Selection of articles in press (J of Academic Lib, May 2014): distance students; students and ebooks; new academic library directors experience

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Distance Students' Attitude Toward Library Help Seeking   Original Research Article Available online 11 May 2014 Yingqi Tang, Hung Wei Tseng

A Library and the Disciplines: A Collaborative Project Assessing the Impact of eBooks and Mobile Devices on Student Learning   Original Research Article Available online 11 May 2014 Barbara C. Glackin, Roy W. Rodenhiser, Brooke Herzog

The Transition Experience of Academic Library Directors   Original Research Article Available online 10 May 2014 Curtis Brundy

The Case for e-Book Literacy: Undergraduate Students' Experience with e-Books for Course Work

A very topical article from the J of Academic Librarianship  

The Case for e-Book Literacy: Undergraduate Students' Experience with e-Books for Course Work - one of the top 25 articles in the J of AL for Oct-Dec 2013

Some related articles:

 Usability evaluation of E-books 

 E-Books as Textbooks in the Classroom 

Not in Love, or Not in the Know? Graduate Student and Faculty Use (and Non-Use) of E-Books

Apple Found Guilty of eBook Price Fixing; Amazon Cackles, Twirls Moustache

Apple Found Guilty of eBook Price Fixing; Amazon Cackles, Twirls Moustache
Why the Apple Ebook Verdict Could Make You Love Libraries Again

e-books in Academic Libraries: Challenges for Discovery and Access

Abstract

This paper examines the recent literature on the presentation of e-books in college and university libraries, focusing on three mechanisms for discovery and access: e-book vendors' interfaces, library catalogs (OPACs), and resource discovery tools (RDTs). If libraries rely on vendors' interfaces, patrons must search on multiple platforms, many of which have limited and idiosyncratic search mechanisms. The most common strategy for discovery and access—including e-books in the library catalog—brings its own set of challenges, including limited availability of records, lack of standardization, difficulties managing the addition and removal of titles, and the generally low quality of vendor-supplied records. Likewise, libraries that use resource discovery tools face another set of difficulties: incomplete coverage, reliance on metadata from external sources, problems with subject headings and authority control, difficulties with guest-user access, and continuing dependence on vendors' platforms for access to full text.

 

Ditch the Monograph by Jennifer Howard

What if scholars, publishers, and tenure-and-promotion committees embraced short-form e-books as a respectable way to deliver serious scholarship?

Read more

Academic eBooks and the User Experience (not an easy road!)

After our frustrating experience with the latest e-book we have purchased I found that the highlighted sentences (below) from  this article summed up my own feelings on e-books in the RU Library!
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"....With the price of textbooks rising, and institutions building their space in the online learning environment, it’s reasonable to expect an increase in the number of eTextbooks on our syllabi. For those institutions that purchase textbooks for reserves, the lending issue takes on an even more immediate concern. With Ingram’s VitalSource platform delivering 80,000 digital textbooks in 17 languages to 1.6 million students and faculty at 6000 campuses in 180 countries (according to The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections), we will need to figure out ways of making eBooks work in the academic research process more seamlessly.
We are ten years in to the eBook revolution and we’ve learned a lot. Unfortunately, most of the tools on the market are designed to silo users into a branded experience with a specific vendor-driven tool. Big companies have big reasons to keep users in their walled gardens. Being aware of the issues is one thing, but we, as academic librarians, need to find ways to ensure that the needs of the academic researcher do not get lost in the currently consumer-focused marketplace."

So what is an unglued ebook? (interesting initiative)

An unglued ebook is an already-published book that's been rereleased under a Creative Commons license, after obtaining permission and compensating the rights holder.

see this site 

Unpacking e-books

E-books have matured but questions remain about digital rights, access models and what a scholarly e-book really means today. Interviews by Sian Harris

Unpacking books

E-books have matured but questions remain about digital rights, access models and what a scholarly e-book really means today

 "The biggest challenge for e-books is that a lot of people don’t interpret e as electronic but as another format for print."

E-books in the Academy — A Story of Limitations and Affordances

The inexorable march of e-book adoption may be heading into a wall in the most unexpected market — the academy. It’s strange that this should be the case, inasmuch as universities are arguably the most wired segment of American society today, but several conversations I have had of late with academic librarians make me wonder if the “affordances” of e-books, at least in their current form, make them inferior in some respects to print.

Shatzkin: Publishers Should Experiment With E-Book Library Lending

In his new blog post today, Mike Shatzkin suggests that major publishers should experiment with e-book library lending to try to find a profitable way to do it.

Insight into scholary e-books today and in the future

From Research Information

Choosing e-books: a perspective from academic libraries

This study focuses directly and in depth on the buying and selection processes and criteria. Insights offered by this study may be of value to publishers, aggregators and librarians.

Sacrificing Our Privacy at the Electronic Altar

Since it's plausible, if not likely, that e-books will become dominant, it's a good idea to consider issues that seem to be getting lost in the transition. What exactly do we "own" when we buy an e-book, and what privacy are we willing to sacrifice in the names of speed and convenience?

The Codex is Dead; Long Live the Codex

ACR­Log had a post last week about human­ists want­ing print books rather than ebooks. Here’s a key passage:

Are books becoming extinct in academic libraries?

Providing insight into current and future academic e-book trends, this article suggests practical ways to respond to these trends