Contradictions and Consensus - Clusters of Opinions on E-books

Aaron K. Shrimplin is Head of Reference and Collection Services, Andy Revelle is Social Sciences Librarian, Susan Hurst is Business Librarian, and Kevin Messner is Life Sciences Librarian, all at Miami University Libraries; e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], messnekr@muohio. edu. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented by Aaron K. Shrimplin and Andy Revelle at the biennial conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, March 13, 2009. The authors thank the American Library Association and Ingenta for their support of this research through an ALA/ Ingenta Research Award Grant. We also thank our research assistants Jennifer Couch and John Williams for their assistance in making this project successful. Q methodology was used to determine attitudes and opinions about ebooks among a group of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at Miami University of Ohio. Oral interviews formed the basis for a collection of opinion statements concerning e-books versus print. These statements were then ranked by a second group of research participants. Factor analysis of these rankings found four distinct factors that reveal clusters of opinions on e-books: Book Lovers, Technophiles, Pragmatists, and Printers. Two of the four factors take a more ideological approach in their understanding of e-books: Book Lovers have an emotional attachment to the printed book as an object, while Technophiles feel just as strongly about technology. In contrast, the other two factors are more utilitarian: Printers might find e-books more palatable if usability were improved, while Pragmatists are comfortable with both print and e-book formats.