Are we there yet?: A longitudinal look at e-books through students’ eyes

Starting in summer 2011, two librarians at Wesleyan University annually interviewed and directed usability studies with undergraduate students to determine how students interact with academic e-books. In 2014, the librarians used a campuswide quantitative survey to supplement these longitudinal qualitative findings. While students are increasingly using e-books as resources, their facility with them has not increased at the same rate. Students continue to encounter issues with interface designs as well as the ability to easily control and manipulate their own copies. These quantitative and qualitative findings have proven important in local collection development practices as well as library instruction initiatives.