ebrary(R) (www.ebrary.com), a leading provider of eContent
services and technology, today announced that the results of its
informal eBook survey, completed by 583 librarians throughout the
world, are now publicly available at no cost. Anyone interested in
receiving a copy may register at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kqxPd1nXcrb9lRVf9ZWjQQ%3d%3d or
visit the ebrary booth (#1000) at the 2007 ALA Annual Conference
exhibit, June 23-26 in Washington D.C.
ebrary's Global eBook Survey covers such topics as eBook usage,
purchase drivers and inhibitors, digitization and distribution
platforms, and more. It also includes an analysis of the results
authored by Allen McKiel, Director of Libraries, Northeastern State
University.
"We originally designed this survey for internal use, so that we
could better understand the needs of our customers, both domestic and
international," said Kevin Sayar, President and Co-founder of ebrary.
"Due to its overwhelming response, we decided to make our Global eBook
Survey results available to the public. We'd like to thank all of the
participants for completing the survey, as well as Allen McKiel for
helping us present the findings in a manner most meaningful to the
library community."
"ebrary's survey resulted in a body of information that can help
librarians better understand the complexities of the evolving
information sphere," said McKiel. "It was a pleasure to work with
ebrary to analyze the survey results. ebrary in this and other efforts
has impressed me as a vendor that continually strives to better
understand and address the needs of its customers."
Key survey findings include the following:
-- Respondents ranked Google and other search engines as the
least common ways that patrons find eBooks. Google and other
search engines were also indicated among the least prevalent
factors that drive eBook usage, while the library's catalog
and professor and staff recommendations were indicated as most
prevalent.
-- 78% of respondents described usage of eBooks at their
libraries as fair to excellent.
-- 81% of respondents indicated that integration of eBooks with
other library resources and information on the web is "very"
important.
-- The number of respondents who chose subscription and purchase
as their models of choice for acquiring digital content was
almost equal.
-- 56% of respondents are digitizing their own content or
actively considering it, and 81% indicated that they will
digitize their materials in-house.
-- Price, subject areas, and access models were indicated as the
most important factors when subscribing to or purchasing
eBooks.
Librarians, publishers, and others are encouraged to provide their
thoughts on the survey results via ebrary's Global eBook Survey wiki
at http://ebrary.editme.com/.
About ebrary (www.ebrary.com)
ebrary(R) is a leading provider of eContent services and
technology. The company helps libraries, publishers, and other
organizations disseminate valuable information to end users, while
improving end-user research and document interaction.
The company has developed a flexible eContent platform, which
customers may use in a number of different, integrated capacities:
ebrary customers may purchase or subscribe to eBooks and other content
under a variety of pricing and access models, and they may license the
ebrary platform to distribute, sell, and market their own content
online. All options are delivered using a customizable interface and
include the ebrary Reader(TM) with InfoTools(TM) software, which
enable integration with other resources to provide an economical and
efficient way to utilize information.
ebrary currently offers a growing selection of more than 120,000
eBooks and other titles from more than 260 leading publishers and
aggregators.
For four consecutive years, ebrary has been named to the EContent
100 list of "companies that matter most" in the digital content
industry.
Founded in 1999, ebrary is privately held and is headquartered in
Palo Alto, CA.