Search

In a time of serious health crisis worldwide, this study is the extension of a case study already started (in February and March 2020) about the issue, reading behaviors, and preferences between the use of books and e-books. The COVID-19 pandemic came to impose social distancing in the world, closing universities, schools, and other services. The implementation of Internet services has presented itself as a valid response to the change that has so brutally arisen. Naturally, everyone had to adapt to it. In this context, the question about the preferences in using books or e-books is now even more relevant. This paper analyses the impact of COVID-19 in the behavioral trends in the use of scientific information from printed books and e-books in Portugal and Brazil. To this end, a survey was conducted on a user sample from various Portuguese and Brazilian higher education schools and public libraries. The first part focused on the characterization of the respondents, which includes data on gender and qualifications attended. In the second part, we obtained viewpoints about the advantages and disadvantages of each medium, frequency of use, choice of medium according to the purpose of reading, and devices used. The results let us examine the factors that influence and change the behaviors of users concerning their choice. Research such as this is beneficial to support the decision not only in selecting the information resources to be bought or pondering user preferences, but also to define strategies for advocating the use of various media that, rather than competitors, should be complimentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slow introduction of the e-book's format in Brazil contradicts numerous deterministic forecasts made in relation to the decline of print culture and significantly differs from what happened with the digitalization of other media. This study aimed to identify how political, economic and cultural factors have been active in the process of the e-book's introduction. The survey of 793 college readers, in five regions of the country, between October and April 2015 to 2016, with quantitative research method and questionnaires, sought to measure the adherence of the college public to read long texts and e-books on screens, as well as their attachment to the culture of the printed books. We came to the conclusion that, although the e-book, as a commercial format, is more than 25 years old, it doesn't occupy the hegemonic role in relation to printed books between Brazilian college readers. Smartphones and personal computers compete as reading interfaces with e-books This occurs both between digital natives, i.e., among those born from the early 1990s, as among digital immigrants, readers who have not had access to digital technology in their childhood and adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book publishing business, as a part of the cultural industry, has gone thru major changes, triggered by the emergency for digital technologies. These changes started in the editing and production firms with the introduction of new technologies like the desktop publishing and the computer to print. A second change to the market also happened with the introduction of the Internet as a sales tool. Finally the coming of the e-book format and its proliferation created a hybrid branch of the market, that started to have in technology companies like Amazon and Google, distribution "partners". In Brazil there was a great resistance from the editors and book sales man to adopt the new formats because of the fear they had of losing the distribution control. For over a decade the attempts to introduce the new format into the Brazilian market failed, until three years ago, when things started to change. This article portrays a panorama of the introduction of the e-book in Brazil, its cultural and economic implications, evaluating the conflicts that have taken place in the last twelve years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the perception of undergraduate students in relation to the adoption of a technology innovation, the e-book. A quantitative descriptive research was conducted. The field research was carried out with 330 consumers who pointed out their use of e-books. The collected data were analyzed by statistical tests, including structural equation modeling given by statistical tests and models based on previous studies. This study presents an original model because it evaluates for the first time under the students' perspective the determinants the lead them to whether or not to adopt e-books as an innovation technology. The outcomes of the proposed model concluded that the main factors that impact its adoption are relative advantage and use facility, leading to infer by the vast distribution means and its performance and productivity after adoption. New studies are suggested in this field as well as it is targeted to those who show interested in the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]