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Weekly News Digest
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November 19, 2012 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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New Findings Reaffirm Library Borrowers Are Also Buyers
An extensive online poll of library ebook readers finds that these patrons purchase an average of 3.2 books (both print and ebooks) each month, and a majority would consider purchasing books discovered on a library website. These ebook borrowers, who are at OverDrive-powered public library websites in the U.S., also report that their digital content purchases have increased in the past 6 months. Sponsored by OverDrive with the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP), the survey constitutes the largest study of library ebook usage to date, with more than 75,000 people responding.Confirming earlier studies, such as the Pew Internet Project’s “Libraries, Patrons, and E-books,” the survey found that a significant percentage of library users regularly purchase books they first discover at the library. In fact, 57% of those surveyed said that the public library is their primary source of book discovery. Library ebook borrower: Highlights - Public library is primary source of book discovery (57%)
- Purchase average of 3.2 books per month (including print and ebooks)
- Would consider purchasing books discovered on library website (53%)
- Visit both the physical library and download ebooks (53%)
- Digital book purchases have increased in past 6 months (44%)
- Purchased book (print or ebook) after borrowing that title (35%)
Library ebook borrower: Demographics - Female (78%)
- Adults aged 40-64 (55%)
- Household income $75,000+ (48%)
- College degree or higher (74%)
The survey also found that dedicated ebook reading devices—including Kindle, Sony Reader, and NOOK—were the devices most used to read ebooks from the library (8%). Desktop or laptop PCs (20%), smartphones (19%) and tablets (18%) rounded out the top four types, which reflects the rapidly escalating trend of borrowing on mobile devices recently reported by OverDrive. (In August, mobile devices accounted for 30% of checkouts and 34% of web traffic at OverDrive-powered library websites. Both statistics are up nearly 100% year-over-year.) The survey took place between June 13 and July 31, 2012, at thousands of OverDrive-powered public library websites in the U.S., with 75,384 respondents completing all or part of the survey. The intent of the survey was to gain insight into the borrowing and buying behaviors of library ebook readers and is not representative of the U.S. population as a whole. To see the full survey data, visit OverDrive’s Digital Library Blog. Source: OverDrive
Wiley Launches StatisticsViews.com
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., announced the launch of StatisticsViews.com, a new website created for professional statisticians, analysts, students, and any user of statistics in interdisciplinary subjects as the first place to go when looking for any information related to statistical research.StatisticsViews.com provides all users of statistics with access to the best statistics information that Wiley offers, delivering a new service and one-stop shop for the statistics community. Covering biostatistics, business and economics, engineering, environmental statistics, social science, tools, methods, and resources, the website allows users to quickly find everything in their area of interest, bringing statistics together in one accessible site. To aid easy navigation, StatisticsViews.com is split into areas of statistical application. Feature articles are exclusively published on StatisticsViews.com. Additionally, news items, events, early view articles, books, videos, tutorials, interviews with leading as well as up-and-coming statisticians, career development information, jobs, webinars, and society details can all be viewed on one page, delivering aggregated content in a meaningful way for statisticians. Wiley gladly welcomes societies, statistical software providers, conference hosts, and training providers to contribute to StatisticsViews.com, which strives to serve the statistics community by featuring their activities. Contact Alison Oliver at aoliver@wiley.com for more details. Wiley also offers other comprehensive news and information sites, including ChemistryViews.com, designed for chemists and other scientists, and MaterialsViews.com, providing the cutting edge of research in materials science news and jobs. Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
EBSCO Publishing Releases Legal Source
EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) expanded its collection of legal resources with the release of Legal Source. Developed from a merger of high-quality databases from EBSCO Publishing and H.W. Wilson, Legal Source provides full-text coverage of the world’s most respected scholarly journals making it a valuable resource for attorneys, educators, business people, law librarians, students, paralegals, and others involved with the law.Legal Source consists of more than 870 full-text journals and 2.5 million records including book reviews and case citations. The database is a combination of all the records in Wilson’s Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Retrospective: 1908-1981, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, and EBSCO’s Legal Collection and includes many unique sources that were never previously available. Centered on the discipline of law and legal topics, Legal Source provides information in the areas of criminal justice, international law, federal law, organized crime, medical law, labor and human resource law, ethics, and the environment. EBSCO and H.W. Wilson merged in 2011 in what was viewed by the companies as an ideal match. The acquisition led directly to heightening the value and quality of EBSCO and Wilson resources as well as the creation of a line of source products, including Legal Source. EBSCO recently released additional source products focusing on specific subject matter including Education Source, Applied Science and Technology Source, Library & Information Science Source and Humanities Source. Source: EBSCO Publishing
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Brandi Scardilli
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