E-book popularity at uk universities gathers pace.(Brief article)

Byline: Kim Thomas

E-book popularity at UK universities gathers pace

Kim Thomas

The popularity of e-books among university libraries is growing fast, according to vendors, but universities say there are still problems delaying wide acceptance.

Springer has signed e-book agreements with a number of academic institutions, including the University of Chicago, the University of Manchester and the University of Oslo. It now has 13,000 e-books available on its Springerlink.

"The market hasn't been delivering huge numbers of core text books that students need by e-book, and that is only just beginning to change," said Margaret Coutts, university librarian at University of Leeds.

Despite the slow growth in the market, Coutts said e-books are attractive because one copy can be accessed by several readers simultaneously. They are also popular with users. "Students like the fact that they can access them from anywhere, at any time."