I did a little digging around and found that some research has been done on this topic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC100770/
This research article, although published in 2002, had some interesting information. The results of the study reinforce some of my thoughts on the matter. faculty used print journals while students and fellows used electronic journals. One reason I see for this is that the faculty likely know their way around the print journal section of their institution's library, while students might not. Students, who tend to be younger than faculty, were probably more familiar with online searching and the advantages of using an electronic copy, such as using the search function to find key words in the text.
This page lists out some pros and cons of electronic information: http://ctlonline.net/webreadyplus/lesson10_elecinfo.asp
Well, another thing we need to consider is that the library's electronic reading system is not all that user friendly. You have to read it from a web browser instead of being able to repurpose it for a Kindle or something similar. You can't scroll through it--each page has to be separately loaded through a really constricting framework. I don't know if I'd have a problem with electronic format books in general, but BYU should consider updating their system.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you: electronic reading often doesn't mean it's more accessible. I've found that when my professors provide online readings, I often end up reading those last because I need to be at a computer with a live internet connection that allows me to access the BYU library resources (not just my kindle or a physical book). Electronic resources can be a pain sometimes when they're under lock and key (or password and subscription and institution...).
ReplyDelete