Since I wrote my paper for this class on e-books in law libraries, and I will soon be working in an academic law library, my interest was piqued by the title of this week's assigned article regarding e-readers in academic libraries! I was somewhat disappointed to find that Zimerman's research did not dive into the actual use of e-books or e-readers by academic library patrons, but instead focused more on e-reader usage by librarians. (Zimerman, 2011). While librarians are certainly more likely to implement technologies that they use in their personal lives and with which they feel comfortable, I would like to have seen a survey that focused on whether and how these librarians are using them at the library, or of students and faculty usage, since they are the primary patron group. As the article rightly notes, textbooks may be particularly well-suited to the e-book format since they are heavy, and students (who are already accustomed to digital formats) may prefer to carry one device (which they may already be carrying) in lieu of a bag full of books. My research regarding academic law libraries suggested that this was one good reason to adopt e-casebooks in law schools and that furthermore, e-textbooks could be more easily updated than their print counterparts. E-textbooks could even be customized by professors to include only the content they wish to cover that semester, in whatever order they wish to cover it. And when I've searched for my course books for the LIS program, most have been available in electronic formats! (So far I have stuck with print, but maybe I'll shake things up during the summer term...) I hope to see more research regarding existing e-book programs in academic settings in the future. And the (non-academic) law library in which I work is considering a trial of Lexis's legal e-book platform -- I am eager to see its offerings.
I think one of the interesting challenges of implementing today's technologies in libraries is finding ways to use tools that people may enjoy using in their personal life, for example reading e-books for pleasure or using social media to maintain personal connections, for their professional or academic information needs. Just because a tool is popular does not mean that it is a good fit for your library, and just because people are using a tool for one purpose does not mean that they will use it to seek out your library's resources, so I think more research in this area is useful for libraries hoping to develop a social media presence, since maintaining a robust social media profile is a commitment. I found it interesting, though not surprising, that in their survey of social media use in academic libraries Collins and Quan-Haase noted that social media adoption rates vary significantly in different parts of the world, depending on which tools are more popular with users in those areas. (Collins & Quan-Haase, 2014). I was surprised to see that their study included the photo app Flickr rather than the currently very popular Instagram, which underscores how quickly these technologies change, and that researchers and librarians alike must be willing to constantly reexamine new platforms. In my new position I will also have some responsibility for social media updates, so I will be seeking more articles like this, and searching other library's sites to see what works!
References:
Collins, G. & Quan-Haase, A. (2014). Are social media ubiquitous in academic libraries? A longitudinal study of adoption and usage patterns. Journal of Web Librarianship, 8(1), 48-68.
Zimerman, M. (2011). E-readers in an academic library setting. Library Hi Tech, 29(1), 91-108.
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