Acceptance of e-Books Among Students of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

Books have always been an important way of getting information through the human history. At the beginning only wealthy families can afford them. Michael Hart once said that the price of a book would be equivalent of the cost of an average family60farm. (Sam 2002)This master thesis presents the history, current situation and an analysis of thee Book market. It specifically concentrates on the students’ market. The main motivation for the development of this research project was to provide readers an overview of the actual position of eBooks on the students’ book market from the perception of students of higher education settings.The purpose of this research work is to investigate how eBooks are being used by students of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and to identify students’ perceptions towards eBooks.In this study, a Web Survey was utilized in order to reach the defined objectives and to give answer to the research questions. The survey questions were divided in four different categories which are considered the main factors which influenced students’ decision to use eBooks.The findings of the study suggest that students have a positive attitude towards eBooks for studying purposes. On the other hand, only a small number of students are currently using eBooks for leisure.