Transcript Slide 1
Ollie Bridle
October 2012
About the library.
E-books at Oxford University.
E-books – a view from the sciences.
E-book reader leading at the Radcliffe
Science Library.
University’s main
Science Library
Reference and
lending collection.
Accessible to every
full member of the
University.
A variety of different sources –
Aggregators - EBL (Electronic Book Library) &
EBSCO Host
Subject specific collections (EEBO – Early English
Books Online)
Reference Suites (Oxford Reference)
One-off titles (Encyclopaedia of Materials : Science &
Technology)
Google Books
Publically available resources (Project Gutenberg)
Mainly through SOLO.
Displays print and electronic books.
Links to Google digitised books.
Not all individual e-book titles discoverable.
OxLIP+
Groups resources by subject.
User education required.
Highlighting by Librarians in LibGuides and
training.
24/7 instant access & convenience
Speed of ordering
Opportunities for patron driven ordering
Discoverability in our catalogue
Serve the need for high demand titles
Savings on shelf space
The pages don’t fall out!
Variations in interfaces
Discoverability through SOLO
Different allowances
Online/offline access
Limited selection
Reading off a screen
Having e-versions available can be especially
helpful for publishers who don’t deposit. (e.g.
Springer)
Speed of access through EBL is a great
feature.
Has been very useful for people out of Oxford
and on geography field trips.
Availability at about 30% of wanted material.
Not great subject coverage.
Not perceived as good for science as humanities.
Core text-books unavailable or prohibitively
expensive.
Useful titles - Field’s Virology & ELS.
Not much reader reaction beyond technical
queries.
Difficult to keep up with developments in ebooks.
More complex ordering.
Need for a centralised list of all e-books.
Kindle from Amazon
Works with proprietary Amazon e-
book format.
Two loaned since 2009.
Recently purchased a small number
of science titles.
Sony E-reader
Touch screen.
Works with a variety of e-book
formats (e.g. ePub).
1 loaned since 2009.
E-readers are catalogued on ALEPH and can
be held.
Content preloaded on to Kindles. Readers not
allowed to delete or add content.
Reader signs a loan agreement.
Checkout as a book.
7 day loan.
DRM prevents reader copying content.
Loans
Kindle 1 - 47
Kindle 2 – 77
Sony - 51
Online Survey
But nobody responds to our recent version!
Need to incentivise.
Anecdotally
People want to try the technology.
People want to read PDF files.
Maybe not for the library!
There is PD content but depends if its useful for
your reader’s subject areas.
Initial investment in devices.
No compatibility with other Oxford E-books.
Books often no cheaper than paper.
Dispute over libraries right to lend. (1 book, 1
device, 1 reader)
Usage rules may change at any time at Amazon’s
whim.
Pros
Cons
Readers can experiment
with the technology.
Easy to read especially in
daylight (e-ink
technology).
Simple to use.
Poor support for reading
PDFs.
Don’t work with our ebook collections.
Long battery life.
Not designed with
academic use in mind.
Requires monitoring to
remove material.
Ultra portable computers.
iPad, Android, Blackberry,
Windows.
Can be used to access ebooks, e-journals and
databases.
Future all-in-one device?
Drawbacks compared to
Kindle
Screen display technology.
Battery life.
Recent launch of Kyobo reader.
E-readers and libraries
‘The portable e-book: issues with e-book reading devices in
the library’ John Rodzvilla (2009) Serials, vol. 22(3) S6-S10
Mixed Answers to "Is It OK for a Library To Lend a
Kindle?“ – Library Journal. (04/07/2009)
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6649814.ht
ml
iPads in libraries
‘Setting up a library iPad program : Guidelines for
success.’ Sara Thompson (2011) College & Research
Libraries, News vol. 72 (4) 212-236