Academic Library Staff and eReaders: Understanding Adoption, Rejection, and Service Development
In August 2011, a cohort of 30 Oregon State University Libraries and Press librarians and staff received free e-readers (Kindle Keyboards, Nook Simple Touches, Kobo Touches, and Sony PRS-350 Reader Pocket Editions) to use and adopt as they wished. In return, they were asked to participate in a year-long study exploring factors influencing their decisions to embrace or reject the e-readers.
By removing barriers to trialing e-readers, investigators sought to: 1) understand the difficulties and hurdles encountered when adopting and using an e-reader; 2) explore factors that influenced library faculty and press staff to embrace or reject e-reader technology; and 3) learn if the experience of trialing e-readers would lead to enhanced services. The investigators used Everett M. Rogers’ innovation-decision process as a theoretical framework to analyze participants’ e-reader adoption. Key findings confirm that trialing new technology is crucial to determining if the technology fits an individual’s needs and is necessary to inform the development of library services and professional knowledge.
Journal of Library Innovation
