Enhancing e-book selection practices in Malaysian academic libraries

This paper presents a perception study on the used of patron driven acquisition (PDA) in e-book selection at academic libraries in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. E-book is an increasingly common medium offered within these libraries. The purchase of e-book utilizing a finite budget has significant impact on library´s return investment. The paper focuses on e-book selection practices regarding collection features and the user friendliness. In this study, questionnaires were distributed to selected professional librarians who were responsible either with the e-book acquisition or handling e-book at the reference desk in public and private academic libraries. The finding reveals respondents´ positive perception on collection features, user friendliness and return on investment are moderately high. The result also indicates moderate relationships that exist between ebook selection practices (collection features and user friendliness) and library´s return on investment. The insights offered by this study may be of value to librarians and library management.