1. Ollie Bridle October 2012

2.  About the library.  E-books at Oxford University.  E-books – a view from the sciences.  E-book reader leading at the Radcliffe Science Library.

3.  University’s main Science Library  Reference and lending collection.  Accessible to every full member of the University.

4.  A variety of different sources –  Aggregators - EBL (Electronic Book Library) & EBSCO Host  Subject specific collections (EEBO – Early English Books Online)  Reference Suites (Oxford Reference)  One-off titles (Encyclopaedia of Materials : Science & Technology)  Google Books  Publically available resources (Project Gutenberg)

5.  Mainly through SOLO.  Displays print and electronic books.  Links to Google digitised books.  Not all individual e-book titles discoverable.  OxLIP+  Groups resources by subject.  User education required.  Highlighting by Librarians in LibGuides and training.

7.  24/7 instant access & convenience  Speed of ordering  Opportunities for patron driven ordering  Discoverability in our catalogue  Serve the need for high demand titles  Savings on shelf space  The pages don’t fall out!

8.  Variations in interfaces  Discoverability through SOLO  Different allowances  Online/offline access  Limited selection  Reading off a screen

9.  Having e-versions available can be especially helpful for publishers who don’t deposit. (e.g. Springer)  Speed of access through EBL is a great feature.  Has been very useful for people out of Oxford and on geography field trips.  Availability at about 30% of wanted material.

10.  Not great subject coverage.  Not perceived as good for science as humanities.  Core text-books unavailable or prohibitively expensive.  Useful titles - Field’s Virology & ELS.  Not much reader reaction beyond technical queries.  Difficult to keep up with developments in e- books.  More complex ordering.  Need for a centralised list of all e-books.

11.  Kindle from Amazon  Works with proprietary Amazon e- book format.  Two loaned since 2009.  Recently purchased a small number of science titles.  Sony E-reader  Touch screen.  Works with a variety of e-book formats (e.g. ePub).  1 loaned since 2009.

12.  E-readers are catalogued on ALEPH and can be held.  Content preloaded on to Kindles. Readers not allowed to delete or add content.  Reader signs a loan agreement.  Checkout as a book.  7 day loan.  DRM prevents reader copying content.

13.  Loans  Kindle 1 - 47  Kindle 2 – 77  Sony - 51  Online Survey  But nobody responds to our recent version!  Need to incentivise.  Anecdotally  People want to try the technology.  People want to read PDF files.

14.  Maybe not for the library!  There is PD content but depends if its useful for your reader’s subject areas.  Initial investment in devices.  No compatibility with other Oxford E-books.  Books often no cheaper than paper.  Dispute over libraries right to lend. (1 book, 1 device, 1 reader)  Usage rules may change at any time at Amazon’s whim.

15. ProsCons Readers can experiment with the technology. Poor support for reading PDFs. Easy to read especially in daylight (e-ink technology). Don’t work with our e- book collections. Simple to use.Not designed with academic use in mind. Long battery life.Requires monitoring to remove material.

16.  Ultra portable computers.  iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows.  Can be used to access e- books, e-journals and databases.  Future all-in-one device?  Drawbacks compared to Kindle  Screen display technology.  Battery life.  Recent launch of Kyobo reader.

17.  E-readers and libraries  ‘The portable e-book: issues with e-book reading devices in the library’ John Rodzvilla (2009) Serials, vol. 22(3) S6-S10  Mixed Answers to "Is It OK for a Library To Lend a Kindle?“ – Library Journal. (04/07/2009) http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6649814.ht ml  iPads in libraries  ‘Setting up a library iPad program : Guidelines for success.’ Sara Thompson (2011) College & Research Libraries, News vol. 72 (4) 212-236