Abstract
Much of the existing literature on patron satisfaction with e‐books in academic settings does not differentiate between platforms, formats, and other conditions that drastically change the user’s ability to read, annotate, and use e‐book content. The Charlotte Initiative is a project funded by the Mellon Foundation to convene a working group that investigates principles for permanent acquisition of e‐books for academic libraries. As part of this project, a user experience research team has been created to review the existing literature on patron satisfaction with multiple aspects of e‐books. During summer 2015, this research team began a metastudy to determine areas of the user experience with e‐books in academic libraries that have been studied comprehensively and to identify areas that have not received formal evaluation. In this paper, we not only convey the results of our research team’s literature review but also provide criteria that librarians and institutions can use to guide assessments of user experience with e‐books in academic library settings.
How Do We Study Satisfaction With Academic E‐Book Collections?
Much of the existing literature on patron satisfaction with e‐books in academic settings does not differentiate between platforms, formats, and other conditions that drastically change the user’s ability to read, annotate, and use e‐book content. The Charlotte Initiative is a project funded by the Mellon Foundation to convene a working group that investigates principles for permanent acquisition of e‐books for academic libraries. As part of this project, a user experience research team has been created to review the existing literature on patron satisfaction with multiple aspects of e‐books. During summer 2015, this research team began a metastudy to determine areas of the user experience with e‐books in academic libraries that have been studied comprehensively and to identify areas that have not received formal evaluation. In this paper, we not only convey the results of our research team’s literature review but also provide criteria that librarians and institutions can use to guide assessments of user experience with e‐books in academic library settings.