Does Format Matter? Reader Preferences in an Academic Library Context

Although many academic libraries have dramatically increased their e‐book acquisitions in recent years, questions linger about format preference. When a scholarly monograph is made available in both print and electronic formats, which format will users prefer? Does format even matter? At the University of Toronto Libraries, we analyzed usage data for scholarly monographs from three key university presses, covering thousands of titles over several years of publication. By comparing print and e‐book usage patterns of identical titles, our goal was to examine format preferences and determine if there are differences in usage across subject disciplines or publishers. Through this analysis, our aim is to question whether continued acquisition of the same content in multiple formats is necessary and desirable, especially in an era of rapid technological change, increased pressure on library acquisitions budgets, and diminishing physical storage space.