Understanding the relationship between users' reading attitudes and behaviours, and e-book collection management in Thai academic libraries

Electronic books (e-books) have become another option for reading and have gained in popularity in the last five years, especially for fiction. In the academic community, however, e-books have not seen the same success in terms of usage and acceptance. Further research is required to find out why this is the case among academic users. In addition to user-focused studies, e-book management strategies in libraries is another important point for investigation. These two aspects of e-books need to be examined in parallel because users and library staff are the main stakeholders in the academic community. There are few studies regarding e-book usage and acceptance, with all the studies carried out thus far having been conducted only in developed countries such as the US or UK. This research topic has rarely been considered in developing countries such as Thailand. This study aims to understand how Thai academic libraries manage their e-book collection and how these management approaches relate to attitudes and behaviours concerning e-books among library users. An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was used to explore the relationship between academic libraries’ management of e-books and students’ reading attitudes and behaviours. The study is separated into three phases: the first phase is concerned with the management of e-books in Thai academic libraries and the second phase explores library users’ attitudes to e-books. In addition, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was adopted as a theoretical framework to identify the factors influencing the use and acceptance of e-books among Thai library users. The final phase concludes with an adaptation of Keller’s model to conduct an in-depth investigation into library users’ reading behaviours. In Phase 1, approaches to e-book collection management were examined through qualitative interviews with academic librarians from nine university libraries in Thailand. In Phase 2, a questionnaire was used to explore the attitudes of students to print and electronic books, together with the students’ views on e-book provision in their libraries. The elements in the UTUAT model were used to construct the survey items. In Phase 3, library users’ reading behaviours were explored using photo-diaries and interviews, allowing the researcher to gain a rich picture of users’ reading behaviours as part of their daily routines. Finding from the three phases revealed the key factors affecting the relationship between academic librarians and library users regarding e-books management and use. Library organisational structure, budget constraint, attitude of librarians and users toward each other, user reading habit, and educational system were found to have an effect between the two sets of stakeholder. This study makes a major contribution to knowledge on the area of e-book management in academic libraries. It is also a pioneer work in developing an understanding of the relationship between academic librarians and users with regards to the e-book management and use in the context of Thai academic libraries with a combination of the two theoretical frameworks (UTAUT and Keller’s model). The study’s goal is to provide a better understanding of e-books in the Thai academic context and to help academic librarians to understand user needs and behaviours, which will assist them in developing effective e-book collection management strategies and policies that are compatible with user requirements.