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Exploring faculty experiences with e‐books: a focus group

Exploring faculty experiences with e‐books: a focus group Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how, in the spring of 2007, Arizona State University Libraries held a focus group of selected faculty to discover their perceptions and use of electronic books (e‐books) in their research and teaching. Design/methodology/approach – The services of the Institute of Social Sciences Research were employed to recruit and moderate the focus group. Major themes explored were: use of e‐books as textbooks; use of e‐books for personal research; comparison between e‐books and print; disciplinary differences in perceptions of e‐books; and motivators for future use. Findings – Overall, the focus group revealed that faculty had generally unsatisfactory experiences in using e‐books in their research and teaching owing to the unreliability of access, lack of manipulability, and the steep learning curve of the various interfaces. However, most faculty agreed that e‐books would be a very viable and useful alternative if these issues were resolved. Research limitations/implications – The focus group consisted of only six faculty members and hence is not representative of faculty as a whole. A larger survey of a more diverse faculty population would greatly serve to clarify and expand upon the findings. Practical implications – The implications for academic libraries include providing better outreach and training to faculty about the e‐book platforms offered, provide better course support, and advocate to e‐book vendors to consider faculty's teaching and research needs in their product development. Originality/value – This is believed to be the first published study of faculty opinions and use of e‐books utilizing focus group methodology and offers detailed information that would be useful for academic libraries and e‐book vendors for evidence‐based decisions. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Library Hi Tech Emerald Publishing

Exploring faculty experiences with e‐books: a focus group

Danielle M. Carlock; Anali Maughan Perry
Library Hi Tech , Volume 26 (2): 11 – Jun 13, 2008
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11 pages

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0737-8831
DOI
10.1108/07378830810880342
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how, in the spring of 2007, Arizona State University Libraries held a focus group of selected faculty to discover their perceptions and use of electronic books (e‐books) in their research and teaching. Design/methodology/approach – The services of the Institute of Social Sciences Research were employed to recruit and moderate the focus group. Major themes explored were: use of e‐books as textbooks; use of e‐books for personal research; comparison between e‐books and print; disciplinary differences in perceptions of e‐books; and motivators for future use. Findings – Overall, the focus group revealed that faculty had generally unsatisfactory experiences in using e‐books in their research and teaching owing to the unreliability of access, lack of manipulability, and the steep learning curve of the various interfaces. However, most faculty agreed that e‐books would be a very viable and useful alternative if these issues were resolved. Research limitations/implications – The focus group consisted of only six faculty members and hence is not representative of faculty as a whole. A larger survey of a more diverse faculty population would greatly serve to clarify and expand upon the findings. Practical implications – The implications for academic libraries include providing better outreach and training to faculty about the e‐book platforms offered, provide better course support, and advocate to e‐book vendors to consider faculty's teaching and research needs in their product development. Originality/value – This is believed to be the first published study of faculty opinions and use of e‐books utilizing focus group methodology and offers detailed information that would be useful for academic libraries and e‐book vendors for evidence‐based decisions.

Journal

Library Hi Tech – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 13, 2008

Keywords: Electronic books; Academic staff; Focus groups; Academic libraries

References

  • Use of e‐books in an academic and research environment: a case study from the Indian Institute of Science
    Anuradha, K.T.; Usha, H.S.
  • The use of electronic books in midwifery education: the student perspective
    Appleton, L.
  • Electronic books: viewpoints from users and potential users
    Chu, H.