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Journal of Librarianship and Information Science
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What's this?

Making e-books available through public libraries

Some user reactions

Cliff Mcknight

Department of Information Science at Loughborough University, c.mcknight{at}lboro.ac.uk

James Dearnley

Department of Information Science at Loughborough University

Anne Morris

Department of Information Science at Loughborough University

This paper considers the results of an online questionnaire survey that collected user data on e-book collections held at Essex County Libraries over a two-year period between April 2004 and June 2006. The research was funded by the Laser Foundation, and specifically considered e-book collections held on Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, as well as collections viewable on Personal Computers with Internet access. Questionnaire responses from 58 individuals indicated clearly that marketing of e-book collections needs serious consideration, that certain genres were popular with users (notably Science Fiction), and that the largest number of respondents were aged between 21 and 30. As we discuss, the findings of this questionnaire survey offer few insights into e-book usage that have not been reported in other research. However, what the findings do illustrate clearly is that publicity afforded to e-book and other electronic collections remains crucial. From perusal of the data, 47 of the 58 respondents found out about the e-book collections after browsing the website. Whilst this obviously indicates that the website is indeed useful, the fact that only nine respondents investigated the collections having seen publicity material tells another story.

Key Words: electronic books • marketing of electronic books • public libraries

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Vol. 40, No. 1, 31-43 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0961000607086619
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