E-books - reinventing the wheel?

Abstract

To quote Carole Moore, the Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL): "One solution we have decided on is to invest in a pilot project in electronic books."1 At UTL,we believe that our users do not care whether the information they are looking for is in a journal article, a section of a reference work, or a chapter of a book; they want the information online 24/7/365. To that end, we intend to undertake a pilot project with a critical mass of e-books, from as many publishers as we can afford, with the purpose of ascertaining how users discover the e-books, how they use the e-books and what they do after they get the information they were looking for. This article will discuss the current thinking of one large research-intensive university library as it pertains to current academic e-books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]Copyright of Serials is the property of United Kingdom Serials Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)