University of Oklahoma librarians invited faculty in the pure and applied sciences to discuss current and potential e-book use in research and instruction. The study consisted of an online survey followed by individual interviews featuring e-book demonstrations. Faculty viewed e-book titles on a variety of platforms.Opinions were solicited on current publisher or aggregator interfaces, essential and desirable features or functionalities in platforms, and the future of the e-book in academia.

Purpose -This paper aims to discover how many American research libraries produce podcasts, on what subjects they are produced, and how those podcasts are promoted. Design/methodology/approach -The researchers looked at each American research library's website in December 2009 to determine whether the library had a podcasting initiative and, if so, what topics were covered. General scanning of the website, site search and Google search were used to discover podcasts. Facebook and Twitter pages were also examined to determine whether social media were used for podcast promotion. Findings -It was found that approximately one-third of American research libraries have podcasting initiatives. Podcast subjects vary widely, and social media are only used occasionally to promote the podcasts. The paper concludes that podcasting is a technology that has not yet reached its zenith and libraries have many avenues left still to explore using this technology. Originality/value -The paper provides a broad exploration of podcasting by ARL libraries, a perspective that is not yet offered by the literature.

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