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This paper is presenting with a brief overview of the developments e-books, covering technologies, and advantages & disadvantages of e-books for users and libraries.

The aim of the study is to show the importance of e books in the research and elloborate the concept  of e books.

In this study, e-book research articles were reviewed which are published in various library science and non-library science journals. Identifies facets and significant results of e-book research. For this review, literature on e-books published in English language, in 2016 was searched from various databases. The review finds that the focus of current research on e-books is on use. Themes such as e-book collection development and management; search and discovery are also paid more attention to. Use of e-books by children is emerging as a prominent area of e-book research. Results of most of the research on e-books are supportive to each other.

The development of digital space has given rise to the development of electronic books that are quite popular among teenagers and businesspeople. The technological progress contributed greatly to the prevailing nature of digital material over printed material, which introduced substantial changing to community library system that were previously engaged in traditional scheme of managing readers’ needs.

However, computer software development created opportunities for restructuring libraries and introducing computer classes. In this respect, it is purposeful to look through the literature that explores the origins of e-books development, individual perceptions and demographics of using electronic materials, understand the status of libraries and define in what way, digital transition influences the future of print books development. In such a manner, it is possible to predict the ratio traditional books and digital versions in various libraries.

What is e-book?

The meaning of term e-book is available in different ways.  The word ‘E’ means electronic and this word changed the concept of use & selection of information resource, its organization, management, storage retrieval and dissemination to users. So an e-book is a digital reading material that anyone can view on desktop, notebook, laptop or portable devices with a large storage capacity and ability to download title through network connection. According to The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, “a book that has been converted to digital form and could be read on a computer, usually through network services or CD-ROM). E-book could expand over print media by adding specific features such as hypertext links, search and cross reference functions and multimedia and an electronic version of a book which can be read on a personal computer or handheld device designed especially for this purpose.” The electronic book can be defined as a book in electronic form.  In addition to text, it may include pictures and sounds, links with related online pages, and program to change and supplement it. This type of book may be available in various formats.

Brief History of E-books

The idea of e-book is not new; several factors have contributed to e-books emergence such as technologies, internet, the web and print on demand etc. The electronic book was born in 1971 with first step of project Gutenberg, a digital library for books on digital domain. Michael Hart began this project with the idea of creating Electronic library by transferring the printed text into electronic form. The journey of e-books can be summarized as:

1971 Project Gutenberg is the first digital library

1990 The web boosts the internet

1993 Online Book Page is a list of free e-books

1994 Some publishers get bold and go digital

1995 Amazon.com is the first online bookstore

1996 There are more and more texts books online

1997 Multimedia convergence and employment

1998 Libraries get digital

2000 Information is available in many languages

2002 A web of knowledge

2003 E-books are sold world wide

2004 Sony released the ‘librie’, the first e-book reader to utilize eInk technology.

2005 Google gets interest in e-books

2007 Online book retailer Amazon.com released the Kindle reader

2008 Books on board(booksonboard.com) started selling e-books for iphones.

2009 Amazon.com released the Kindle 2, and shipping it to more than100 countries.

2010 Many new e-readers from Asus, Sony, Plastic Logic, Samsung and more get a frenzy of

attention to e-readers and e-books.

2011 Amazon.com launched the Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch foe e- reader.

2012 Apple released iBook Author and also opens a textbook section in its iBook bookstore. In this year Amazon also released the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader with built in LED lights.

2013 Some publisher launched its unlimited access e-books subscription services.

2014 Amazon launched Kindle unlimited as on unlimited access e-book and audio-book subscription service.

2015 Amozon released the Kindle Paperwhite(3^rd Generation) and Kindle voyage HD for e-reader.

2016 Amazon released the Kindle Oasis, its first e-reader in five years to have physical page turn buttons and many more other features.

With the advent of Information technology and internet, today this form of e-book has become popular among the readers.

Features of e-books

1. E-books are accessible anywhere, anytime and accessed faster through Internet.

2. It is a cheaper than conventional books.

3. Easy to print and copy

4. Purchasing of foreign books is time consuming but in online format it is accessed quickly.

5. Reference material in electronic form can also be easily updated.

6. E-books are eco-friendly because e-books save trees and paper comes from trees.

Types of e-books

1. PDF files:- This type of e-books are based on Adobe portal document format and require Acrobat Reader to view the files.

2. Multimedia books: - These e-books are including a mixture of video, sound, animation text etc.

3. Kindle:- These e-books are based on a proprietary file format(Amazons Kindle) abd can be read using a Kindle e-book Reader.

4. Scroll Books:- In this type e-books are presented in scroll form as in traditional book.

Requirement for using E-book

1. Hardware:- For using e-books personal computers, laptops, digital audio players, mobile devices, tablets etc. are necessary. Without these we cannot access the e-books.

2. Software:- E-books can be read with specific software such as Acrobat, Kindle e-book reader, Apple ibook, Sony reader etc.

3. Internet connection:- Internet is a main source of access to e-books. Without internet facility, e-book cannot see , read and download  directly.

Advantages of E-books:-Some of the advantages of e-books are given below:-

1. E-books do not require physical storage space. The e-books are solving the big problem of storage space. E-books are downloaded and save on computer or small handheld device. For this book no need to require space and storage equipments.

2. Today library system faced budget cuts, due to cuts the library services are shrink. Advent of E-books, problem of price and other charges are solving. E-books are often cheaper. Some books are also available free of cost on various websites. No handling and shipping charges are to be paid for e-books.

3. E-books save time and money as they are easily available on the Internet. The availability and access to titles is quicker and more convenient to the readers.

4. During travelling time, E-books allow you to bring a whole library with you wherever you go. It is easily accessible and available 24*7 with the help of internet.

5. E-books are ordered online and delivered electronically to your computer.

6. Change the font size of your text and help users who are hard of seeing. It can also help you increase the readability of the text.

7. E-books also reduce the processing work for circulation.

8. E-books are easily updated.

9. Due to easily access, electronic books changed the behavior and academic research.

Disadvantages of E-books

In spite of above mentioned advantages, e-books have also disadvantages which are the following:-

1. Without hardware and software e-books cannot be access.

2. Hardware and Software cost is very high like Kindle etc.

3. Internet facility is must.  Without internet we are not able to access and download e-books.

4. E-reading book devices are expensive so it is not possible for everyone to purchase these devices.

5. Formats of all e-books are not compatible with the reader.

6. Lack of power and the batteries die, the use of e-books will not be able to access.

7. E-books can also cause eyestrain because e-book is viewed only on a screen.

8. Pirating of e-books are to be increased. This is done by the Hackers.

Free E-books on Net

Some of the free websites which are provide free access to e-books:-

http://www.gutenberg.com

http://www.ulib.com

http://www.opencontentalliance.org

http://www.books.google.com

http://www.bookshare.org

http://www.archive.org

http://www.rarebookroom.org

Role of e-books in Academic Libraries

An academic libraries have to play an important role in education and research, Information technology based digital technology skills assist librarian in their role.But the role of e-books in academic libraries is still not clear and there is development of standards, technologies and pricing models needed to make the market for e-books viable and sustainable. Technologies for reading and using e-books are not yet convenient enough for the longer text format. It is not clear that academic libraries can replace print with e-books as a long term collection goal. Most of the libraries have not purchased portable reading devices yet.

Though e-books have some advantages and disadvantages but today e-books are becoming an essential part of the information. The information technology make a tremendous impact on knowledge storage, use and dissemination, more and more people prefer e-books for reading and downloading because of internet as it saves our time and money. Some books are available free of cost on various websites.It is also need to educate academicians, library professionals, research scholars and student for how to use and download e-books through awareness programme. Libraries also need to promote e-books among its users about their benefit and use. Because e-books are becoming very popular but these cannot absolutely replace the print books in the near future.

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