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The work covers three major sections: introduction, literature review, and methodology. In the first section, the problem, objectives, and rationale of the proposed study are stated. In the literature review, the history, categorization, and issues related to electronic publishing are summarized. The likely impact of electronic publishing on print publishing is also discussed. Finally, research questions, null hypotheses, research design, and data collection are covered in the section of methodology. In addition, the schedule and budget for the study are also roughly planned.

The literature on electronic publishing reveals that scant attention has been paid to the area of scholarly monographs. This paper reports on a study into the nature and provision of electronic scholarly monographs and textbooks in the UK. Following a brief description of the methodology, publishing structures are reviewed; the physical characteristics of electronic scholarly monographs are analysed, and issues associated with access are discussed. The final section sets out areas for future work. The study reported on here was a supporting study for the UK Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme.

This paper provides an extensive survey of the recent literature on scholarly publishing and its conversion to the electronic medium. It then presents the results of a questionnaire survey of the UK‐based scholarly publishing industry. The results of this survey suggest that the publishers are moving quickly towards the use of the Internet as a major medium for the distribution of their products, though they do not expect an early print publication. They also do not expect that any alternative system, based on scholars providing their results free of charge at the point of use, will seriously threaten the future of the commercial scholarly publisher. They do, however, perceive several significant difficulties in the near future. These include a shortage of appropriately trained staff, uncertainties about pricing mechanisms, lack of adequate budgetary provision by universities for library purchases, and unrealistic expectations on the part of scholars that electronic information should be inexpensive.

The purpose is to bring together all bibliographic references of the published literature on electronic books (e‐books) and related technologies in one source so that it will save time for others in conducting literature searches and reviewing the developments.

The information included in this bibliography is collected systematically from all the published sources in the world such as journal articles, conference papers, conference proceedings, books, reports and PhD theses on e‐books until the last quarter of 2004. Mainly it covers e‐books, e‐books publishing, the impact of e‐books on different types of users, e‐book publishing techniques and trends, e‐book user interfaces and other technologies related to e‐publications.

As computer usage continues to grow exponentially, the desire of users to use electronic publications (e‐publications) has also increased tremendously. This has led to the publication of materials in electronic form as e‐publications on both CD‐ROMs and web. The e‐book is one of the several forms of e‐publications and its popularity has been growing steadily for the past decade.

This bibliography will be useful to all researchers conducting research in any areas related to e‐books and e‐book publishing.

To identify the challenges facing libraries and information centres in Africa in the establishment of electronic publishing.

Historical/literature survey and observation were carried out by the researcher in‐depth. All literature surveyed showed that electronic publishing is still a new concept in Africa.

Apart from the information source that can be obtained through the internet and downloaded online, the actual acquisition of electronic books is still not possible. At present the libraries and information centres in Africa must have to rely more on print publication than the electronic.

Libraries and information centres in Africa must have to harness all available information resources, electronic/downloadable which are referred to as electronic aided publishing and print publishing to meet the growing users information needs. Libraries and information centres in Africa are advised to enter into networking with other libraries and information centres to prepare the environment for real electronic publishing in Africa.

Provides information on some of the challenges facing libraries in Africa.

One of the tasks of the special librarian is to facilitate current awareness: services are set up to encourage user groups to keep up‐to‐date with developments in their own and related subject areas. The librarian advocates current awareness as an essential prerequisite for members of that user group to remain effective practitioners, researchers or teachers within their subject area. The librarian encourages and advocates because unfortunately some of those practitioners, researchers and teachers are either unconvinced of the need for current awareness or haven't the time/are not interested/cannot be bothered.

In Spain, recent experiences by publishing houses are related to the new market of electronic books and they will change the current publishing scene in no time. The paper aims to discuss some of them and to give an outlook of future developments in the sector and in the libraries.

In order to develop the current situation of electronic publishing and the research on the initiatives of production and sales of electronic books, the authors used statistical and business sources, as well as bibliographic and reference databases. They assessed the experiences that have been developed in the libraries regarding the lending and use of electronic books, by means of a survey that considers these points.

There are several working experiences with electronic books, mainly through the subscription of collections in university and research libraries. However, the latest innovation is represented by the appearance of initiatives for the production and creation of publishing contents in Spain. The publication of electronic books in Spain has gone from being a mid‐term possibility, calmly accepted by the publishing sector, to being an unstoppable reality that has forced the main actors in this field to take their positions and to adopt immediate initiatives.

This is the first time that an analysis of the sector of electronic books in Spain and their implications for library and publishing sector is done.

This paper focuses on academic, scientific publishing, as a form of documentation and communication of scientific findings in the changing world of converging information and communication technologies. It assesses the current state of technologies and forms of publishing electronically, and future trends and possibilities. This is linked to a discussion of the nature of the publishing industry, its form in relation to economic issues in demand and supply within publishing and specifically electronic publishing in this area. The paper suggests that the recent policy document from the European Commission, Strategic Developments for the European Publishing Industry towards the Year 2000 may present a number of difficulties for the scientific publishing industry. This strategy outlines a number of possibilities for increasing the extent of electronic publishing. These possibilities conflict with the particular situation of scientific publishers, which are generally small businesses with limited resources and expertise, and without the financial stability to be able to set up or initiate electronic publishing. The analysis of the policy suggests that the publishing industry and its representatives may need to work more closely with small publishers, so that the infrastructure may be developed to overcome these problems for these exciting new technologies, and methods of utilising them for electronic publishing, exchange of information and communication, to be fully utilised.

Results of an in‐depth study of the electronic publishing (EP) industry, with particular emphasis on the consumer marketplace, are presented. EP was defined as the use of electronic media to deliver information to users in electronic form or from electronic sources. EP is contrasted to electronic‐aided publishing, which is the use of electronic means to format and produce a conventional information product. An “information chain” model of the information flows between publishers (or producers) and users was helpful in understanding the boundaries of EP and defining its markets. Following a review of the conventional publishing industry, a model of the forces driving the EP industry was derived. Although technology is the strongest driving force, it is by no means the only one; the others are economics, demographics, social trends, government policies, applications growth, and industry trends. Each of these forces is described in detail in a “cause and effect” scenario, from which keys to success in the EP marketplace are derived. Although there is some turmoil in the industry, with new services continuing to appear and disappear, the overall picture is one of optimism. EP should be a significant part of consumers' lives by the end of the decade.

This article reviews the present and expected future environments for network‐based electronic publishing and network access to bibliographic and journal databases. Emerging visions of “electronic libraries” are considered. The difficulties inherent in the development of full text and images as networked information are outlined. The growth and diversification of library collections in electronic form and the requisite network access systems are discussed, as are the prospect of increased resource sharing among libraries and the subsequent explosion of document delivery requests (and costs!). The issues of storage and format of electronic publishing are developed, and perspectives on electronic publishing are presented for all those involved: the author, the library, the reader, and the publisher. A change in the scope, and thereby in the definition, of the library is anticipated.