2. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO E-BOOK STUDY : Turning the Page January through June 2008 ICOLC Munich October 20 th, 2008 Warren Holder

3. University of Toronto Overview

4.  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff Larger than: Ohio State University52,586 University of Florida51,913 Arizona State University51,481 University of Minnesota50,880 University of Texas50,201 Larger than: Ohio State University52,586 University of Florida51,913 Arizona State University51,481 University of Minnesota50,880 University of Texas50,201

5. University of Toronto Overview  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff  Three Campuses  St. George:50,871  Scarborough:9,603  Mississauga:9,669

6. University of Toronto Overview  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff  Three Campuses  St. George:50,871  Scarborough:9,603  Mississauga:9,669  Academics  75 PhD programs  17 professional faculties

7. University of Toronto Overview  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff  Three Campuses  St. George:50,871  Scarborough:9,603  Mississauga:9,669  Academics  75 PhD programs  17 professional faculties Frederick Banting (Physiology & Medicine - 1923) J.J.R. Macleod (Physiology & Medicine - 1923) Lester Bowles Pearson (Peace - 1957) Arthur L. Schawlow (Physics -1981) John Charles Polanyi (Chemistry - 1986) Bertram N. Brockhouse (Physics - 1984) Walter Kohn (Chemistry - 1988) James Orbinski (Peace - 1999) Michael A. Spence (Economics - 2001) Oliver Smithie (Physiology & Medicine - 2007) Nobel Prize winners Associated with the University of Toronto

8. University of Toronto Overview  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff  Three Campuses  St. George:50,871  Scarborough:9,603  Mississauga:9,669  Academics  75 PhD programs  17 professional faculties  Research  Generates more research publications than any other publicly-funded university in North America

9. University of Toronto Overview  Largest University in Canada  70,143 students  11,807 faculty and staff  Three Campuses  St. George:50,871  Scarborough:9,603  Mississauga:9,669  Academics  75 PhD programs  17 professional faculties  Research  Generates more research publications than any other publicly-funded university in North America  Budget  Operating: $1.187 billion + Research: $623 million

10. Library Overview

11.  Largest Library in Canada  17,866,684 volumes

12. Library Overview  Largest Library in Canada  17,866,684 volumes  Library system  Central Library (7 major libraries)  40 College, Faculty and Department libraries  17 Affiliated hospital libraries

13. Library Overview  Largest Library in Canada  17,866,684 volumes  Library system  Central Library (7 major libraries)  40 College, Faculty and Department libraries  17 Affiliated hospital libraries  Ranked in top research libraries in North America

14. E-Books and the Library

15.  Continuing commitment  Acquisition of major historical research collections Proquest, Chadwyck-Healey, etc.  Agreements with service providers NetLibrary, Books 24x7, etc.  Licenses with major scholarly publishers Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, etc.

16. E-Books and the Library  MyiLibrary  Selected as initial common system for access to contemporary scholarly e-books  Ebrary  Selected as a locally implemented and operated e-book platform  Part of the Scholars Portal services

17. E-Book Study

18.  Initial plan (2006)  3 year study of use of electronic books Analysis of use of electronic titles Emphasis on use of comparable print & electronic titles (when both held)  Analysis of navigation to and through content (web logs)  Analysis of user opinion (surveys)

19. E-Book Study  Publisher participants  Elsevier  Springer  Taylor & Francis  Study consultants  Redesign Research

20. E-Book Study  Questions  Who are current eBooks users & what do they find, use, and need?  How do users find eBooks, & how easily do they find expected content? What brings them to eBooks, what do they do with them?  Why are eBooks being used instead of other resources? What are the needs for use of the information in eBooks content?  What features & interaction tools do users like, & what’s ignored? Why? What are the affordances & opportunities for new features?  Generate design alternatives supporting the findings. Hope to synch with eBooks platform diffusion.

21. E-Book Study  Participants  204 Students  42 Faculty  10 Staff

22. E-Book Study

25.  Electronic resources seen as “critical” or “important”  A&I databases75%  e-journals93%  eBooks58%(25% “Critical”)  e-reference58%(30% “Critical”)  Subject area websites54%

26. E-Book Study Use of electronic resources in research Resource Usually start with Often start with Often use throughout Use as a supplement Rarely or never use Web search engines32.4%29.7%17.8% Wikipedia14.0%23.3%15.8% Google Scholar11.5%16.6%17.5% E-Books6.5%9.8%28.4%30.7%24.7%

27. E-Book Study

28. What users actually do with E-Books Scan - do not read online81% Read sections or pages only90% Read full chapters online76% Download chapters and read on PC66% Print chapter71% Print a few pages78% What users prefer to do with E-Books Print pages and read them offline70% Download chapters and read on PC55% Print the whole book62%

29. E-Book Study  Contextual research  26 users  Purpose:User understanding of context  Method:Contextual interview, following user needs  Resources:Any. Focus on UTL, but followed user

30. E-Book Study  User research summary 1.Little consistency found in E-Resource use 2.E-Books typically found via Catalogue searches 3.Few start by looking for E-Books 4.A wide variety of expectations about E-Books 5.Current “profusion” of E-Book formats & services confusing, off-putting  Observations show user impatience with usability

31. E-Book Study 1. Little consistency found in E-Resource use  Starting point varies considerably Scholars Portal42% All E-Resources17% Online catalogue17% Web (Google, Wikipedia)25%  University users are fairly bad at formulating searches.  Students are spoiled by years of interaction with Google and Web.  People enter the least complicated terms to achieve goal.

32. E-Book Study 2. E-Books typically found via Catalogue searches  Students finding eBooks are usually looking for books.  Nearly all students indicated a strong preference for the printed book, most for the same reasons. “I never use E-Books – find it difficult to use them – long and cumbersome.” “Only times I see E-Books is if a copy is available online. I don’t like reading things online – cannot highlight or annotate.” "In a traditional book, you can tell what chapter you're in – not in E-Books like this.

33. E-Book Study 3. Few start by looking for E-Books  (With exception perhaps of locating textbooks)  Users don’t know where to find E-Books if they wanted “Rarely go into eBooks for research issues, not easy to find scholarly eBooks. (Perhaps) if I wanted something specific on a subject.” “Only times I see eBooks is if a copy is available online. I don’t like reading things online – cannot highlight or annotate.” "In a traditional book, you can tell what chapter you're in - not in eBooks like this.

34. E-Book Study 4. A wide variety of expectations about E-Books  Most think of an E-Book as a scanned book or series of chapters from a book in PDF format.  Most students expect (or hope) that E-Books are in single files they can download and refer to later.  Many express disappointment when interacting with E-Books – Formatting, Book & page navigation. "In a traditional book, you can tell what chapter you're in - not in eBooks like this. PDFs are much better - have ability to scroll down the pages.” “I wouldn't mind paying $20-30 (for a valuable text) as an eBook.”

35. E-Book Study 5. Current “profusion” of E-Book formats & services confusing, off-putting  Multiple approaches, systems, interfaces

36. E-Book Questions

37.  Discovery questions  How can we make E-Books more findable?  What are users really looking for in the book?  Can we reveal metadata that will help them?  If students start learning an area with books, how can eBooks better serve their initial scan?  What are natural linkages between E-Books & other E-Resources & research materials?

38. E-Book Questions  Usability issues  E-Books are not easy to find: access is only as good as the library interfaces  E-Books are scattered among multiple providers & interfaces  The current online services are not optimal  E-Books formats are hard to navigate  Unsatisfying compared to books

39. Warren Holder Electronic Resources Coordinator Information Technology Services University of Toronto Libraries warren.holder@utoronto.ca Questions