Here in the QUT Library we don’t believe that print books and ebooks should be pitted against each other and held up to be mortal enemies forevermore. There are pros and cons to each and the new book smell is only a small plus for print after all.
But we’re reasonable like that. The rest of the world seems intent on the print versus electronic battle continuing on as evidenced last week by the Huffington Post article ‘Sorry ebooks. These 9 studies show why print is better’.
Among the nine pro-print reasons was an interesting point about the high ‘distractability’ of an ebook. In a blog for The Huffington Post, Naomi S. Baron noted that in “studies I have done with university students in several countries confirm what I bet you’ll find yourself observing,” she writes. ‘When reading either for (school) work or pleasure, the preponderance of students found it easiest to concentrate when reading in print. They also reported multitasking almost three times as much when reading onscreen as when reading in hard copy.”
It’s an interesting observation regarding the ability of the reader to hone concentration when reading the written word as opposed to digital and is something this Blog has discussed before. However, the benefits and convenience of ebooks can’t be denied and for those who want print – ebooks do have capacity for printing portions to allow for the best of both worlds!
So there’s no need to be Team Print or Team Ebook but if you have an preference for one over the other in different situations, let us know in the comments below!
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