other e-book projects / studies
The following studies on e-books in education have been funded by JISC:
The e-book mapping exercise - This study investigated perceptions and attitudes to e-books and explored acquisition, licensing and pricing models that were being deployed. It focused on business and management, engineering, and health and medicine subject areas. The study concluded that the preferred format for delivery was online PDFs and that undergraduate textbooks together with reference books would constitute the primary purchasing areas. The study also found that there was marked concern about the proliferation of existing licensing and costing models.
Promoting the uptake of e-books in higher and further education - This report highlights how some of the barriers to the uptake of e-books can be removed and how e-books can be promoted more fully by a wider range of institutions and individuals. The study has developed a series of case studies, including examples of best practice.
E-books in FE and HE strategy study - This study aims to define the business and market context for electronic textbooks for UK further and higher education, to shape the work and role of the Working Group and a vision for the future (up to 10 years ahead) of electronic textbooks.
An investigation into free e-books - The main focus of the study was on resources for the arts and humanities subject area, to reflect the expertise and knowledge of the authors, and to complement the related projects. A survey of formats found that free e-books are available in a variety of different formats and a lack of formally marked-up structure is a barrier to their being aggregated into collections, searched or meaningfully preserved. The report makes a number of recommendations in order to promote the uptake of free e-books.