The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting (May 30, 2008) the following:
Research Libraries Embrace E-Books
"Sixty-nine percent of university research libraries plan to increase spending on e-books over the next two years, according to a recent study published by Primary Research Group Inc. This finding and others were based on a survey of 45 research libraries in countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan."
This is the initial data from a Deep Log Analysis study currently underway in the UK. The study analyzes the clicking behavior of ebook users, and then places that data into context: do people go to the brick-and-mortar library, or stay home? How long do they spend reading the books or articles? This report captures the results of 20,000 e-book users in the UK between January and May, 2008.
"The market for e-books has taken off, particularly in the world of education. Aggregators provide easy access to large collections of titles from many publishers, through a single interface. Consultants Ray Lonsdale and Chris Armstrong compare the offerings of the largest providers, and point to emerging trends."
"Last week bookseller Barnes and Noble unveiled the Nook, its long-awaited eReading device. Although ill-named, the Nook is a worthy competitor to the Kindle, offering a number of features not found on the Amazon device, including LendMe, a feature that allows for controlled sharing of ebooks. While the sharing feature comes with a number of limitations, it would appear to be a small but important step towards making DRM-restricted content slightly more flexible for consumers. There's just one problem - publishers want no part of the Nook's LendMe feature."