Electronic Book Usage Patterns as Observed at an Academic Library: Searches and Viewings.

This paper presents the results of a quantitative study exploring the online usage of the electronic book collection at the J.N. Desmarais Library at Laurentian University, Canada. In 2009, e-book usage statistics were evaluated to provide a better understanding of how the e-book collection has been utilized. Both current electronic book usage data and data from previous years are reported in order to present and understand general patterns in how the electronic book collection is, and has been utilized. The number of e-books, the number of viewings and the number of searches were examined. The size of the collection grew from a single book in 2002 to more than 60,000 in 2008. The pattern of purchase varied from that of bulk purchasing of large e-book collections, to selective purchasing between 2005 and 2007, and then back to bulk purchasing in 2008. Both viewings and searches have increased from year to year at a greater pace than the size of the e-book collection. The number of searches also appeared to provide a viable means of measuring the use of an e-book collection rather than relying entirely on viewings or downloads. Ratios were calculated to compare viewings and searches to the size of the collection. The highest viewings per ebook and searches per e-book ratios were observed in those years when purchasing was done more selectively. It is also clear that the electronic reference collection has seen far greater use than the electronic monographs. Furthermore, usage of electronic monographs appeared to be directly proportional to the size of the collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]