Bytes or Trees? I prefer trees thank you

Suzanne Fayle & Xan Goodman Roseman University Library

Roseman University Background

• Began in 1999 as the Nevada College of Pharmacy

• 2nd campus in South Jordan, UT• Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, & Dental

Medicine• MBA Program• Unique block system

Our original research question

Format preferences of nursing and pharmacy students.

Collection Statistical Results

• Access Pharmacy, Facts & Comparisons, MD Consult, Nursing Consult, Ovid

• Out of 164 total e-books only 45 are also available in printo Compared statistics of e-books & print to find

similarities in use

• Only looked at statistics for the most recent print edition

Survey Methodology & Results

• Survey sent to n=539 • Percentage of response rate 10.5%/n=57• Percentage completed survey 6.8% /n=37

Q4 Why do you prefer a print textbook over an e-textbook?

Prefer the look and feel of print

Easier to bookmark/highlight in a print book

There are limits to sharing/copying ebooks

Don't have a good device for reading e-books

0 5 10 15 20 25

Very important reason Somewhat important reasonNot an important reasons

Open Answers Print Preference

Open Answers – E-Books Preference

Focus Groups

Recruitment Incentives

Focus Groups Quotes

“Is supplementary material for e-books included in your survey?” respondent #2

Respondent #4 “She RSVP’d because she wants the policy [about challenges to end].”

Here and here Respondent #1 and #4

Gaps

• Collection development e-books vs. print • Defining e-books for our focus group users

Next Steps

• Focus group • Instruction focused on e-books• Creating an alphabetical list of e-books