e-Book use in academia will soon reach tipping point

Use of e-books in the academic market could dwarf the use of e-journals, according to UCL Professor of Information Studies  David Nicholas. 

At the April 2009 London Book Fair and at recent UCL  e-books and publishing conferences , he has been trailing some of  the findings of the JISC National e-Books Observatory Project  The full final report is due for publication by JISC (an agency of the Higher Education Funding Council for England) in the early autumn of 2009. 

Professor Nicholas and colleagues in Ciber, one of UCL's  professional research teams, map, monitor, and evaluate digital information systems and platforms, using innovative techniques, notably  deep log analysis of user behaviour inside electronic resources like e-books, e-journals and websites.

The prediction from Ciber, that e-books use is likely to snowball in the near future, seems to be borne out by a report in the Financial Times: 'Springer leaps ahead in academic e-books market'  (July 5, 2009) 

The FT quotes Springer's president of e-product management and innovation Olaf Ernst saying that, in a few years, 'More than half our book revenues will come from e-books.'  The company has made 22,500 e-books available in a variety of formats.

Take-up of e-books is proceeding much faster in the academic than the consumer market.

Look out for Update's cover of some of the issues in the digital July/August edition, published on 13 July, and in print, on  17 July.  There will be more analysis in future editions.

Elspeth Hyams,

Editor, Update