E or P? A Comparative Analysis of Electronic and Print Book Usage

E or P? A Comparative Analysis of Electronic and Print Book Usage

Electronic Resources & LibrariesAustin

March 19, 2013Michael Levine-ClarkChristopher C. Brown

Methodology

Duke University Press eBooks

• Added October 2008• Loaded MARC records December 2008• Purchase all e/p• 1,480 e-books

– Frontlist approximately 120 per year– Backlist

• 2,416 p-books• Many predate the e-book collection

• 1,150 in both formats

The Data

• Gathered circ data – Through December 2008– Each subsequent December (2009-2012)– Cumulative

• Compiled e-book use data– At end of each year, 2009-2012– For each year

Apples and Oranges

• pBook checkouts– Undergrad: 3 weeks– Grad: 10 weeks– Faculty: 1 year– Potentially many uses per checkout, and some

when deciding to checkout

• eBook use– One time in the book is one use

About Discovery and Data

• Discovery through catalog records• Data merger issues:

– Title variations– ISBN complexities– Multi-volume issues

E and P Typically Pattern Together in Results

Classic Catalog

Encore (next-gen) Catalog

Data Difficulties: Title VariationsCatalog Record Vendor Record

Series used with title The Sri Lanka reader : history, culture, politics / John Clifford Holt, ed.

World Readers : Sri Lanka Reader : History, Culture, Politics

Series used with title Julia Child's The French chef / Dana Polan.

Spin Offs : Julia Child's The French Chef

Word renderings Present tense : rock & roll and culture

Present Tense : Rock and Roll and Culture

Spaces Percussion : drumming, beating, striking

Percussion: Drumming, Beating, Striking

Vendors and catalogers don’t necessarily agree on title formation. This makes matching on title impossible.

More Title VariationsCatalog Record Vendor Record

Gremlin characters (diacritics)

Affective communities : anticolonial thought, fin-de-si ¿cle ├ radicalism, and the politics of friendship

Affective communities: anticolonial thought, Fin-De-SiFcle radicalism, and the politics of friendship

Presence/Absence of Subtitles

The life and traditions of the Red man

Life and Traditions of the Red Man : A rediscovered treasure of Native American Literature

Title Discrepencies A coincidence of desires : anthropology, queer studies, Indonesia

Coincidence of Desire : Anthropology, Queer Studies, Indonesia

Translated Titles Desencuentros de la modernidad en América Latina. English, Divergent modernities : culture and politics in nineteenth-century Latin America

Divergent Modernities : Culture and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Latin America

Data Difficulties: Multiple ISBNs

Data Difficulties: ISBN 10? ISBN 13?

Data Difficulties: ISBN Irregularities

Note the ISBN10 with ISBN 13, the parentheses, and the multiple ISBNs.

Data Solution: Create an ISBN 9

ISBN 9 eliminates the ISBN 13 – 978 prefix and the final check-digit, creating a useable match-point, in cases where the electronic and print versions agree on base ISBN.

Data Difficulties: Too Many Sources

• Usage reports include only titles that are actually used– Needed to pull in unused titles from elsewhere

• Different formats

Data Methodology using Microsoft Access

• Get annual use stats of e-books from vendor• Get master list of e-titles from vendor. • Derive ISBN9 for each list for proper overlay• Overlay annual use stats onto master list of e-books• Get circ stats for print books from ILS• Derive master list of all print titles from ILS• Derive ISBN 9 for each p title.• Overlay annual circ stats onto master list of p-books• Merge circ and use data together

Summary of Data Issues

Print BooksPrint Books E-BooksE-Books

ISBN Differences

Title Differences: “and” vs “&”, etc.

Cataloger’s idea of title

Catalog records contain multiple ISBNs, 10 or 13 digit

Vendor’s idea of title

Vendor records may contain ISBN 10 or ISBN 13

Circulation stats purged after a timeWhat does a “circulation” mean?

What does an e-usage mean?

Can we compare a print circ with an e-use?

Data Conclusions

• Microsoft Access for overlays; Microsoft Excel for analysis

• Overlay on title is nearly impossible• Better standards are needed – a single ISBN,

please!• Deriving an “ISBN9” was the only way to get

anywhere, but even this was far from perfect

Usage

eBooks• User Sessions

– 588 titles used (39.7%)– 5,149 sessions

• 8.8 per title used• 3.5 per title in the

collection

– 892 titles not used

• Pages Viewed– Total pages: 35,236– Average (for books

used): 59.9– Highest: 2,861

eBooks

• Pages Printed– 68 titles– Total pages: 3,244– Average: 47.7 pages– Highest: 380

• Pages Copied– 54 titles– Total pages: 640– Average: 11.9 pages– Highest: 64

pBooks

• 1,528 titles used (63.2%)• 903 titles used since Dec

2008 (37.4%)• 4,611 checkouts (2,930

before Dec 2008)– 3.0 per title used– 1.9 per title– 1.1 per title (post 2008

use)– 0.7 per title (post 2008)

Most Used eBooks, User Sessions• Women and Gender Equity in Development Theory

and Practice (2006)– 1,821 user sessions (1,706 in 2012)– 2,861 pages viewed (2,765 in 2012)– 380 pages printed (all in 2012)– 8 checkouts (6 since 2008)

• Date Which Will Live (2003)– 399 User Sessions (all in 2011-2012)– 494 pages viewed– 93 pages printed– 3 checkouts (1 each in 2009, 2011, 2012)

Most Used pBooks• The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and

Planning (1993)– 37 checkouts (36 before Dec 2008)– 2 user sessions, 0 pages printed

• Displacing Whiteness: Essays In Social and Cultural Criticism (1997)– 24 checkouts (22 before Dec 2008)– 3 user sessions, 0 pages printed

Most Used pBooks Since 2008• Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema

(2000)– 19 checkouts (12 since 2008)– No eBook

• The Cinema of Naruse Mikio (2008)– 11 checkouts (all since 2008)– 6 user sessions, 45 pages viewed

• Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010)– 11 checkouts (all since 2010)– 7 user sessions, 205 pages viewed

Dual Format Availability: A Preference for Print

• 1,150 titles available in both formats• Print Use

– 619 titles checked out since Dec 2008 (53.8%)– 825 titles checked out (including before Dec 2008)

(71.7%)

• Electronic Use– 451 titles with user sessions (39.2%)

Dual Format Use

• 394 titles used in both formats– 4,221 user sessions (2,400 without the 1,821 use

title) • 10.7 per title used (6.1)

– 1,524 p-book checkouts (801 before Dec 2008)• 3.9 per title used (1.8 for uses since 2008)

– 54 titles with pages printed (out of 68)• 7.4 pages per title used

– 68.4 pages viewed on average

Dual Format Use post-2008

• 332 titles used in both formats– 3981 user sessions (2,160 without the 1,821 use

title) • 12.3 per title used (6.7)

– 712 p-book checkouts• 2.2 per title used

– 48 titles with pages printed (out of 68)• 8.3 pages per title used

– 72.0 pages viewed on average

P Used, E Not

• 431 titles– 1,004 checkouts

• 2.3 per title used

– 297 titles with checkouts since 2008

• 479 checkouts– 1.6 per title used

E Used, P Not

• 57 titles• 246 user sessions

– 4.3 per title

• 906 pages viewed– 15.9 per title

• 3 titles with pages printed

eBook Use

eBook Use

Print Use

How Closely Are P/E Usage Linked?

Increased Checkouts, 2008-2012

• For titles available at the start of the project (Dec 2008), how many more checkouts were there by Dec 2012?

• Was that increase linked in any way to e-usage?

• Was it linked in any way to type of e-usage?

Increased Checkouts 2008-2012

• 686 titles with increased checkouts– Measuring titles available prior to Dec 2008

• 408 available in both formats• 235 also had e-use

– 15.5 user sessions per title– 81.2 pages viewed per title

Observations

• Use of E may lead to use of P• Use of P doesn’t seem to lead to use of E• If both formats are used,

– they are both used at a higher rate than average– They have greater meaningful use as e-books

• Pages viewed• User sessions

Thoughts

• If dual format usage is higher by all measures, does this mean that people’s preference is for good content, not format?

BUT• When both formats are available, print is

more likely to be used (53.8% vs 39.2%).– Does e-discovery drive p-use?

Does Subject Impact Use?

LC Class Example: B – Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

• 148 titles in print (6.1% of all Duke print titles)– 64 titles checked out

since 2008 (7.1%)• 102 e-books (6.9%)

– 49 e-books used (8.3%)• 79 titles available in

both formats (6.9%)– 48 titles checked out

(7.8%) – 40 e-books used (8.9%)

• 1.9 checkouts per title used (all print) (+0.8)

• 2.3 checkouts per title (both formats used) (+0.5)

• 5.1 user sessions per title (both formats used) (-1.0)

LC Class – Best & Worst in Print (Difference Between % of Collection

and % of Checkouts – post 2008)• P – Lang & Lit (n=579): -

4.6%• H – Soc Sci (515): -1.1%• J – Poli Sci (178): -0.8%• Q – Science (38): -0.7%• T – Technology (44): -

0.5%

• M – Music (63): +2.4%• F – Hist of Americas

(183): +1.5%• G – Geog, Anth, Rec

(82): +1.3%• E – Hist of Americas

(140): +1.2%• B – Phil, Psych, Rel

(148): +1.0%

LC Class – Best & Worst eBooks (Difference Between % of Collection

and % of Titles with User Session)

• P – Lang & Lit (n=285): -3.3%

• Q – Science (23): -0.5%• M – Music (64): -0.4%• T – Technology (22): -

0.3%• K – Law (40): -0.2%

• B – Phil, Psych, Rel (102): +1.4%

• F – Hist of Americas (158): +0.9%

• N – Art (42): +0.7%• D – History (107): +0.4%• E – Hist of Americas

(98): +0.4%

LC Class – Best & Worst E &P (Difference Between % of Collection

and % of Titles Used – Both Available)• P – Lang & Lit (n=231): -

3.9% P, -3.9% E• Q – Science (18): -0.6%

P, -0.7% E • T – Technology (19): -

0.5% P, -0.5% E• G – Geog, Anth, Rec

(52): -0.3% P, +2.0% E

• E – Hist of Americas (81): +1.0% P, +0.9% E

• B – Phil, Psych, Rel (79): +1.4% P, +2.0% E

• H - Soc Sci (260): +0.4% P, 0.0% E

• D – History (87): +0.4% P, -0.2% E

Two Oddities – E&P Available

• J – Poli Sci (54): +1.0% P, -0.5% E• M – Music (48): +1.3% P, -0.8% E

Observations

• Some of the subject and format differences have to do with publication date– Lots of old social science material in print

• Some differences are surely local• The sample size for most LC Classes is too

small to be meaningful

Further Questions

• How does discovery play in?• What might ILL/resource sharing tell us about

demand for P when E is available?

Thank You