A Local Study of the Estimated Influence of E-books on Learners’ reading Practices

Introduction (E-Book)

The term "electronic book" (E-Book), which Van Cam of Brown University invented in the 1960s, is still widely used today. However, in contrast to printed books, e-books can only be read with an electronic device. The Internet offers thousands of free e-books for download. Our institution's academic librarians are evaluating new e-book options for our collection, just like academic librarians everywhere. However, informal student surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest that print books are preferred by a significant number of our students. For instance, in a Books and Culture class taught by one of the authors, students surveyed other students. Would students prefer to read books electronically for pleasure? What about research-related books? How do students envision the use of e-books affecting their research habits? Using their current use of library print collections as a point of reference, our goal is to ascertain how students envision using e-books for creative and research purposes. In the end, we want to know how students think e-books will affect how they use existing and future library collections. Even though the study only looks at what students went through at one school, we hope that the findings will lead to interesting questions and a similar framework for future research at other schools.

E-books are a novel idea in this country that are already well-liked in the West. The current situation is growing, and our e-book future is bright. The cost of readers will also be less expensive-books, never run out of stock and have a very efficient supply chain. We need to learn more about how our community members actually use the content we provide, even though libraries face a number of challenges with e-books, such as how to align limited resources with new collection options, provide an integrated discovery system, market new resources, and educate users about the peculiarities of various platforms. We don't know enough about readers' and researchers' actual habits and preferences from download and circulation statistics. We might be able to choose which new products to buy and what the future should look like with the help of a larger body of research on user experiences