Here’s an e-mail from ebrary, sent out today:
ebrary is pleased to announce that the results of the 2008 Global Student E-book Survey, completed by nearly 6,500 college and university students and designed by more than 150 librarians, are now publicly available at no cost. To receive a digital copy, please register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=V6KfjUjiRPtGyJYmHINDRg_3d_3d. Printed copies will also be available at the ebrary booth (#1792) at ALA Annual, June 28-July 1, 2008, in Anaheim, CA, USA.
We hope that you find the survey, which explores college and university students’ usage, needs and perceptions regarding e-books, interesting and useful. The results also include an insightful analysis by Allen W. McKiel, Dean of Library and Media Services at Western Oregon University. As you may know, we welcome any papers regarding the survey and would be happy to help you publish and promote them.
For your reference, the press release that was distributed today is available online at http://www.ebrary.com/corp/newspdf/ebrary_student_survey.pdf.
We’d like to extend an enormous thank you to everyone who participated in the survey. If you have any questions or comments, please reply to this email.
Sincerely,
The ebrary Team
ebrary
318 Cambridge Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
USA
Some of their survey key findings:
On research or class assignments, e-book usage is on par with print books . . .
Fifty-one percent of students would “very often or often” opt to use electronic versions of books over print versions . . .
As noted today in the Chronicle of Higher Education The Wired Campus blog, another finding from the survey is that “Fifty-seven percent of students who never use e-books say it is because they don’t know where to find them.” We librarians must promote the library catalog at every opportunity.