Reader's block: a systematic review of barriers to adoption, access and use in e-book user studies
Year: 2014
Type: review
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Introduction. This review of barriers to e-book use systematically identifies obstacles to engaging reading experiences. Through the use of an analytical framework, the users being studied, study setting, and methods used in previous work are described in order to identify promising areas for future research. Method. The method used is a systematic literature review which gathers data from core library databases. Explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria are identified to ensure the review is free from bias. Analysis. An analytical framework based on previous research in the areas of user studies and the barrier concept identifies common trends regarding who is being studied, in what setting, and the methods used. Additionally, physical, cognitive, social, and cultural barriers from previous research are identified. Results. User studies on e-books and e-readers commonly focus on students in the university setting and physical barriers (software and hardware) that they face while reading electronically. Many studies focus on adoption rather than use, and rarely focus on fiction reading. Conclusions. The results provide a clear picture of the character of e-book user studies. Although previous user studies on e-books are particularly useful for policy decisions about collecting e-books in libraries, they provide a limited
Source: Information Research
Author: Adam Girard
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2252532164