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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the first part of three inter‐related studies investigating the use and usability of e‐books in higher education based on experiments conducted at the University of Strathclyde. Design/methodology/approach A self‐selected sampling method was employed from undergraduate and postgraduate instructional students registered with the University of Strathclyde for academic year 2005/2006. An announcement email was posted to the student web portal for a period of three weeks inviting them to participate in the survey. Findings This survey found that e‐book awareness and the level of e‐book usage amongst students was lower than anticipated: 57 per cent of students were not aware of the availability of e‐books from the library and 60 per cent of them had not used an e‐book. Non‐users commented that e‐books were not widely advertised or promoted. Despite the low levels of e‐book awareness and usage non‐e‐book users indicated their desire to learn more about e‐books. Research limitations/implications This survey was dependent on self‐selection and, therefore, there was no central control over the sample profile (e.g. gender, level of studies, academic discipline); hence, generalisation of the results should be treated with caution. Practical implications This survey is beneficial in terms of obtaining a better understanding of e‐book usage among students and the reasons why students do, and do not, use e‐books. The findings should be of value to academic libraries in terms of emphasising the need to increase e‐book awareness and usage amongst students. Originality/value The findings should be of value to academic libraries in terms of emphasising the need to increase e‐book awareness and usage amongst students.
Abdullah et al. (Fri,) studied this question.