E-book Use in the Academic Field - Research Paper Example

E-book Use in the Academic Field Affiliation Technology is trying to make everything in life easy and in this regard, books have not been left behind. The study analyses different issues concerning the use of e-books in the academic field. A thorough background history discussing how people have slowly diversified to using e-books has been given thus laying the foundation to the whole paper. According to the research, e-books have both benefits and limitations depending on a number of factors such as the course that an individual is taking, ability to concentrate and reading methods. Still, e-books have made academic reading easier since books can be easily located and accessed. Portability is also an advantage, which is clear, since it counters the bulkiness of paper books. E-books have various limitations though. For instance, some students considered e-books to be destructive and limiting since they cannot be highlighted while reading. Power failures are also a factor that greatly limits the use of e-books in the academic field. Background (History) For a long time now, the public has been trying to adapt to the current technology. Technology brought with itself a multitude of factors including both benefits and limitations. Individuals could now purchase items online since there were online markets. In addition, e-learning also emerged, which involved studying from home. Individuals could now take courses without having to attend classes in school. Therefore, technology has indeed entered the world in full force without leaving any aspect of life behind (Li et al. 2011). Different generations have been affected by technology since it touches every part of life. This brings in the issue of e-books. Previously, paper was all over the world. No one knew that there could be any other form of reading apart from the physical paper. Therefore, students would carry textbooks to schools and exercise books for writing. Although the technology had already manifested itself into the world, it had not yet taken over libraries. Libraries around the world were still fully stocked with printed books, books stores were still selling and publishers were still doing their jobs. However, in the year 1971, out of a project named Gutenberg, the first digital library of books was created. In the year 1993, Apple Company also started its journey towards the innovation of digital reading (Li et al. 2011). In 1999, the Franklin EB-500 Rocket eBook was invented. However, the book could only hold 4000pages and its battery life could only last for a maximum of 33 hours. Therefore, the book was not every useful for academic purposes due to its limited storage capacity. However in 2000, Microsoft Reader, eBook-reading software was invented thus bring in eBooks into intensive use. Individuals started using eBooks in various sectors ranging from business, media to academic purposes (Hernon, Hopper, Leach, Saunders, & Zhang, 2007). Consequently, as eBooks kept in growing, use of printed books also reduced significantly. Still, there were several factors, which limited use of eBooks thus, causing individuals to purchase printed books. Introduction As the name sounds, eBooks are electronic books. They are books that are stored in digital form thus referred to by some scholars as digital books. E-books consist of all kinds of information that used to be contained in the printed books. When e-books came into use, some of the printed books were turned into digital form through scanning or just typing (Li et al. 2011). However, authors started writing their books directed into digital form, which would be printed afterwards in order to be changed into hardcopies. In the academic field, use of e-books is indeed vast and widespread. Students have identified a fast and easy means of accessing books that previously were very difficult to acquire. In addition, information to be used in different research works has also become readily available. Although e-books seem very beneficial, scholars still lay out a number of limitations that did not exist during the time when students only relied on printed books for academic purposes. In this study, we perform in-depth analysis of the various views that have been out forward concerning the subject of e-books. Statistics and Methodology A study conducted among students in the University of California Library showed that 58% of the students used e-books in their academic studies, 38% did not use while the remaining 4% was not clear as to the use. Use of e-books was also found to vary depending on the field of study and level of study. Students studying courses that have much research work were found to use e-books more than students whose courses did not have intense research work. On the subject of level of study, postdoctoral researchers were reported to make the highest academic use of e-books, followed by undergraduate students (Clay, 2012). Students pursuing demanding courses such as physical sciences and engineering reported the highest rate of use of e-books, while those in least demanding courses such as social sciences reported the least rate. This report clearly showed that individuals indeed use e-books for academic purposes (Anuradha & Usha, 2006). However, of all the respondents who were interviewed, 49% reported having preferred printed books to e-books, 33% preferred e-books while the remaining 17% was indifferent between either of the two study modes. According to this study, it is clear that printed books are still preferred in the academic field. To identify the facts that made students choose one mode of study over the other, scholars have identified some of the factors, which affect the choice students. Advantages of using e-books in the Academic field The different research works that have been performed show the way in which e-books have benefitted students’ reading in their academics and how students will understand better when using e-books, as opposed to when using the other books. Students’ views have also been examined by different journals in order to assess the actual effect of e-books on their academic performance. While some students find e-books a distraction from their concentration, others find e-books to be a motivating and encouraging factor to their reading. Access Snowhill (2001) asserts that access to the book is a major factor that determines whether a student will use an e-book or a printed book. According to the author, most students interviewed provided that, e-books are easily accessible as compared to printed books that might be difficult to locate in the library catalog. Jisc (2012) also provides that online access to resources has reduced some of the difficulties associated with physical access of books in the library. In addition, the journal also asserts that e-books can be accessed from any point unlike printed books that limit an individual to the library. Students interviewed about this issue provided that, e-books are readily available and very helpful especial for homework purposes. On the other hand, printed books are very limiting since, students requiring to use a book have to visit the library and borrow the books. Availability Apart from accessibility, use of e-books in academics has also increased since e-books are readily available as opposed to printed books, which might be limited in the library. Students also asserted that, with e-books, they could hold as many books as they needed, depending on the disk space in their computers. Consequently, this would enable comparison of the different views of authors. This is indeed essential for a student carrying out research since; writing literature review would need various books. In this regard, printed books are greatly limiting since; they cannot be used in large numbers. Portability It is undeniable that e-books are very portable; they are not bulky and do not occupy a huge amount of space as paper books. Paper books might be advantageous for readings such as magazines, which are easy to carry. However, for academic reading, most of the books are huge and heavy and thus, e-books will be more preferred in this case (Anuradha & Usha, 2006). Students taking courses such as medicine reported that they preferred e-books since with printed books they could only carry one book at a time due to the large size of their books. On the other hand, libraries also have a limit to the number of books that one individual can borrow, thus, limiting students to the number of books that they can read. Snowhill, therefore, asserts that e-books have indeed brought in flexibility and knowledge availability in the field of academics. Conducting Research The issue of research work also determines the use of e-books in the academic field. A sample of students used showed that 56.3% of the students used e-books to conduct their research work only (Mincic-Obradovic, 2010). Accordingly, research work slightly triggers use of e-books. Most students are more likely to use e-books when conducting research but still use hardcopies for their normal exam purposes. This is because, research work demands use of books with various citations and thus, carrying all the books would be cumbersome. Consequently, students prefer to hold all the books in a single area where they are easily accessible. Hardcopies are also difficult to access at times since the copies might be limited in the library. Limitations of using e-books in the Academic field Inability to do a Deep Study In the previous researches conducted, some of the students that preferred printed books to e-books asserted that e-books had various destructions as compared to printed books, and thus they limited their concentration. The students also stated that they would use e-books for other purposes such as reading magazines and newspapers. However, in cases requiring intense concentration, the students preferred paper books. Students agreed that indeed e-books were fast and easy when searching for a certain specific topic to read, or when trying to locate the book in the whole library (Hernon, Hopper, Leach, Saunders, & Zhang, 2007). However, they asserted that they used digital copies to search for a topic, after locating the chapter and page number, they would go back to the corresponding copies of the print copies for effective reading purposes. Annotation and Highlighting When asked the reason as to why they could not use e-books for effective purposes, the students provided that annotating, bookmarking, highlighting and making notes was difficult when using e-books. It is for this reason that e-books were most likely to be used in leisure reading where no highlighting or making notes is required. Other students also asserted they preferred books in paper format because they allowed them memorize things by physically underlining and lighting. On the other hand, most students provided that, although annotating and making notes was still possible with e-books, it was slightly difficult and time-consuming. Destruction Studies conducted about use of e-books in the academic field also assert that e-books are also limited by the fact that they can be very destructive to the student (Mincic-Obradovic, 2010). Students interviewed stated that they were likely to switch to other issues when studying from an e-book. For instance, most students would switch to the internet in a social network and stop reading. On the other hand, other students were also reported to have switched to movies or music when reading from their laptops. Students reading from a hardcopy of the book were less likely to be destructed since the books have no other features such as music or movies. For this reason, Walton (2007) asserts that the use of academic e-books might only be applicable to students who have a high level of self-control. This is because; probability of being destructed is very high when using an e-book. This reason explains the statistics that showed that older individuals in postgraduate level are more likely to use e-books as compared to undergraduate students. According to the common belief, the older a person gets, the more self-controlled he or she becomes. Consequently, postgraduate students would be taken to be more self-controlled thus able to use e-book without being destructed (Clay, 2012). Some of the undergraduate students who controlled themselves also reported using e-books severally. Security E-books are greatly limited by the security factor. A scholar asserted that all the negative factors affecting technology also affect e-books (Anuradha & Usha, 2006). For instance, e-books are prone to viruses. Students also stated that storing a book in electronic form could be very dangerous especially because the book could get lost any time (Mincic-Obradovic, 2010). Most students reported having lost their books due to attack by a virus or just machine failures. Therefore, this is a limitation to e-books when compared with paper books that cannot be lost unless when burnt or stolen. Battery Life Although with time this problem could be solved by invention of machines that have a longer battery life, this is still a very huge limitation to the use of e-books. Books stored electronically can only be accessed when an individual is near a source of power in order to charge a laptop or computer in which the book is stored. This is unlike paper books, which can be read anywhere, including when an individual is seated under a tree. Students that only had e-books without a corresponding hardcopy of the e-book reported having suffered in times of power failures. Requiring a portable device This is also a problem that could be countered in the near futures as technology keeps on growing and being available to everyone. However, currently we cannot ignore the fact that e-books are only beneficial to individuals who own a laptop or a computer. This issue makes e-books only useful to individuals that are well off, or companies that already own laptops. Therefore, this limits the use of e-books for academic purposes since most students are not in a position to own a laptop or a computer. Ways of reducing these limitations Online saving E-books should always be saved online instead of saving them in a device such as a laptop, in order to counter the problem of insecurity. Provision of Chargers In the case of limited of battery life, more innovation should be done to bring into the market, long-lasting batteries with chargers. In addition, hardware should also be upgraded reduce to charge usage. Ownership of two copies Issues of inability to have a deep study, or annotate or highlight should be countered by advising students to own both copies in order to benefit from the accessibility of e-books, but to also be able to highlight and make notes in the hardcopy. Conclusion Reading in the academic field is a totally different situation as compared to reading for other purposes such as reading for leisure. Academics require a higher level of concentration as compared to the other forms of reading. In academic reading, comparison of notes might be essential while in leisure reading an individual might not be required to compare notes from different manuals. Therefore, although it is undeniable that e-books are indeed beneficial in terms of portability and ease of accessibility, they might be slightly difficult to use when it comes to academic purposes. Consequently, when describing the relative advantage brought by e-books, most scholars asserted that e-books have both an advantage and a disadvantage. References Anuradha, K. T., & Usha, H. S. (2006). Use of e-books in an academic and research environment : A case study from the Indian Institute of Science. Program-electronic Library and Information Systems. doi:10.1108/00330330610646807 Clay, James (2012). Preparing for Effective Adoption and Use of Ebooks in Education. (UKOLN, University of Bath.) UKOLN, University of Bath. Hernon, P., Hopper, R., Leach, M. R., Saunders, L. L., & Zhang, J. (2007). E-book Use by Students: Undergraduates in Economics, Literature, and Nursing. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33(1), 3-13. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2006.08.005 Li, C. (2011). UC Libraries Academic e-Book Usage Survey. eScholarship, University of California. Littman, J., & Connaway, L. S. (2004). A Circulation Analysis of Print Books and E-Books in on Academic Research Library. Library Resources and Technical Services, 48(4), 256-262. Mincic-Obradovic, K. (2010). E-books in Academic Libraries. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Snowhill, L. (2001). E-Books and Their Future in Academic Libraries: An Overview. D-lib Magazine, 7(7/8). doi:10.1045/july2001-snowhill Walton, E. W. (2007). Faculty and Student Perceptions of Using E-Books in a Small Academic Institution. ACRL Thirteenth National Conference, 1(1), 92-99. Read More