June 17, 2015 NISO Virtual Conference: The Eternal To-Do List: Making Ebooks work in Libraries Evaluating Academic Ebook Platforms from a User Perspective Christina Mune, Academic Liaison Librarian, San Jose State University

1. Christina Mune & Ann Agee
June 17, 2015
2015 NISO Virtual Conference

2. • Grant from California State
University
• Part of “Affordable Learning
Solutions” – a campaign to
save students money on
textbooks
• High use of library ebooks as
part of that project
• Fellow librarians & faculty
concerned about spending
funds on hard-to-use,

3. • ABC-CLIO
• ACLS
Humanitie
s
• Cambridge
Books
• CRCnetBA
SE
• EBL
• ebrary
• EBSCO
• Emerald
• Gale Virtual
Reference
• IGI-Global
• Oxford
Reference
Online
• Palgrave
Connect
• Safari Tech
• Sage
• Springer
• Wiley Online

4. • Section 508 of the US
Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines – WCAG 2.0
• Voluntary Product
Accessibility Template – VPAT
• Various user studies regarding
usability and preferred ebook
features

5. Layout
Page Reflow (content changes to fit the device being used)
Text Resizing  Zoom (range, increment)
Text Adjustments Font Size  Font Color  Background Color  Font Style  Letter/Line Spacing
Search/Navigation
Table of Contents  Navigation  Full-text Search  Hyperlinks  Specify page
number
Page forward and back  Chapter/section forward and back
Annotation Highlighting  Bookmarks  Text Notes  Audio Notes
Text-to-Speech
eBook content is readable by JAWS/VoiceOver  Text-to-speech available
Adobe ReadAloud (Only for PDF documents) can read document
Speed Adjustment  Voice Adjustment
Language Support Dictionary  Pronunciation  Thesaurus
Media Support
Alternative Text for Images (Can read caption and alternative text correctly)
Alternative Text for Tables (Can read caption; recognize and read column and
row headings; navigate in natural reading order to read cell contents)
Printing/Exporting
Platform-specific account or Adobe Digital Editions account required in
addition to University sign-in
Section/Chapter/Percent of book that can be printed/downloaded

6. Available online at
libguides.sjsu.edu/ea
p

7. Content formats
Text
Adjustments
Search/ Navigation
Annotation
(Notes)
In-Platform
Text-to-
Speech
Feature
JAWS &
Voiceover
Compatible
Language
Support
(Dictionary,
Thesaurus)
Printing Downloading
ABC-Clio Embedded HTML Font Size ToC, Text Search
Bookmarks, Text
Notes (individual
login req'd)
N Y Dictionary By Chapter/ Section None
ACLS Humanities
IMAGE, PDF, TXT,
XML
Zoom
(IMAGE
format only)
ToC, Page
Forward/Back, Specify
Page #
None N TXT, XHTML N Per Page, Limit Unknown 10 Pages (PDF format)
Cambridge Books
Online
HTML (specific titles),
PDF
None ToC, Text Search None N
Voiceover
Only
N By Chapter/ Section By Chapter/ Section
CRCnet Base PDF Zoom
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
None N Y N By Chapter/ Section By Chapter/ Section
EBL EPUB, PDF Font Size
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
Text Notes Y N Dictionary By # of Pages (checkout req'd)
Entire Book (checkout and download to
Adobe Digital Editions req'd; not all titles
available for checkout)
ebrary FLASH
Zoom, Font
Size
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
Text Notes
(individual login
req'd)
N N Y By # of Pages, Limit 60
60 Pages (PDF format); Entire Book
(checkout and download to Adobe Digital
Editions req'd; not all titles available for
checkout)
EBSCO PDF Zoom (PDF)
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
Text Notes N JAWS only Dictionary Varies By Title Varies By Title
Emerald eBook
Series
EPUB, HMTL, PDF Zoom (PDF) ToC, Text Search None N HTML N By Chapter/ Section
By Chapter/ Section (PDF format); Entire
Book (EPUB format, checkout and
download to Adobe Digital Editions req'd)
Gale VRL FLASH, HTML Zoom
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
Bookmarks Y TXT Dictionary Current Page By Current Entry; MP3 Download Available
IGI-Global HTML, PDF Zoom (PDF)
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
None N JAWS only N By Chapter/ Section By Chapter/ Section
Oxford Reference
Online
HTML Font Size ToC, Text Search
Text Notes
(Individual login
req'd)
N Y N Current Page None
Palgrave Connect
EPUB ("Mobile
Download"), Kindle
("Send to Kindle"
feature), PDF
Zoom
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #
None N Y N
Current Page or Section (PDF
download req'd)
By Chapter/ Section or Entire Books
(EPUB format); "Send to Kindle" Feature
Safari Tech
Embedded EPUB,
FLASH, HTML
Zoom
ToC, Text Search,
Page Froward/Back
None N EPUB, HTML N Per Page, Limit Unknown None
Sage Knowledge HTML, PDF
Zoom, Font
Size
ToC, Text Search None N JAWS only N By Chapter/ Section By Chapter/ Section
Springer HTML (partial), PDF Zoom
ToC, Text Search,
Page Forward/Back,
Specify Page #,
None N Y N
Unrestricted for HTML or PDF
formats (download req'd)
Entire Book (PDF format)
Wiley Online PDF Zoom (PDF) ToC, Text Search None N Varies by title N Current Chapter By Chapter/ Section (PDF format)

8. 16
15
9
5
2
4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Usability

9. 16
1
9
7
6
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Accessibility
Features

10. Text-to-Speech Results
Platform JAWS Compatible
VoiceOver
Compatible
Adobe ReadAloud
Compatible
In-Platform
Text-to-Speech
ABC-CLIO Yes Yes No PDF Available No
ACLS Humanities Yes (TXT, HTML) Yes (TXT, HTML) No No
Cambridge Books No Yes No No
CRCnetBASE Yes (TXT, HTML) Yes Yes No
EBL No No No Yes
ebrary No No No No
EBSCO Yes (TXT, HTML) No No PDF Available No
Emerald Yes (HTML) Yes (HTML) Yes No
Gale Virtual Reference Yes (TXT) Yes (TXT) Yes Yes
IGI-Global Yes No No No
Oxford Reference Online Yes Yes No PDF Available No
Palgrave Connect Yes Yes Yes No
Safari Tech Yes (EPUB 3, HTML) Yes (EPUB 3, HTML) No PDF Available No
Sage Yes No Yes No
Springer Yes Yes Yes No
Wiley Online Yes (varies by title) Yes (varies by title) Yes (varies by title) No

11. 13
11
2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
JAWS (Windows) Voiceover (iOS) Text-to-Speech
Feature
Screen-Reader Compatibility

12. 1
10
8
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Entire Title Chapter/Section Per Page(s)
Print Capability

13. 6
9
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Entire Title Chapter/Section Per Page(s)
Download Capability

14. Vendor VPAT
Accessibility
Statement
None
ABC-CLIO X
ACLS Humanities X
Cambridge Books X
CRCnetBASE X
EBL X
ebrary X
EBSCO X
Emerald X
Gale Virtual Reference X
IGI-Global X
Oxford Reference Online X
Palgrave Connect X
Safari Tech X
Sage X
Springer X
Wiley Online X

15. • Content most commonly displayed in PDF format
(11) or HTML (9). EPUB sparingly used (4).
• PDFs are not always accessible. Within a
platform, different publishers or titles may have
less-accessible formats than others – OCR,
watermarks, etc.
• Screen reader performance can be affected PDF
formatting, user’s operating system, browser
type, and browser version.
• Very few platforms actually offer a proprietary
text-to-speech service (EBL, Gale Virtual

16. • Single publisher platforms (such as Gale,
Palgrave, and Springer) offer more features and
more flexibility compared to aggregators.
• All the platforms tested allow at least limited
printing of ebook content. Only Springer allowed
printing of entire title after download.
• Few platforms allow for complete download of a
title. Chapter/section downloads more common.
• Publishers provide extra features, especially
printing and download functionality, for users
willing to create personal accounts.

17. Christina.Mune@sjsu.edu
@bibliopathic
Ann.Agee@sjsu.edu
@halcyon15