Electronic books: challenges for academic libraries
| Pages | 332-339 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830110412113 |
| Date | 01 December 2001 |
| Published date | 01 December 2001 |
| Author | Ray Lonsdale,Chris Armstrong |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Electronic books:
challenges for academic
libraries
Ray Lonsdale and
Chris Armstrong
Introduction
This paper, based on three recent research
projects, addresses some of the issues that are
central to the acceptance and integration of
electronic scholarly monographs and textbooks
(henceforth referred to as e-monographs) into
the academic library. The findings suggest that
the almost casual use of terms like ``digital
library'' and ``hybrid library'' belies the reality of
a slow acceptance of nearly all digital textual
resources other than journals, and a
demonstrable lack of user take up of most kinds
of electronic library-information resources.
In 1998, the authors were funded by the Joint
Information Services Committee (JISC) of the
Higher Education Funding Councils for
England and Wales to undertake an 18-month
study of the incidence and nature of publishing
of electronic scholarly monographs and
textbooks in the UK. This was an eLib Models
project, the first of its kind and possibly pitched
a little ahead of its time (Lonsdale and
Armstrong, 1998; Armstrong and Lonsdale,
2000). The literature suggested that there was a
higher incidence of publishing activity in North
America (e.g. DeLaughry, 1993; Freeman,
1993), and Australasia (AVCC, 1996), so the
investigation was extended to include data
about e-monograph publishing internationally.
The project explored several areas
surrounding the structure of e-monograph
publishing, that is, the incidence of provision,
management structures, costing mechanisms,
and authoring and editorial responsibilities.
The project also analysed the nature of content
for these formats, looking at added-value
elements and rights issues. In addition, the
study explored some of the implications of
e-monograph publishing for those involved in
collection management, especially issues of
access, by means of a survey of libraries in
higher education.
A range of methodological approaches was
employed in conducting the research. These
included: a comprehensive literature search and
The authors
Ray Lonsdale is Reader in the Department of Information
and Library Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth,
Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth SY23 3AS, UK.
E-mail: rel@aber.ac.uk
Chris Armstrong is Managing Director of the Centre for
Information Quality Management and Information
Automation Limited, Penbryn, Bronant, Aberystwyth SY23
4TJ, UK. E-mail: lisqual@cix.xo.uk
Keywords
Electronic publishing, Academic libraries, Acquisitions
Abstract
This paper, based on three recent research projects,
addresses some of the issues that are central to the
acceptance and integration of electronic scholarly mono-
graphs and textbooks (henceforth, referred to as e-
monographs) into the academic library. The findings suggest
that the almost casual use of terms like ``digital library'' and
``hybrid library'' belies the reality of a slow acceptance of
nearly all digital textual resources other than journals, and a
demonstrable lack of user take up of most kinds of electronic
library-information resources.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
This paper is based on a presentation at E-Books
2001, a one-day conference sponsored by LITC,
South Bank University; the Joint Information
Systems Committee/Distributed National Electronic
Resource and Dawson Books, Tuesday 20 March
2001, SOAS Brunei Gallery, London, UK.
332
Library Hi Tech
Volume 19 .Number 4 .2001 .pp. 332±339
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0737-8831
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