As academic libraries transform their buildings to provide more study space, librarians may consider increasing e-book acquisitions as a space saving strategy. However, to what extent a library's e-book collection is used remains a central question. Using two subject collections as examples, this case study analyzes one academic library's usage data for both electronic and print books over a 5-year period (2011–2015) in order to gain insights into usage patterns, trends, user preferences, and behaviors between print and electronic format. Based on the sample data, the study finds that not only was the library's e-books collection substantively used, but also the e-book usage was noticeably higher than print. In fact, there was a gradual shift in user preferences from print to electronic format. In addition, the study shows that newer publications had higher usage regardless of format. In conclusion, the authors recommend expanding e-books acquisition programs and shifting the focus of future collection development from print to electronic format.

随着大学图书馆对其建筑物进行改造以提供更多的学习空间，图书馆员可能会考虑增加电子书的购买量以节省空间。但是，在多大程度上使用图书馆的电子书仍然是一个中心问题。本案例研究以两个主题馆藏为例，分析了一个大学图书馆在5年内（2011-2015年）的电子书和印刷书的使用数据，以便深入了解使用模式，趋势，用户喜好以及用户之间的行为印刷和电子格式。根据样本数据，研究发现，不仅图书馆的电子书收藏被大量使用，而且电子书的使用也明显高于印刷书籍。实际上，用户的偏好逐渐从印刷格式转变为电子格式。此外，研究表明，无论形式如何，更新的出版物都有较高的使用率。总之，作者建议扩展电子书的获取计划，并将未来馆藏开发的重点从印刷形式转移到电子形式。