Demand for etextbooks high in the UK, and it’s unfullfilled

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By Paul Biba

From the Times Higher Education Supplement. This is the first article I’ve come across about etextbooks in the overseas market.

University librarians are frustrated by the poor availability and high cost of electronic textbooks, despite growing demand from students and academic staff, the biggest-ever study of e-books has found.

So far, publishers have held back from releasing e-textbooks amid uncertainty about their impact on the market for printed texts, but the findings of the two-year study suggest that making more e-books available would not affect sales. …

Researchers found that the exercise had “no conclusive negative impact” on the sale of printed texts. Instead, e-books were used for “grazing” information rather than for continuous reading, meaning hard copies and e-books are complementary.

The nervousness of publishers is understandable: student sales account for 70 per cent to 90 per cent of publishers’ revenues when it comes to textbooks.

In addition you can find a podcast by the JISC here which discusses the results of the survey which had over 50,000 participitants.

Thanks to ResourceShelf for the link.

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