The Role of e-books in Reshaping the Publishing Industry

Student attitudes towards clinical teaching resources in complementary medicine: a focus group examination of Australian naturopathic medicine students

“…In this study, electronic books were seen as better for quickly accessing information, but printed formats were more conducive to reading large amounts of material. This was also observed in a study of Romanian medical students, who preferred print for studying, as printed pages were easier to read (less tiring than a tablet or computer screen) and allowed for simpler highlighting and annotating …”

“…The desire for a ‘simple PDF’, for example, highlights an apparent discordance of views between publisher and consumer in the textbook market, as PDF copies are rarely made available by the publisher. Such divergence may be due to the primary driver of developments in electronic publishing being external factors associated with changes in the author–publisher relationship and distribution pathways that affect the publisher (such as the rise of online distributors and self‐publication, and what these mean for financial viability of traditional publishers), more than it is on meeting the requirements of students. The apparent difference between publisher and student perceptions of what electronic books should comprise of points to a need for publishers to more actively engage with student and clinician populations in the development of electronic textbooks.…”

“…19 Moreover, research on attitudes towards electronic materials has not kept pace with developments in electronic publishing, such as the introduction of computer tablets (and their apps), growing dominance of online book retailers and proliferation of open-access content. 20 Research on how students utilise electronic resources of medical libraries has found much higher utilisation of electronic versions of reference materials compared to printed versions. 20 However, this is probably unsurprising given that research focused on the usage of non-circulating printed reference collections, and researchers recommended moving print versions to the circulating collections to better determine utilisation.…”

“…However, recent exploration of this issue tends to have focused on practical considerations for librarians and course co‐ordinators than it has on student preferences and attitudes in relation to electronic format . Moreover, research on attitudes towards electronic materials has not kept pace with developments in electronic publishing, such as the introduction of computer tablets (and their apps), growing dominance of online book retailers and proliferation of open‐access content …”

“…Research on how students utilise electronic resources of medical libraries has found much higher utilisation of electronic versions of reference materials compared to printed versions . However, this is probably unsurprising given that research focused on the usage of non‐circulating printed reference collections, and researchers recommended moving print versions to the circulating collections to better determine utilisation .…”