Survey says… Debbie Ginsberg Educational Technology Librarian

The current situation

Who is using e-casebooks? Torts - 7 Contracts - 5 Patent - 2 Business Orgs -1 Civ Pro - 1 Supplements - 1 Crim pro (reads all cases on Westlaw) - 1

Where do they get e-casebooks? Class website – 14 Publisher website – 3 Westlaw – 1 Online bookstore - 0

Like! Lighter – 12 Convenience – 7 Cost – 6 Search – 6 Reading experience Eco-friendly If all of my classes used them, I would be ecstatic.

DisLike Nothing – 4 Note-taking is harder – 4 Limits on usability – 4 Slow – 2 Navigation – 2 Can’t read on e-reader Doesn’t have all features of the book I imagine that different people would have different experiences depending on their hardware and that is a real issue.

Other important features COST!!!! (2) Lighter Download casebooks Manage, export, sort notes Print option with e-casebooks Binder-ready casebooks Easily flip back and forth to compare cases [The] computer screen is only so big, it is important to me to have the book on the side open without messing around with computer buttons.

Go go gadgets! Blackberry - 15 iPhone/iPod Touch - 15 Android - 9 Palm Phone - 3 Sybian Phone- 3 Other phone - 1 Kindle - 4 Nook - 1 I would buy e- reader/i-pad in a heartbeat if textbooks were available

Comments - Pro I would like to buy and use an iPad for casebooks, but I am unaware of any of the casebooks in my classes being available in the e-casebook format. I would also expect e-casebooks to be less expensive than the print casebooks. Would love this as long as I would have the option to print out and read / highlight material. I bought an iPad especially to reduce the load of books I would have to carry. Unfortunately, none of the books for my classes was available in an e format. 6 students commented that they would buy an e-reader if casebooks were available in that format.

Comments - Pro Textbooks are heavy, bulky, and expensive and no matter how good they [are] … we only get back a few cents at buy-back time. I really enjoy the convenience of having an e-casebook that I can still "write on" without having to carry multiple bags of books. I would really LOVE to have the option of having all my textbooks on-line so that I can donwload [sic] and save them and access them …. beyond the class … for reference or to prepare for the bar exam.

Comments - No The problem with e-casebooks in law school is finding what you're looking for in class/as a whole, its [sic] less visual. Also, you need to be able to take notes and mark up the text. While case books do become extremely heavy, highlighting and taking notes in the margins help me to better understand what I read. Maybe I'm too old for this survey, but I prefer paper/print books. I retain the information more quickly and for longer. I also do not have eye strain or headaches from print books, but I do have these problems when forced to read very much information online.

Who are they? 1L – 64 2L – 46 3L – 48 4L – 10 LLM – 3 Day – 126 Evening – 44

What to they want? Casebooks that are: Portable Cheap Searchable Easy to use Versatile (have many functions)