Editorial

Citation

Cassell, K. (2012), "Editorial", Collection Building, Vol. 31 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cb.2012.17131daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Collection Building, Volume 31, Issue 4

This issue of Collection Building includes two articles on e-books. Each is quite different. More than anything else what it shows is that we still have lots to learn about e-books. Many say that soon there will not be any print books, but that is for the near future an exaggeration. Certainly there are more and more e-books available yet many books as the Link article shows are still not available as e-books. Also many older titles have also not been converted to e-books as yet. So we must continue to live in a hybrid world trying to meet user needs. The McLure and Hoseth article also surveyed e-book use at Colorado State University with mixed responses. They also found that users were not all familiar with e-books and were not all comfortable with them.

Reference books have been the first to convert to electronic resources. Many are much easier to use as electronic resources since they can be updated easily and can be searched for needed information. Most libraries will only maintain small reference collections to accommodate on site users who may want to use a print source. Most publishers of reference titles have been quick to make electronic versions available so that there is little one cannot acquire assuming that the budget allows for some of the more costly items.

Electronic materials make it easier to acquire them quickly to meet user demand. Libraries often list e-books in the catalog but only acquire them when there are multiple hits by users. This is an economical way to proceed since the library buys based on just in time and not just in case.

Kay CassellEditor, Collection Building