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An Assessment of e-Book Collection Development Practices among Romance Language Librarians
Reyes, Betsaida M. Devlin, Frances A.
Reyes, Betsaida M.
Devlin, Frances A.
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Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to describe the collection development practices regarding e-books among librarians who manage French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish (Romance) materials. The authors aim to describe factors that influence acquisition of e-books for Romance language collections to confirm librarians’ perception that humanities researchers prefer print and library administrators’ attitudes toward e-books.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY APPROACH: This study collected data using a mixed-method approach of a survey and focus groups.
FINDINGS: This study confirms that user preference is the primary consideration of Romance librarians in selecting e-books. Contrary to librarians’ perceptions, this study found that humanities faculty and students are not averse to using e-books for specific purposes such as searching, targeted reading and course materials. While restrictions on lending e-books are a concern, Romance librarians are focused primarily on serving the needs of their core constituencies.
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The practice of adding call numbers to individual e-books varies among institutions. Individual e-book titles in large packages do not necessarily get added to the catalog, thus making it very difficult to compare e-book collections between institutions.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study endeavors to unify the anecdotal narratives and factors that influence the acquisition of e-books by Romance librarians.
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Date
2020-05-29
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Emerald Publishing Limited
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Keywords
Collection development, Mixed-methods assessment, e-books, Romance languages, Romance literature, Humanities, User preference, Screen Reading
Citation
Reyes, B.M. and Devlin, F.A. (2020), "An assessment of e-book collection development practices among Romance language librarians", Collection and Curation, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 24-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-12-2019-0047