SPEC Kit 313: E-book Collections · 53
of products for librarians.
Webinars or on-site training for e-book platforms, demos of reader functionality.
Please enter any additional comments about educating librarians/library staff about e-books. N=8
Enthusiasm for e-books varies widely among librarians here. There is a lot of uncertainty about their necessity,
functionality, content ownership, etc.
Library committee work on science e-books in 2008/2009.
More training and additional online materials are being developed. For the latter, time is being devoted to creating a
librarian portal that may include relevant policies, procedures, training materials, checklists, etc.
Some librarians, especially those in branches, fear that e-books will mean that users will no longer have a reason to
visit their branch libraries.
Subject specialists need to be involved — the old theory of having specialists look only at monographs in print just
doesn’t work they cannot have the option of not being educated about e-books. That’s tough politically.
Varies by unit library: Informal review with staff on an as-needed basis. Staff are alerted to useful new e-book titles.
We also host a Vendor Fair each October. While it focuses primarily on science and engineering content and
providers, companies that visited last year included Books24x7 — this event is primarily for patrons, but librarians are
also welcome to attend.
We plan to speak with users within 3 to 6 months to get their feedback and plan renewals and future purchases
accordingly.
Equipment for Reading e-Books
21. Which of the following types of equipment can be used to read the e-books in your collections?
Check all that apply. N=70
Computer (laptop, desktop, or tablet) 70 100%
PDA 17 24%
Mobile phone 14 20%
Proprietary e-book reader (e.g., Kindle) 12 17%
MP3 player 3 4%
Other 8 11%
of products for librarians.
Webinars or on-site training for e-book platforms, demos of reader functionality.
Please enter any additional comments about educating librarians/library staff about e-books. N=8
Enthusiasm for e-books varies widely among librarians here. There is a lot of uncertainty about their necessity,
functionality, content ownership, etc.
Library committee work on science e-books in 2008/2009.
More training and additional online materials are being developed. For the latter, time is being devoted to creating a
librarian portal that may include relevant policies, procedures, training materials, checklists, etc.
Some librarians, especially those in branches, fear that e-books will mean that users will no longer have a reason to
visit their branch libraries.
Subject specialists need to be involved — the old theory of having specialists look only at monographs in print just
doesn’t work they cannot have the option of not being educated about e-books. That’s tough politically.
Varies by unit library: Informal review with staff on an as-needed basis. Staff are alerted to useful new e-book titles.
We also host a Vendor Fair each October. While it focuses primarily on science and engineering content and
providers, companies that visited last year included Books24x7 — this event is primarily for patrons, but librarians are
also welcome to attend.
We plan to speak with users within 3 to 6 months to get their feedback and plan renewals and future purchases
accordingly.
Equipment for Reading e-Books
21. Which of the following types of equipment can be used to read the e-books in your collections?
Check all that apply. N=70
Computer (laptop, desktop, or tablet) 70 100%
PDA 17 24%
Mobile phone 14 20%
Proprietary e-book reader (e.g., Kindle) 12 17%
MP3 player 3 4%
Other 8 11%