2014 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Scholarly E-Book Use Across Disciplines: Content Analysis of Usage Reports and Search Terms

Bakkalbasi, Nisa; Goertzen, Melissa J.

This presentation is based on a paper that was accepted for the 2014 CUNY Library Assessment Conference. As survey participation rates have declined, survey research is experiencing significant challenges that impact its use in library assessment programs. In this study, we sought an innovative research method to understand e-book usage. This method utilizes data from two sources: readers’ e-book search terms harvested by Google Analytics; and requested e-book titles provided by the COUNTER e-book usage reports. The data was analyzed using NVivo, a qualitative analysis software, to examine popular scholarly e-book topics and the correlation between search and delivery. The preliminary findings challenge our assumption about the uptake of e-books in the arts and humanities.