E-books in academic libraries

This paper provides an analysis of the current state of the art in e-books, and attempts both to set the scene and provide reasons for their low uptake. Publishers, e-book providers and aggregators, academics and intermediaries (i.e., librarians and information specialists) should concentrate on raising awareness of what is available and what are the advantages related to e-books for specific categories of users. At the same time e-book suppliers should make e-books easier to find and purchase

Book reviews online

As the number of new academic books published each year continues to rise, such that it becomes evermore difficult to keep abreast of them in one's discipline, the book‐review procedure takes on an increasing importance. This paper outlines the design and development of an automated system for handling book reviews. Descriptions are given of some prototypes that have been developed for use on an intranet server and/or the Internet. These systems, based on SGML and HTML, are briefly discussed and compared

E-book readers in higher education

Ebook readers have received a mixed press, with some hailing them as the future of reading and others believing that they will never be popular. The study outlined here aims to understand the attitudes of, and issues of importance to, lecturers in UK academia, with a view to improving the design of ebook readers for education in the future. An evaluation of five portable devices is presented, in which lecturers were given the opportunity to read an ebook and provide feedback via a questionnaire. Results are compared with concerns arising from other experiments in the same field, and recommendations are made for successful ebook design

Are e-readers suitable tools for scholarly work?

This paper aims to offer insights into the usability, acceptance and limitations of e-readers with regard to the specific requirements of scholarly text work. To fit into the academic workflow non-linear reading, bookmarking, commenting, extracting text or the integration of non-textual elements must be supported. A group of social science students were questioned about their experiences with electronic publications for study purposes. This same group executed several text-related tasks with the digitized material presented to them in two different file formats on four different e-readers. Their performances were subsequently evaluated by means of frequency analyses in detail. Findings - e-Publications have made advances in the academic world; however e-readers do not yet fit seamlessly into the established chain of scholarly text-processing focusing on how readers use material during and after reading. Our tests revealed major deficiencies in these techniques. With a small number of participants (n=26) qualitative insights can be obtained, not representative results. Further testing with participants from various disciplines and of varying academic status is required to arrive at more broadly applicable results. Practical implications - Our test results help to optimize file conversion routines for scholarly texts. We evaluated our data on the basis of descriptive statistics and abstained from any statistical significance test. The usability test of e-readers in a scientific context aligns with both studies on the prevalence of e-books in the sciences and technical test reports of portable reading devices. Still, it takes a distinctive angle in focusing on the characteristics and procedures of textual work in the social sciences and measures the usability of e-readers and file-features against these standards.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Online Information Revie

Comics, robots, fashion and programming: outlining the concept of actDresses

This paper concerns the design of physical languages for controlling and programming robotic consumer products. For this purpose we explore basic theories of semiotics represented in the two separate fields of comics and fashion, and how these could be used as resources in the development of new physical languages. Based on these theories, the design concept of actDresses is defined, and supplemented by three example scenarios of how the concept can be used for controlling, programming, and predicting the behaviour of robotic systems

Developing key concepts for the design of hypertext for printed books

In the modern world, computers and interactivity are becoming an ever-increasing phenomenon, but this means that the tactile appeal of the printed book is giving way to the increasing popularity of digital interactivity. This research explores how one of the integral concepts of computer interaction, hypertext, can be applied to the medium of print and the advantages that this can bring to the reading environment. The interaction used to read a printed book is different to that of reading material in an electronic form. Books are linear, moving forward, whereas electronic material is laterally associative. However, reading material in an electronic form, such as hypertext, allows the readers to customise and reorder knowledge for their own needs. In comparison, navigation of paper documents is aided by the information being fixed, and readers can easily refer to several documents simultaneously. The considerations that need to be made when combining the benefits of two such contrasting media needs careful attention. Six key design concepts applying hypertext methods to books are discussed to assist the production of effective reading media

E-Scripture: The Impact of Technology on the Reading of Sacred Texts (2013)

The tradition of religious readers in transition is not new: Augustine expressed “amazement” that Ambrose read silently and not aloud, movable type in the fifteenth century made the Bible publishable without scribal work, and today, electronic pages have become interactive in ways scarcely imagined a short time ago. How readers of today imagine a page (now conceptualized as a ‘web-page’) and consequently, reading in general, has profound implications for the 21st century. Acknowledging the fact that “the significance of a religious book lies not only in the message of its content, but also in the form and self-presentation with which it makes itself available to worship and transmission,” this project assumes that a great deal of perspective is provided by looking at this current transition in light of the old. In virtually all previous reading transitions, a religious ‘pattern of reading technology’ can be seen, whose pieces are all well-known but have not been collectively applied to the current situation of e-reading. The pattern operates with a three part assumption: readers will initially use a new technology to perform the same functions as the old technology, only more quickly, with more efficiency, or in greater quantity. This early use of new reading technology, in other words, largely attempts to imitate the functions and appearance of the old format. The second part is that the old technology becomes sacralized or ritualized in the face of the new technology’s standardization. As this standardization occurs, the new technology develops its own unique and innovative functions, exclusive to that form and shedding some or most of the imitative appearance and functions of the old technology – the third part of the pattern. Reviewing these transitions of the past and present, it becomes clear that perhaps fear of the new technology – however relatable – proves somewhat unfounded. New reading technology does not prove ultimately inimical to the old formats, or to religion, and despite many initial practical concerns, actually provides a multitude of benefits in the reading of sacred texts

What is usability in the context of the digital library and how can it be measured?

This paper reviews how usability has been defined in the context of the digital library, what methods have been applied and their applicability, and proposes an evaluation model and a suite of instruments for evaluating usability for academic digital libraries. The model examines effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and learnability. It is found that there exists an interlocking relationship among effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. It also examines how learnability interacts with these three attributes

Student user preferences for features of next-generation OPACs: a case study of University of Sheffield international students

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to identity the features that international student users prefer for next generation OPACs. Design/ methodology/ approach. 16 international students of the University of Sheffield were interviewed in July 2008 to explore their preferences among potential features in next generation OPACs. A semi-structured interview schedule with images of mock-up screens was used. Findings. The results of the interviews were broadly consistent with previous studies. In general, students expect features in next generation OPACs should be save their time, easy to use and relevant to their search. This study found that recommender features and features that can provide better navigation of search results are desired by users. However, Web 2.0 features, such as RSS feeds and those features which involved user participation were among the most popular. Practical implications. This paper produces findings of relevance to any academic library seeking to implement a next-generation OPAC. Originality/value. There have been no previous published research studies of users’ preferences among possible features of next-generation OPACs