Textbooks Weighing you Down? Check out our E-Readers

Abstract

The University of North Texas Libraries received a grant for e-book readers for students purchasing digital textbooks. The grant provided a way to access electronic information in the form of digital textbooks to those who wish to use them but could not afford to purchase ereaders. The university bookstore offers digital textbooks, but not many students have used them. Through administering the grant the authors learned how to implement and market the e-reader service and how students felt about the technology. Evaluation methodology included a pre-and post-test outcomes-based survey for students using the technology. Future considerations are also noted. Keywords: e-readers, e-textbooks, academic library, University of North Texas, e-booksThe University of North Texas (UNT) is a 4-year public university located in Denton, a city of approximately 117,000 people. UNT is the fourth largest university in Texas and among the 30 largest in the United States. The total student enrollment for 2012-2013 was 35,778, with the average age of undergraduates being 22.5 and 31.7 for graduate students (UNT, 2013). The UNT Libraries is the most used student service on campus, with more than 1.5 million in-person visitors during 2013. Statistics show that during the 2012-2013 academic year, over 54,000 laptops were checked out by students. UNT Libraries recently updated their collection-development policy to reflect a preference for e-books when available. The campus is catering more and more to distance-education students and witnessing an increase in technology use on campus as well.Although continually being asked for textbooks by students using our libraries, many academic library (and public library, for that matter) collection-development policies purposefully eliminate the provision of textbooks to their communities. Unfortunately, the cost is prohibitive, as is dedicating shelving space for housing such an extensive collection. It is also hard to maintain the constant addition of new editions. One of our only methods of provision is to ask professors to donate a copy to the reserves shelf.The UNT bookstore provides a digital textbook option for over 340 titles. These are available for purchase or rental. However, this service has not been used by many students. In 2012, only 428 digital textbooks were purchased by students. In pondering this low usage rate, the researchers wondered whether or not students had access to their own personal e-book readers, which would allow access to the materials. The low usage of these materials could be a result of multiple factors: preference for print over electronic, cost-prohibition, lack of access to the necessary technology, or other reasons. Being interested in electronic access to information, the researchers wanted to acknowledge the need for textbook provision and help those who do not have the means to purchase a personal reader. Through