A Survey of e-Book Awareness and Usage amongst Students belonging to Arts and science, Engineering Colleges and Management Departments in Coimbatore

Abstract

E Books has been in the Indian market for almost a decade where publishing companies have been trying to capture the market in the early stages. The top most market in terms of numbers for Academic publishing companies is the Engineering and Arts and Science segment. This study aims to study the Awareness and Acceptance of E-Books among Arts and science colleges, Engineering Colleges and Management departments with respect to faculty and students and also to study the primary purpose of using E Book among students and faculty of Arts and Science College and Engineering College and Management departments. The cross sectional study was primarily a descriptive cum causal study, an instrument was developed with questions to measure the awareness and acceptance level and the primary reason for using E books. The sample size for this study was 507 students and 155 faculty from Arts and Science, Engineering and Management colleges. The results indicated that there was a higher level of awareness about E books among students and faculty of Management and engineering college than their Arts and Science College. The primary purpose for using E books among students is to read novels whereas it is was to use for reference purpose among faculty. The implication for publishing companies is that they should focus on Management segment , engineering segment and finally arts and Science colleges. The implication for librarians is that students / faculty use E Books more for reference and hence libraries should acquire more of Reference books and should be ready for the steady increase in usage of E Books.