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E-books constitute a small portion of the library budget but provide big bang for the buck.

Most of the e-books available through the library come from two sources:

  • 140,000 titles from the Ebrary subscription service. This service is provided through the statewide consortium NC LIVE.
  • 180,000 titles in the demand-driven acquisition (rental) program.

For the titles in the rental program, the library pays for titles only as they get used. The library does not incur any cost for titles with no use. For that reason, the library can offer an extensive collection of recent academic e-books for a comparatively low cost. In the last fiscal year, the library spent less than $1 per e-book offered.

Still prefer print? ZSR has you covered. The library still spends over three-fourths of its monograph budget on print books. Please communicate your preferences and your research interests to your library liaison so they can accommodate you when making purchase decisions. The Interlibrary Loan department will also supply you with print even when ZSR already has the e-book.

Want to know more? Your liaison can answer specific questions or can arrange for a more comprehensive overview of e-books at a faculty meeting.