E-books in academic libraries: Challenges for sharing and use

Abstract

This paper reviews the recent literature on e-book sharing and use in post-secondary libraries, exploring current restrictions on viewing, printing, downloading, circulation, and interlibrary loan. It also discusses the ways in which these restrictions influence the library lending of e-book readers and other mobile devices. The most fundamental problems include restrictive license provisions, proprietary software and file formats, digital rights management (DRM), and the single-user business model adopted by many e-book vendors.

Det åpne bibliotek

“…Audunson & Windfeld Lund, 2001;Calhoun, 2014;Chowdhury & Foo, 2012;Darnton, 2009;Law & Andrews, 2004;Polanka, 2010;Price & Havergal, 2011;Walters, 2014). Som Walters (2014) påpeker, er fordelene med e-bøker og digitale formater etter hvert relativt velkjent, mens restriksjoner på bruk, kopiering, utskrift og utlån er mer ukjent for både brukere av bibliotek og bibliotekarer. Fra et brukerperspektiv kan restriksjonene se unødige og uhensiktsmessige ut.…”

How do you like your books: Print or digital? An analysis on print and e-book usage at the Graduate School of Education

“…They were not sure if all students would be allowed concurrent access to an e-book for an unlimited amount of time. They had questions related to 24/7 access policy, copyright, and downloading issues (Nariani, 2009) This sentiment is also reflected by Walters (2014), who stated E-book licenses restrict not just the activities of individual patrons, but the ways in which e-books can be circulated and shared by university libraries. Common restrictions include limits on the number of simultaneous users; prohibitions on use by community (walk-in) patrons; limits on the number of times any particular title can be viewed; and limits on the use of e-books in course packs, as reserve readings, and in fulfillment of interlibrary loan requests (pp.…”

ERM Ideas and Innovations: “E-Licensing at Towson University: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”

“…Of special note was how the licenses make the use of resources more restrictive and access more cumbersome (Walters, 2014). This can have a negative impact on the turnaround time for the fulfillment of requests processed by members of ILL staff ordering materials from other libraries.…”