Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Library Is Our Lab: The Case For Print Books In An Academic Library, Peggy Ellis, Fran Gray

Western Libraries Presentations

Humanities researchers consider the library to be their laboratory, and its print collections their essential research equipment. In spite of anecdotal evidence that both students and faculty in the Humanities prefer print materials over e-books, academic libraries are allocating a steadily increasing proportion of their acquisitions budgets toward the purchase of e-books across all disciplines.

At Western University in London, Ontario, Peggy Ellis and Fran Gray surveyed Arts & Humanities faculty members and graduate students to gain a better understanding of their attitudes toward e-books. The objectives of our research are three-fold: to determine whether researchers in the Humanities departments …