Students use print and electronic books equally

Usage of e-books is almost the same as that of print books for student assignments and research, according to a survey by ebrary.

The survey also revealed that  51 per cent of students would ‘very often or often’ opt to use electronic versions of books over print versions, compared with 32 per cent who ‘sometimes’ prefer e-books and 17 per cent who always use the print version. E-books rank among the top resources students consider trustworthy, along with print materials such as books, textbooks, reference (dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps), and journals.

ebrary's 2008 Global Student E-book Survey was completed by nearly 6,500 students across 400 individual institutions. The company plans to repeat the survey periodically to compare how e-book usage and attitudes among students change over time.