Library gains online access to Oxford, Cambridge press

Thanks to the efforts of library directors, Penn is currently playing host to an online collection of history books from two of the most respected university presses in the world -- those of Oxford University and Cambridge University.

There are currently 500 books in the collection and more are being added all the time.

Paul Mosher, vice provost and director of libraries at Penn, was chiefly responsible for making e-books part of Penn's library.

"I thought, 'Maybe there should be some empirical study to see what students and faculty do if they have this resource,'" Mosher said.

Mosher said he was curious about this new format of documents and wanted to investigate their potential usefulness.

"How do people use e-books?" Mosher asked. "If this is a viable product, what kind of impact would it have on sales of paper books?"

Despite the recent success at Penn, initial attempts at online educational books at other schools did not go well.

Mosher said that in 2000, Columbia University experimented with on-line books. People's reactions were largely negative, as they had to scroll through a long document to find the information they wanted.

"It went back to a form determined to be obsolete in the year 200," he joked.

Mosher said he feels e-books have not been given a fair test, and he decided to conduct a better study. He wanted the e-books project to have a large number of excellent books, and he approached Oxford University Press with his idea.

"If we did Oxford, we would have the largest press in the world, with offices all over the world," Mosher said. "It's the latest work of outstanding scholars."

Mosher used to teach history at Penn, and his previous experience led him to select historical works to be the topic of the project.

History "is a significant part of [Oxford's] publication," Mosher said. "We probably brought in everything published since 1760."

Mosher said he views the project as a research experiment, which is why Oxford and then Cambridge University Press got on board.

"We're testing a new product for them," he said. With the addition of Cambridge, "We'd get a lot more titles that were relevant."

Mosher claimed there were several advantages in the on-line collection for the Penn community.

"We can get online books that aren't even on shelves yet," Mosher said. "Anyone can get the latest high-quality knowledge in a given field by the highest scholars."

Mosher and his assistants are currently using statistical data to evaluate the success of the project.

"We're measuring how frequently people are using the site," said Joseph Zucca, Mosher's executive assistant. Zucca added that the study will look at how frequently it is used and what groups of students are accessing the books most often.

In addition to statistics, the project organizers plan to seek reactions from students and faculty.

"We'll be organizing focus groups," Zucca said. "We call in a group of faculty, a group of students, and ask how they use the site."

And thus far, early signs are encouraging. Zucca said there was a 200 percent increase in the number of users last semester.

Mosher added that he does not believe e-books will replace the traditional paperback form, but that they do provide good possibilities for research.

"Not many people are going to want to read 300 books on a backlit screen," Mosher said. Instead, "You can consult them and pull bits from them."

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