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This study seeks to assess the extent to which die digital book market is structuring independently from the print edition market by comparing the pricing of 559 digital and print French and American bestsellers during 2011. Two pricing methods are distinguished: "homothetic pricing," where the digital pricing is a reflection of the print pricing, and "heterothetic pricing," where the digital price is set according to new rules. The French and American markets do not have the same propensity to overcome the pricing practices in the print book market: While the French market's e-book structure is mirroring that of the print book industry, die American market tends to be more independent. This can be explained by die significant structural, legal, and institutional differences between the publishing industries of both countries. In addition, some factors favor die "heterothetic" pricing method: the number of pages and the type of book influence the degree of differentiation between print and digital prices of the same title [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent efforts at book banning in the United States’ schools and libraries have produced a number of material iterations of anti-banning sentiment in online retail spaces like Etsy. Most scholarship on banned books comes from an education or library science perspective, with little book or media studies scholarship focused on how banned books are represented in online spaces. In this paper, we examine the top 50 results from searching “banned books” on Etsy to understand how merchandise that engages with the topic visually represents banned books. We find that banned book imagery often ignores more recent banned books, especially those featuring LGBTQ+ characters, in favor of older or more “classic” banned books. We also find that the banned book merchandise under examination here, like other social media reading spaces such as Instagram and BookTube, participates in glorifying the physical book as an object of credibility, despite the role digital reading devices play as both objects of banning and as a means of resistance. The results of our examination show ongoing disconnect between the perceived threat and the realities of book banning, as well as a desire to maintain an aesthetic of the “classic” as under attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density – known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval – for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite electronic book (e-book) piracy being viewed by many rightsholders as the greatest contemporary challenge to the publishing industry, there is little research evaluating different anti-piracy methods, and explaining how they work. This paper explores the technological methods that United Kingdom and United States publishers, and their representative bodies, are using to tackle the growing challenge of e-book piracy. Through interviews with industry experts (including consultants, publishers and representatives) and publishing case studies, this paper brings together knowledge previously published and considered separately. The systems considered include The Publishers Association Copyright Infringement Portal, and Digital Rights Management in its various forms. Through these systems, we can reveal a lack of nuanced understanding in the motivations and methods of illegal file sharing, which have led to unsuccessful blanket solutions to a complex problem. By teasing out these problems, this paper will act as a point of reference for current anti-piracy measures, and consider the future options for an industry increasingly using the World Wide Web to distribute content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A technological trend influencing society is the provision and adoption of digital books. Digital books are used in education in the form of electronic textbooks (e-textbooks). The research question examined in this manuscript is which students' characteristics and attitudes influence their adoption or non-adoption of e-textbooks? The study explores these characteristics and attitudes of students who have made the decision to become either an e-textbook user or nonuser. The empirical analysis is conducted using 1191 student responses to a questionnaire distributed in a mid-sized university in the western United States. Among these 1191 responses, 530 of the students had used an e-textbook and 661 had not used an e-textbook. The e-textbook user and nonuser groups are studied in three different ways. The first is by examining the counts and percentages for five respondent characteristics. The second way is through statistical tests (i.e., t-tests and multiple analysis of variance) on these characteristics across the groups. The results from these analyses did not identify any meaningful differences in characteristics across the user and nonuser groups. The third way was a content analysis performed on an open-ended question (i.e., What factors influenced you on whether to use an e-textbook?) on the questionnaire. The student e-textbook attitudes discovered from the content analysis showed that for e-textbook users, the cost or price of an e-textbook had a significant influence on e-textbook adoption. Two other attitudes influencing e-textbook users' adoption were usability, both positive and negative. The key attitude of nonusers regarding e-textbook adoption is negative e-textbook usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) has been commonly adopted by academic libraries in the United States for acquiring e-books in recent years. Implementation of the e-book DDA model varies by library. This paper introduces and demonstrates a scenario analysis approach for libraries to evaluate, identify, and select a DDA plan that works best for them based on their DDA program data. This approach helps address some key questions facing libraries with a DDA e-book program: How may a DDA program be evaluated under different scenarios? Does a short-term loan (STL) option make sense? And, is the current DDA implementation a good fit for the library? The implications and related issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the current state of mobile services among academic libraries of the country's top 100 universities, and what are the best practices for librarians implementing mobile services at the university level? Through in--‐depth website visits and survey questionnaires, the authors studied each of the top 100 universities' libraries' experiences with mobile services. Results showed that all of these libraries offered at least one mobile service, and the majority offered multiple services. The most common mobile services offered were mobile sites, text messaging services, e--‐books, and mobile access to databases and the catalog. In addition, chat/IM services, social media accounts and apps were very popular. Survey responses also indicated a trend towards responsive design for websites so that patrons can access the library's full site on any mobile device. Respondents recommend that libraries considering offering mobile services begin as soon as possible as patron demand for these services is expected to increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the efforts of the authors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory toward realizing an electronic book with hundreds of electronically addressable display pages printed on real paper. Features of the electronic book; Information on the electronic ink (e-ink) that will be used in the book; Development from illuminated manuscript to animated manuscript.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award, sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries since 1968, is the only book award for children's literature that represents the Jewish experience. The award's fiftieth anniversary, celebrated in 2018, provided an opportunity to conduct a content analysis study of 102 books and summarize thematic and publishing trends across award categories and time periods. The data points collected were based on bibliographic records and, to smaller extent, on coded Holocaust-related themes. Conclusions refer to Jewish education in the United States and concepts of gender, identity, history, and Holocaust studies that have shaped it through children's literature for over fifty years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study re-examines students' attitudes and preferences to the four primary textbook types (hardback, paperback, loose leaf, and E-book). One hundred eighty-three students currently taking Principles of Marketing from a large public university in the southeastern United States completed the survey. Unlike the 2014 study, where students overwhelming preferred paperback textbooks, even when this textbook is at a higher price than other alternatives, the 2018 study found that the textbook choice depended on if an access code to publisher's online course materials was required. When access codes were required, students preferred paperback textbooks, followed closely by E-books. When no access code was required, rental options were preferred. When students were asked their opinions on the various textbook options, it was clear that price and ease of use were the primary deciding factors as to why they liked and/or disliked the various textbook options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the wisdom and legitimacy of granting copyright to book publishers in the U.S. in the digital age in the 21st century. One of the effects of electronic books (eBooks) and digital libraries on print culture are changes in the nature of book production. Also cited are the implications of eBooks for copyright policy including the issue of unbundling the book. The need for copyright law to eliminate hindrances to competition in the eBook era is emphasized.

Using data collected between August, 1999, and January, 2000, covering 399 books, we examine pricing by thirty-two online United States-based bookstores. At the aggregate level, we find that both advertising and competitive structure had the predicted effects. More competition led to lower prices and to lower price dispersion. Holding competitive structure constant, more widely advertised items also had lower prices. At the firm level, we observe considerable heterogeneity in behavior. Firms had differentiated (or attempted to differentiate) on dimensions such as brand, price, and selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]