E-books or print books, “big deals” or local selections—What gets more use?

Abstract : This paper tracks the use of several hundred books at Oakland University that were made available both in print and electronically. This study attempts to determine if there are discernable differences in usage based on format. It also examines usage to determine if collections of books that were locally selected exhibit different usage than those purchased through a consortium. The author concludes that locally selected collections receive greater usage than consortially selected collections. Furthermore, the author finds that usage of a particular title in one format does not correlate to usage of that title in the other, but that there is a relationship between the formats when you compare aggregate circulations/accesses of books based within NetLibrary subject areas.