The Time has Come for eBooks, or has it?
Conference Proceeding
Overview
abstract
For many years, librarians and industry experts predicted that electronic books; would surpass print books as the format of preference. The advantages that digital books; provide seemed to all but guarantee the demise of print. But something happened along; the way. Numerous studies during the last decade have demonstrated that print still has; a place for libraries, vendors and most importantly, end users. So what’s happened – why; hasn’t that time come like it has for journals? And will the “tipping point” for books; ever arrive? One explanation is that eBooks have not met user expectations, but; optimizing user experience when users range from students, to faculty, to librarians is; a big challenge! This session included a lively discussion about the user experience for; eBooks from multiple perspectives. Gabrielle Wiersma from the University of Colorado; Boulder shared findings from an eBook usability study with students and asked the; audience to consider the reasons why people prefer one format over another. Two graduate; students shared their perceptions and format preferences and answered questions from the; audience. Finally, Leigh Beauchamp, Vice President of Product Development discussed how; ProQuest is making patrons the center of Ebook Central platform development and how; eBooks are evolving to bring the most important elements of the print experience to; digital book research.
