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Helen Livingston University Librarian University of South Australia

As academic libraries and students embrace digital resources, did anyone make sure that academic staff were joining in the group hug?. Helen Livingston University Librarian University of South Australia. Context.

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Helen Livingston University Librarian University of South Australia

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  1. As academic libraries and students embrace digital resources, did anyone make sure that academic staff were joining in the group hug? Helen Livingston University Librarian University of South Australia

  2. Context • New building to seat 2000 students (replacing the older, very crowded 800 seat building) • Incorporating café, active teaching spaces, central student administration, PhD student spaces, experimental teaching area and the Library with study spaces, training areas, exhibition spaces • To fit everything in the building and within budget, • reduce campus physical collection by almost half

  3. TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN NEW “LIBRARY” BUILDING Teaching spaces Collections

  4. Collection challenge • Digital Journals have long been preferred • Digital preferred “book” purchasing commenced 2011. • Digital strategy • $3.3 over 3 years to “go digital” in order to reduce City West campus physical collection to less than 100,000 volumes by end 2013. • Physical Collection at end 2011 185,000 vols. • 55 Kindles for loan • End 2010 135,762 ebooks • End 2012 337,154ebooks and growing fast

  5. What do staff think? • 2011 and 2012 survey of Library staff pre and post training • 2012/13 survey of Academic (teaching staff)

  6. Library Staff • Apre training survey on ebook knowledge Dec 2011-Jan 2012. • 125 Library staff participated. • Have you used an eReader device or an iPad? • Yes 82% • 32% had their own personal device • Kindle 29.8% 14 • Kobo 12.8% 6 • Sony eReader 6.4% 3 • iPad34.0% 16 • iPhone 34.0% 16 • Android 23.4% 11 • Other 7%

  7. Issues from Library staff Different technologies between each, different methods of access. Too many differences between vendors & formats Variations of user interfaces by different publishers Multiply platforms and access arrangements. Technical support: providing clear instructions for users -particularly with so many formats/platforms available I feel that the 'digital revolution' currently occurring in all the world’s libraries is actually happening much faster than we anticipated -and in a way it's both exciting and also cause for some concern for us Library Assistants. Yet I am aware that you can't stop progress or better developments occurring in the available technology today. Bring it on!

  8. Challenges as seen by Library staff As much as I embrace the idea of the ebook strategy (I own an iPadand will probably purchase a Kinkdlesoonish) I have some concerns around the ease of access to the books for clients. Personally I would never read a book on a PC but if they can be downloaded to a reading device then I will happily read a fiction title. A non-fiction title is quite different - it is not as easy to make notes etc. My fear is that based on the volume of email queries I've had from academics trying to access eBooks, some of whom are computer literate, we risk turning away new and established Library users when they experience difficulty downloading titles. The process must be more seamless.

  9. How confident Library staff were about….

  10. Library staff confidence after training

  11. Comments from Library staff after training I realised that before I could download an ebook that I needed to set up Adobe Digital Editions by creating an Adobe account with ID and password. This was another step, although was quick to do. So even though the software was on my PC, I still had to create an individual account before I could access ebooks. This was a very frustration exercise, but it gave me an understanding of how a library patron, new to ebooks, feels when first encountering them without any prior training. I did not finish this challenge. I spent 3 hours to complete one section and found the instructions not very helpful. I downloaded bluefire to my iPod and iPhone only to find that use of this app was blocked inside the University by thefirewall. I am not wasting any more time on completing this task. Could not download books onto the iPad. I tried to download Bluefire reader as indicated but it would not let me asking for a password. Holding records in the Library catalogue seem to disappear completely when you have an ebook checked out to you (occurs with EbscoHost).I found the Adobe Digital Editions more restrictive in terms of copying text (no right click available with the copy option - had to do a ctrl c). Difficult to print the actual pages you want across platforms. The numbering varies (e.g. the PDF may say a certain page but when you print you need to indicate the page number which is given at the top of the page in the PDF view). This is very confusing for users.

  12. Academic staff: Do you own an E reading device?

  13. Do you set a prescribed textbook? Yes 57.6% NO 42.4% If the Library had sufficient e-resources in your discipline, would you still set a text book? Yes 60.0% No 40.0% Explain why a text book is needed Gathers together material and resources in one convenient resource, that is easy for students to understand and access. Because not all students may be happy with an eBook Access for people who do not rely upon electronic gadgets Students like hard copies of reference texts. Examinations are open book however the University has no policy regarding the use of ebooks in exams. E-book access from the Library is complicated, restrictive and confusing. I can't deal with it. Because e-resources are so unpredictable. Also, you can write a note in your text-book And endless screen gazing is really damaging to eyesight. Actually, I am unsure — I would probably survey students (in a previous cohort) first to see what they thought.

  14. Academic Staff

  15. Academic staff comments In my experience, electronic journals have been straightforward and unproblematic to use, but ebookshavebeen difficult and unwieldy to use for research or teaching, even though I happily use an Amazon Kindle for leisure reading. E-resources can be over-rated. They are eminently suitable for pure reading tasks, but for activities requiring cross-referencing and near-simultaneous access to multiple sections they are close to useless. I just don’t like e-books. I cant take them to bed!

  16. When asked what would encourage more ebook use • Provide ipads for staff • I need a greater understanding myself so I can • encourage the students to move in this direction. • Resolve the issue of open book exams • Show them it is better, easier to use and very few will • resist implementation. Of course, e-resources • genuinely need to be better, including easy/-er to find, • borrow, download, resize text. • Download/printing/copy-paste from e-books is • sometimes impossible • No, I'm not ready to actively promote this future.

  17. And the comparison???

  18. This is very confusing for users. The process must be more seamless.

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