Abstract

A questionnaire survey was distributed among 27 students at a library and information science school in the USA to find out what users and potential users think about e-books in this transition period, when the US economy has experienced downtime, and the e-book world cannot see profitability in its business as predicted. Among the 27 survey participants, a third of them have used e-books in the past, mostly reading computer-based e-books without special readers. “Available around the clock” and “searchable” are both chosen and ranked as the most important reasons. Those who have never used e-books mainly think that ebooks are “hard to read and browse” or “need special equipment”. However, about half of the non-users of e-books plan to examine some e-book titles in the future.

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s):

Electronic books; User studies; Software tools; Surveys; United States of America; Search engines.

Journal:

Library Hi Tech

Volume:

Number:

Year:

pp:

340-346

MCB UP Ltd