Practical Overlap: The Possibility of Replacing Print Books with E-Books

The increasing availability and prominence of e-books has led to a perception in some quarters that the requirement for physical books is decreasing, as most, or all scholarly material is openly available in digital form. Some academic administrators and librarians have suggested that it may be possible or desirable to have a solely, or predominantly electronic academic library. This study tests that assumption by randomly selecting a sample of titles from a mid-size Australian academic library and searching for suitable electronic copies. The conclusion of the paper is that a maximum of 33% of titles held by the case study library are available as e-books, and on a practical basis about 26% of titles held by the case study library could be readily obtained as e-books. (Contains 3 figures.)