Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the perception of medical undergraduate students regarding their behavior towards use and non-use of e-books. It also elucidates their preferences between print and electronic book format. Design/methodology/approach It is a quantitative study based on survey method. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from final year medical students of three medical colleges of Lahore, Pakistan. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse 232 useable questionnaires. Findings The findings indicate that the use and non-use of e-books is almost equal among students. The students who use e-books mostly access them through Google books, and they used e-books for academic purpose. Users were convinced about the benefits of e-books such as easy access, 24/7 availability and up-to-date information. However, users and non-users of e-books preferred to use printed version of books. Non-users identified that e-books often distract them because of different links on the website, and they do not want to change their habit of reading printed books. Moreover, they are satisfied with printed books available in their libraries and hesitant to read on screen. Research limitations/implications The present study is limited to the medical sciences; its results cannot be generalizing to other academic disciplines. Practical implications The findings of the study will assist the medical libraries to improve their e-books collection and also negotiate the publishers for its licence issues. The study will also encourage the librarians to acquire handheld devices and load them with e-books for their users. Originality/value This is believed to be the first study on the use of e-books in the perspective of medical students in Pakistan.

中文翻译：

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医学生对使用和不使用电子书的看法：巴基斯坦的一个案例

目的本研究的目的是探讨医学专业大学生对使用和不使用电子书的行为的看法。它还阐明了他们在印刷和电子书格式之间的偏好。设计/方法/方法这是一种基于调查方法的定量研究。使用半结构化问卷收集了巴基斯坦拉合尔的三所医学院的最后一年医学生的数据。社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）用于分析232个可用问卷。调查结果调查结果表明，学生使用和不使用电子书的情况几乎相同。使用电子书的学生大多通过Google图书进行访问，他们出于学术目的也使用了电子书。用户对电子书的好处深信不疑，例如方便阅读，24/7的可用性和最新信息。但是，电子书的用户和非用户都倾向于使用印刷版的书。非用户发现，由于网站上的链接不同，电子书通常会分散他们的注意力，并且他们不想改变阅读印刷书籍的习惯。此外，他们对图书馆中的印刷书籍感到满意，并且不愿在屏幕上阅读。研究的局限性/含意本研究仅限于医学领域。其结果不能推广到其他学科。实际意义该研究的结果将有助于医学图书馆改善其电子书的收集，并与出版商就其许可问题进行谈判。这项研究还将鼓励图书馆员购买手持设备并为其用户加载电子书。