I 3 conference, 25-28 June 2013 A typology of e-book interactions and the e-book literacy and tools required for achieving students study goals Dr Laura.

I3 conference, 25-28 June 2013

A typology of e-book interactions and the ‘e-book literacy’ and tools required for achieving students’ study goals

Dr Laura Muir, Department of Information ManagementEmail: [email protected]

“The literature needs another article explaining in more detail why it is important to move beyond helping students learn to find e-books and to focus at least some attention on training students to use e-books "to achieve students' study goals."  The information literacy angle is very important”. (JACALIB reviewer)

Students using e-books for academic coursework experience problems with access, insufficient context in search results, awkward navigation tools, an unpleasant reading experience and interfaces that are not intuitive to use. They do not know how to use e-books effectively for their studies. (Muir, Veale and Nichol 2009; Muir and Hawes 2013)

E-books for coursework

User behaviour

Review research

Insights

E-book literacy &

content functionality

TYPOLOGY

More user-focussed research on e-books to understand how they are used rather than how often they are used. (JISC 2009)

“More work on actual, rather than self-reported, reading behaviour is urgently needed.” (Rowlands et al 2007)

The user experience can only be captured by direct observation of users of e-books. What people say they do (in an interview or questionnaire response for example) is not always what they actually do when performing a practical task. (Muir, Veale and Nichol 2009)

Research in the field is moving away from large scale surveys of users’ opinions of e-books towards in-depth small scale focus groups (Information Automation Ltd. 2009)

Secondary ResearchPrevious studies of students use, perceptions and requirements of

ebooks.

Case Study

Empirical Research Task-based observational studies of purposive samples of students

(Muir, Veale and Nichol 2009; Muir and Hawes 2013).

Analysis

Typology of e-book interactions

E-book literacyE-book functions and tools for

publishers and content developers

1. Define

2. Access

3. Evaluate

4. Manage

5. Integrate

6. Create

7. Communicate

8. Review

1. Define

1.1 Define or interpret taskIdentifying the academic goal goal/aim

1.2 Identify information need

Identifying objectives and methods for achieving goal/aimAwareness of e-books

2. Access (e-books and content)

2.1 Discover resource(s)

Using library platforms for resource discoveryFormulating and applying a search strategy

2.2 Broad search/scan and navigate content

Using ToCs and indexes and scanning/flicking through contentRapid browsingNavigating content in one or more e-books

2.3 Narrow search and locate information

Identifying specific search terms.Conducting a search.Finding and interpreting the search results.Refining a search based on results.

2.4 Read information

Sequential page reading.Reading for reference (targeted reading).Dealing with lost access.

“the search function is annoying, it only gives the excerpt, without any

context”

“I clicked on the first result and now I don’t know where I am – that’s a bit

of a problem ”

3. Evaluate

3.1 Understand information

Relating information to study objectives.Exploring meaning and visualising concepts.

3.2 Extract relevant information

Summarising content and note taking.Downloading/printing content – selecting content and methods.

3.3 Evaluate information

Sorting retrieved results.Interpreting information.Analysing relevance.Synthesising from multiple sources.Evaluating findings.

4. Manage

4.1 Organise contentMaintaining saved retrieval results

4.2 Manage referencesReferencing e-books to acknowledge sources and support assertions

4.3 Monitor task progressReviewing the objectives check list for task completion.

.

5. Integrate

5.1 Combine results for the study task.

Reviewing results across all searches and platforms.

6. Create

6.1 Create the solution for the task (report, essay etc)

Producing the output for the study task

7. Communicate

7.1 Present, disseminate or submit results, conclusions and recommendations.

Delivering the output for the study task

8. Review

8.1 Reflect8.2 Learn from experience8.3 Revise behaviour

Reflecting on the success of the search strategy and completion of the task, for further e-book literacy development.

1. Define (2)

2. Access (2)

3. Evaluate

4. Manage

5. Integrate (4)

6. Create

7. Communicate

8. Review (6)

Thank you! Any questions?

Slide References

Information Automation Limited, 2009. E-book use by academic staff and students in UK universities: focus groups report. Online. London: JISC. Available: http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/reports [Accessed 18 January 2013].

JISC, 2009. National e-books observatory project: Key findings and recommendations. Online. London: JISC. Available: http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/reports/finalreport [Accessed 18 January 2013].

Muir, L. J. and Hawes, G., 2013. The Case for E-book Literacy: Undergraduate Students' Experience with E-Books for Course Work. Journal of Academic Librarianship 39 (2013), pp. 260-274 DOI 10.1016/j.acalib.2013.01.002

Muir, L. J., Veale, T. and Nichol, A., 2009. Like an open book? Accessibility of e-book content for academic study in a diverse student population. Library and Information Research 33 (105), 90-109.

Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Jamali, H. R. and Huntingdon, P., 2007. What do faculty and students actually think about e-books? Aslib Proceedings 59 (6), 489-511.