Assessment of The Emergence of E-Books As Antidotes To Paucity of Tertiary Textbooks In Nigeria

Abstract

The increasing penetration of the internet in all areas of life has led to the evolution of Electronic Books which has significantly changed the reading patterns and reading behaviours of people across the globe. Using a self administered questionnaire, a study was undertaken in the campuses of Five (5) tertiary institutions in Nigeria to access how the new innovation has stemmed scarcity of textbooks at the tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. Investigation was conducted in respect of awareness, availability, usage,
source of e-books, frequently of use and problems encountered in the usage of electronic books. Results indicated that electronic books are still in the early stages of development in Nigeria as in most developing economies. Suggestions such as Tackling the power problem, Increasing internet presence, granting of waivers ,tax reliefs and other forms of concession to vendors and aggregators were therefore recommended to widen the access of e-books into the Nigerian book ecosystem.