necessity for online learning during educational disruption has encouraged some students to develop their digital reading skills.

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