Purpose This study aims to uncover factors related to students’ preference for ebooks with hopes that understanding what drives these preferences will help librarians to figure out how to increase students’ use of ebooks. Design/methodology/approach Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, researchers developed a model of ebook preference and a survey including constructs related to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Respondents were undergraduate students from a core political science course at a large research university in the USA. Findings Ebook performance expectancy and ebook self-efficacy have indirect effects on ebook preference by way of ebook attitude. Ebook attitude and social influence both have direct effects. Research limitations/implications One of the limitation include respondents being of a similar age and having a similar experience of technology and ebooks. Prior use of ebooks may partially explain the results. Practical implications Librarians should help students develop ebook self-efficacy. Vendors should consider how interfaces may impact ebook self-efficacy. Ebook attitude may be positively influenced by tapping students’ desire to utilize technology. Originality/value This research adds to the understanding about ebook preference while expanding research in libraries by applying a theory and model from another research discipline.

As most librarians are well aware, open access and scholarly communication have been and will continue to be hot button issues. But what is a librarian’s role within the library? What about out in the greater world of scholarly communication? How do we ensure the changes we wish to see? To answer these, we must look at scholarly communication from a more holistic approach. It cannot simply be the job or responsibility of one group, or, even worse, one person on a campus. Scholarly communication is a multifaceted issue that should be addressed through education, outreach, recognition, and fiscal support. With so many lingering questions and doubts from faculty and students, librarians must continue to educate, collaborate, and highlight in ways we have not tried before. At the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries, through collaboration and communication, we have made great progress toward reaching these goals.

As mass media and entertainment industries continue to undergo rapid change to keep ahead of trends and consumer demands, libraries must evolve and change along with them to manage these collections. This article will include a look at the UNT Media Library's earlier predictions about their video game and console collection; how practices have changed and will continue to change to support the next ten years of growth; the evolution of outreach to support the growing interest in video games; and the transformation of space to support games on a large university campus.

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