The Time has Come for eBooks, or has it?

For many years, librarians and industry experts predicted that electronic books would surpass print books as the format of preference. The advantages that digital books provide seemed to all but guarantee the demise of print. But something happened along the way. Numerous studies during the last decade have demonstrated that print still has a place for libraries, vendors and most importantly, end users. So what’s happened – why hasn’t that time come like it has for journals? And will the “tipping point” for books ever arrive? One explanation is that eBooks have not met user expectations, but optimizing user experience when users range from students, to faculty, to librarians is a big challenge! This session included a lively discussion about the user experience for eBooks from multiple perspectives. Gabrielle Wiersma from the University of Colorado Boulder shared findings from an eBook usability study with students and asked the audience to consider the reasons why people prefer one format over another. Two graduate students shared their perceptions and format preferences and answered questions from the audience. Finally, Leigh Beauchamp, Vice President of Product Development discussed how ProQuest is making patrons the center of Ebook Central platform development and how eBooks are evolving to bring the most important elements of the print experience to digital book research.