2015 Presentations (Communicative Events)

Text Analysis of Search Terms and Requested Titles to Understand E-book Use Across Disciplines

Bakkalbasi, Nisa; Goertzen, Melissa J.

Over the past decade, electronic books (e-books) have become increasingly popular in the academic community. In response to this demand, Columbia University Libraries/Information Services (CUL/IS) provides access to over two million e-books that support research, teaching, and learning activities across campus and within the wider scholarly community. While the aggregate results indicate that e-book use continues to increase, usage rates are not uniform across disciplines. Anecdotal evidence suggests that while e-book use has grown in the sciences and social sciences, scholars in the arts and humanities rely heavily on print books. The aim of this project is to understand scholarly e-book usage across different disciplines given the highly diverse research needs of the university community.