levine-clark, michael, “questioning assumptions: e-book usage on a global scale,” proquest,...

Questioning Assumptions: E-Book Usage on A Global Scale

PortlandMarch 26, 2015

Michael Levine-ClarkUniversity of Denver

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

What (we think) we know

• E-books are better/worse

– For some subjects than others

– For some types of use than others

• E-books don’t work for immersive reading

• E-books don’t work for the humanities

Tons of Data

The Project

• Worldwide usage data

– EBL 2013-2014

– ebrary 2013-2014

– All customers

– Aggregated by title

• Today:– EBL 2013

– ebrary 2014

The Shape of the Data

• Spreadsheets for the world and by region

• One title, with all associated data

– LC Class, Subclass, BISAC

– Publication Year

– Number of libraries with title available

– Number of libraries with usage

– Multiple measures of usage

Some Data Snags

• EBL and ebrary data are not yet merged

• Call numbers

– Missing

– Errors

• xQ102… (Q102)

• BBF1427… (BF)

• Not easy to retroactively build a list of titles visible to a library at a particular time

Benchmarking

• What can we learn from worldwide usage data?

• Do trends across a huge data set matter?

• Is every institution so unique that only local data is meaningful?– Every institution has other resources competing

for each user’s time.

– e-books take up varying portions of an overall collection

Usage Definitions

• Session– Any time that a user

interacts with an e-book

• Page View– A count of the number

of pages examined

• Download– A download of the entire

book (EBL and ebrary)

• Chapter Download (ebrary)

• Usage Time– Minutes (EBL) or

seconds (ebrary) spent looking at the book

• Copies– A count of pages

copied/pasted

• Prints– A count of the number

of pages printed

Academic Complete

• Subscription package

• About 120,000 titles

• Same package at about 2,000 libraries worldwide

• BIG IMPACT on ebrary data

Titles Available

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

Titles Available Worldwide By LC Class

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

Titles Available Worldwide By LC Class

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

ONE TITLE, WORLDWIDE DATA

Booth, Craft of Research

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Libraries with availability

Libraries with Usage


97%

17,089 Sessions

Academic

Public

Special

86%

Sessions by Region

Africa

Asia Pacific

AUS/NZ

Europe

Latin America

Middle East

North America

South Asia

UK/Ireland


• Additional Measures of Usage

– 368,879 page views

– 1,162 pages copied

– 62,009 pages printed

– 0 downloads

– 2,323 chapter downloads

– Used 17,453,759 seconds (4,848 hours)

How do you make sense of that?

Categories of Analysis

• LC Class and subclass

– Broad academic division (humanities, social sciences, STEM)

– Subject

• BISAC

• Publication date

• Region (Africa, Asia Pacific, etc.)

• Publisher or publisher type

Academic Divisions

Arts & HumanitiesB (Philosophy, Religion)

excluding BF (Psychology)

C, D, E, F (History)

M (Music)

N (Fine Arts)

P (Language & Literature)

TR (Photography)

OtherA (General)

G (Geography, Anthropology, Recreation)

Z (Bibliography, LIS)

Social Sciences BF (Psychology)

H (Social Sciences)

J (Political Science)

K (Law)

L (Education)

U, V (Military, Naval Sciences)

STEMQ (Science)

R (Medicine)

S (Agriculture)

T (Technology) (excluding TR)

Titles Available by Academic Division

194,420

185,558

184,053

78,854

STEM A&H Soc Sci Other

(12%)

(30%)

(29%)

(29%)

110,292

102,409

118,732

53,561

(14%)

(29%)

(27%)

(31%)

Average Number of Libraries with Title Available

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Average Number of Libraries with Title Available – Academic Divisions

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM Other

412.26

Average Number of Libraries with Title Available – Academic Divisions

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM Other

88.89

Average Number of Libraries with Title Available - LC Class

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

412.26

Average Number of Libraries with Title Available - LC Class

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

88.89

LIKELIHOOD THAT A LIBRARY WILL SEE USAGE OF A TITLE

Average Number of Libraries With:

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

A & H Soc Sci STEM Average

Session

View

Download

Copy

Print

Libraries with title available

76.78 100.63 87.56

Percentage of Libraries With:

0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07


Session

View

Download

Copy

Print

For every library that has a session…


View 0.946 0.951 0.936 0.944

Download 0.278 0.296 0.321 0.300

Copy 0.075 0.098 0.085 0.087

Print 0.094 0.106 0.085 0.096

0.000

0.100

0.200

0.300

0.400

0.500

0.600

0.700

0.800

0.900

1.000

View

Download

Copy

Print

Expressed as percentage of sessions, with sessions = 1.00

Average Number of Libraries with a View

0.90

0.91

0.92

0.93

0.94

0.95

0.96

0.97

Relative to libraries with sessions

Average Number of Libraries with Download

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

0.40


Average Number of Libraries with Copy

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14


Average Number Libraries with Print

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18


Percentage of Libraries Using a Title

Region Average # of Libraries with Title

Average # of Libraries with Use of Title

% of Libraries Using Title

UK/Ireland 18.97 2.15 11.33%

Australia/NZ 16.86 1.39 8.22%

North America 204.70 5.26 2.57%

Europe 60.36 1.48 2.46%

Asia Pacific 169.97 1.78 1.05%

South Asia 58.06 0.56 0.96%

Middle East 87.51 0.71 0.81%

Africa 69.14 0.51 0.77%

Latin America 119.40 0.93 0.68%

World 412.26 9.25 2.24%

Percentage of Libraries Using a Title, By Academic Division

Discipline Average # of Libraries with Title

Average # of Libraries with Use

Percentage of Libraries Using Title

Social Sciences 509.16 12.61 2.48%

STEM 378.90 8.95 2.36%

Arts & Humanities 554.74 10.71 1.93%

All Subjects 440.54 14.17 3.22%

Percentage of Libraries Using a Title, By Discipline

Region Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM

Africa 0.33% 1.08% 0.85%

Asia Pacific 0.71% 1.24% 1.31%

Australia/NZ 6.23% 9.42% 9.34%

Europe 2.07% 2.81% 2.47%

Latin America 0.42% 0.80% 1.19%

Middle East 0.54% 0.88% 1.12%

North America 2.42% 2.72% 2.58%

South Asia 0.60% 1.04% 1.32%

UK/Ireland 9.84% 13.22% 11.01%

World 1.93% 2.48% 2.36%

Conclusions about Likelihood of Use by a Library

• For EBL, a library has the most chance of seeing at least one use of a title in:

– Arts & Humanities for sessions and views

– STEM for downloads

– Social Sciences for copies and prints

• For ebrary, a higher percentage of libraries use titles in STEM and Social Sciences with variation by region

LIKELIHOOD THAT A BOOK WILL BE USED: ARE THESE THE RIGHT BOOKS?

Titles Available / Titles Used

53.08%46.88% 46.71%

38.59% 36.20% 33.13% 32.62% 32.16% 30.81%25.41%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Titles With a Session Titles without a Session

Percentage of Titles Used By Discipline

63.84%59.47%

50.20%53.08%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Social Sciences Arts & Humanities STEM All Subjects

Useed Unused

Percentage of Titles Used By Discipline

73.99%

67.36% 67.36% 68.75%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Social Sciences Arts & Humanities STEM All Subjects

Useed Unused

Percentage of Titles Used By LC Class

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Session No Session

Titles Used By LC Class

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

Session No Session

Percentage of Titles Used, By DivisionRegion Arts & Humanities Social Sciences STEM

Africa 14.95% 30.77% 33.96%

Asia Pacific 45.80% 48.95% 46.48%

Australia/NZ 35.61% 40.24% 40.69%

Europe 36.79% 37.97% 25.36%

Latin America 26.83% 35.65% 34.11%

Middle East 25.65% 29.62% 41.59%

North America 54.16% 54.67% 43.94%

South Asia 24.01% 32.28% 43.88%

UK/Ireland 38.17% 38.45% 31.66%

World 59.47% 63.84% 50.20%

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM

Social Sciences Arts & Humanities

5%

29%

34%

32%

Titles with a Session

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

26%

40%

30%

Sessions

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

28%

39%

29%

Page Views

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

28%

39%

29%

Downloads

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

33%

35%

28%

Titles with a Download

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

20%

45%

31%

Copy/Paste

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

25%

38%

33%

Titles with Copy/Paste

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

32%

36%

28%

Printing

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

26%

36%

34%

Titles with Printing

Availability vs Use

12%

30%

29%

29%

Availability

Other STEM


4%

24%

40%

32%

Time Spent

Conclusions about Likelihood of Use

• Social Science titles are more likely to have at least one use

– But, some humanities subjects are most heavily used. P (languages and literature) is relatively poorly used.

• In general, social sciences titles are used above what one would predict, with sciences lower.

LIKELIHOOD OF HIGH USE

Page Views Per Session

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

Page Views Per Session: By Academic Division and Region

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

A&H Soc Sci STEM

Page Views Per Session By LC Class

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

20.00

Downloads Per Session

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Downloads Per Session: By Academic Division and Region

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

A&H Soc Sci STEM

Downloads Per Session by LC Class

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Copies Per Session

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.2

Copies Per Session: By Academic Division and Region

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

A&H Soc Sci STEM

Copies Per Session by LC Class

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

Prints Per Session

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Prints Per Session: By Academic Division and Region

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A&H Soc Sci STEM

Prints Per Session by LC Class

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Time Per Session

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Time Per Session: By Academic Division and Region

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

A&H Soc Sci STEM

Time Per Session by LC Class

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Likelihood of High Use: Conclusions

• Views Per Session

– Lowest in Developing world

– Generally highest for STEM

• Copy/Paste Per Session

– Regional variations

– Generally highest for Social Sciences, lowest for STEM

• Downloads Per Session

– Highest in Developing world


• Printing Per Session

– Regional variations


Time Per Session

• Shorter in developing world

• Longest in Arts & Humanities

• Shortest in STEM

THE MOST HEAVILY-USED TITLES

Top 10%* of Titles with Sessions

• Worldwide– 45,350 titles (10.08%)

• 107 sessions or more

– 13,708,391 sessions (70.20% of all sessions)

– Available at 1,681 libraries on average

*Based on an earlier, smaller data set that did not include some of the unused titles

% of Sessions Represented by Top 10% of Titles

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

Disciplinary Representation Within Top 10% of Titles Used

A&H32%

Soc Sci38%

STEM26%

Other4%

Titles

A&H28%

Soc Sci41%

STEM27%

Other4%

Sessions

Titles Available by Academic Division

30%

29%

29%

12%STEM (Q, R, S, T-TP, TS-TX)

Arts & Humanities (B-BD,BH-BX, C, D, E, F, M, N, P,TR)

Social Sciences (BF, H, J,K, L, U, V)

Other

Disciplinary Spread within Top 10% of Titles Used

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Other

A & H

STEM

Soc Sci

% of Sessions within Top 10% of Titles

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

A & H Soc Sci STEM Other


65.06%

73.66%

70.69%

60.00%

62.00%

64.00%

66.00%

68.00%

70.00%

72.00%

74.00%

76.00%

A & H Soc Sci STEM


0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

A & H Soc Sci STEM

High-Use Titles: Conclusions

• Top 10% of titles represent 70% of sessions worldwide

• Social Sciences more heavily represented than in the data set as a whole

• Arts & Humanities more heavily represented, but accounts for fewer sessions than would be expected

– Usage spread more deeply across titles for A&H

INTENSIVE / EXTENSIVE USE

Breadth vs Depth

PERCENTAGE OF TITLES USED

AV

ERA

GE

AM

OU

NT

OF

USE

SESSIONS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Session

Ave

rage

Ses

sio

ns

Per

Titl

e

VIEWS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With View

Ave

rage

Vie

ws

Per

Titl

e

DOWNLOADS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Download

Ave

rage

Do

wn

load

s Pe

r Ti

tle

COPIES

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Copy

Ave

rage

Co

pie

s Pe

r Ti

tle

PRINTS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Print

Ave

rage

Pri

nts

Per

Tit

le

COMBINED

Sessions

Views

Downloads

Copies

Prints

SESSIONS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Session

Ave

rage

Ses

sio

ns

Per

Titl

e

VIEWS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With View

Ave

rage

Vie

ws

Per

Titl

e

DOWNLOADS

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With Download

Ave

rage

Do

wn

load

s Pe

r Ti

tle

COPIES

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With a Copy

Ave

rage

Co

pie

s Pe

r Ti

tle

PRINTING

Percentage of Titles in LC Class With a Print

Ave

rage

Pri

nts

Per

Tit

le

COMBINED

Sessions

Views

Downloads

Copies

Prints

USAGE BY YEAR OF PUBLICATION

Titles Available

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

16

51

17

64

17

72

17

78

17

87

17

92

17

99

18

04

18

09

18

15

18

20

18

25

18

30

18

35

18

40

18

45

18

50

18

55

18

60

18

65

18

70

18

75

18

80

18

85

18

90

18

95

19

00

19

05

19

10

19

15

19

20

19

25

19

30

19

35

19

40

19

45

19

50

19

55

19

60

19

65

19

70

19

75

19

80

19

85

19

90

19

95

20

00

20

05

20

10

20

15

All Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

Titles Available

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

16

51

17

64

17

72

17

78

17

87

17

92

17

99

18

04

18

09

18

15

18

20

18

25

18

30

18

35

18

40

18

45

18

50

18

55

18

60

18

65

18

70

18

75

18

80

18

85

18

90

18

95

19

00

19

05

19

10

19

15

19

20

19

25

19

30

19

35

19

40

19

45

19

50

19

55

19

60

19

65

19

70

19

75

19

80

19

85

19

90

19

95

20

00

20

05

20

10

20

15

Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

Titles Available by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

All Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

Titles Available by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Arts & Humanities STEM Social Sciences

Titles with a Session by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

World A & H Soc Sci STEM

Titles with a Session by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

A & H Soc Sci STEM

Sessions by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

World A & H Soc Sci STEM

Sessions by Publication Year, 2000-2015

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

A & H Soc Sci STEM

Titles with Session vs Availability, by Date, 2000-2015

CONCLUSIONS

One Size Does Not Fit All

• Arts & Humanities– Highest likelihood a library with access to a title will make

use of it

• Social Sciences– Highest percentage of available titles used– Even higher percentage of overall sessions

• STEM– Most page views per session– Most downloads per session– Least amount of time in the book

Don’t Rely on a Single Measure of Use

• Comparing multiple factors tells a more complete story

– Actions per session

– Use relative to availability

– Intensive vs extensive use

Think Broadly

• All subjects get used

• Publication date does not appear to be a major factor

Questions?