High Stakes in the Stacks: Could ebooks Replace A Print Collection Today?

Academic libraries will be circulating print books for a long time to come. But circulation stats continue to fall in tandem with budget allocations for print resources, and students and faculty increasingly demand access to books online. So what would happen if we stopped buying print books altogether? Could a small to medium-sized academic library adequately support existing student and faculty research with an entirely electronic book collection? In an attempt to answer these questions, circulation statistics for print books will be examined in relation to market availability of equivalent ebook titles. The presentation will focus on the availability in electronic format of a sample of print titles circulated in the past year at Royal Roads University Library, what that electronic access actually looks like, and what it would all cost compared to purchasing and maintaining the equivalent in print. Results will be discussed in relation to current trends in academic publishing (i.e. what is available now and what will be available in the next 35 years) and the future direction of mass digitization projects, especially Google Books.