Unauthorised e-book downloading of students in higher education

Abstract

This study reveals students’ unauthorised downloading of e-books in higher education. In-person surveys were administered at four university campuses in Taiwan. The 422 valid samples were made up of both undergraduate and graduate students. Students in the more legitimate segment illegally downloaded 0.26 e-books per month on average. Shockingly, students in the less legitimate segment illegally downloaded 18.50 e-books per month on average. Respondents in the less legitimate segment would definitely search for unauthorised e-books if they could not locate those in digital libraries, and they would use software to download. This study examined unauthorised downloading of e-books by students in higher education in hopes of bringing much needed attention to this area. The contributions from this study are not merely to fill a gap in the literature, but to provide a baseline for further research.

Keywords:

• unauthorised e-book downloading
• digital library
• higher education
• online material

Acknowledgments

This study is partly supported by a research grant funded by the National Science Council in Taiwan (101-2410-H-005-047).