606 College & Research Libraries November 2011

research library engaged in the effort 
to become more productively involved 
in the entire life cycle of knowledge: its 
creation, critique, and dissemination. If 
the library, following Carlyle, once found 
itself at the heart of the university by 
virtue of its manifestation as a collection 
of books, the library of the future, accord-
ing to these authors, is better understood 
as a place of conversation; a place for 
discovery, reflection, and play; a genera-
tor of creative associations between the 
notes of the author and the notebook of 
the reader.—David Michalski, University of 
California, Davis.

Ksenija Mincic-Obradovic. E-books in 
Academic Libraries. Oxford, United 
Kingdom: Chandos, 2011. 203p. $80 
(ISBN 9781843345862).

Written by Ksenjia Mincic-Obradovic, E-
books in Academic Libraries is based on the 
author’s experience with e-books at the 
University of Auckland Library. Chapter 
1, the Introduction, discusses the e-book 
collection at the University of Auckland 
library and offers a synopsis of the re-
maining chapters.

In chapter 2, “The (Magical) World of 
E-books,” the author discusses the evolu-
tion of e-books, what e-books are, types 
of e-books, and how e-books function in 
academics. Some of the advantages of e-
books she mentions include that they can 
be accessed from anywhere, anytime; they 
save space in the physical library; users 
can conduct full-text searches; and they 
are enriched with other media. This chap-
ter concludes with some disadvantages 
of e-books such as the need for a device 
and software; the variety of formats; 
ability for users to read on a computer 
or device screen; compatibility with cita-
tion management software; and technical 
requirements such as keeping up with the 
latest versions of software and hardware.

The next chapter, “Between Publish-
ers and Library Needs,” looks at a host 
of issues dealing with “the complexity of 
e-books as a medium.” For instance, there 
are a number of e-book publishers and 

a variety of publishing practices among 
commercial providers. In addition, free 
e-books are often produced by individual 
authors, government agencies, and li-
braries. One section focuses on libraries 
as publishers of e-books, while other 
sections look at pricing and purchase 
models and copyright and digital rights 
management.

The meat of the work is in chapter 4, 
“Developing and Managing E-book Col-
lections.” As the author notes, academic 
libraries are generally moving from print 
to electronic resources and are shifting 
more of their budget to e-resources. As 
the “e-book environment is pretty much 
unstable and unpredictable” and “it is 
difficult to create and apply an e-book col-
lection development policy,” the author 
provides some options for how to handle 
e-books in terms of selecting and buying; 
providing access; cataloging; interlibrary 
loan; and preservation. Mincic-Obradovic 
provides a checklist of questions to ask 
when considering e-book purchases; and, 
in the cataloging section, she discusses the 
need for catalog records for e-books and 
talks about the pros and cons of single, 
separate, and provide-neutral records. 

Chapter 5, “Connecting with Users,” 
and chapter 6, “New Opportunities,” 
will especially appeal to public services 
librarians. In chapter 5, the author men-
tions several surveys, including two 
conducted at her own institution, that 
looked at e-book use. With the University 
of Auckland surveys, the author wanted 
to see what users knew about e-books and 
what their perceptions were. In chapter 6, 
Mincic-Obradovic looks at the potential 
of e-books in teaching and learning and 
highlights some e-books developed to 
support university courses. Each is en-
riched with audio, video, and the like.

Mincic-Obradovic concludes the book 
with “Future Considerations”: barriers 
to adoption; e-books in relation to study 
and research; lack of relevant content; and 
opportunities e-books bring to academic 
libraries. Among the barriers to adop-
tion are lack of standards, lack of user 



Book Reviews 607

awareness, and lack of seamless access. 
The chapter concludes with a brief sec-
tion on the future of e-books in academic 
libraries.

A well-written and timely book on the 
topic, E-books in Academic Libraries is a 
good overview on the subject and is rec-
ommended for those in libraries without 
large e-book collections or those wanting 
to know more on the topic.—Nicole Mitch-
ell, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Martin Hopkinson. Ex Libris: The Art of 
Bookplates. New Haven, Conn.: Yale 
University Press, 2011. 111p. $15.00 
(ISBN 9780300171631). LC2011-0519.

Ex Libris: The Art of Bookplates is a confec-
tion—attractive and fascinating at first 
glance, but seemingly limited in scope 
and usefulness. Martin Hopkinson, for-
mer Curator of Prints at the Hunterian 
Art Gallery (University of Glasgow), of-
fers here “a personal selection from the 
substantial collection of bookplates held 
by the British Museum.” It is described on 
the cover flap as a “treasury of ex libris art 
and lore,” but it is essentially one man’s 
informed and practiced lens focused on 
the art and design of the bookplate from 

the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth 
century.

It is a small, short book: 100 illustra-
tions on 111 pages. The text consists of a 
five-page Introduction, a caption for each 
image (ranging from 20 to 100 words), 
and a one-page section on further read-
ing. For all that, the writing is both tight 
and graceful, and the author manages to 
teach us a great deal with very few words. 
It would be a mistake to leave this work 
out of a collection of books about books, 
or even a collection of art and design.

Bookplates (or ex libris, Latin for “from 
the books of ”) derive from the medi-
eval practice of including coats of arms 
(or sometimes portraits) at the front of 
prayer books to indicate ownership. Most 
bookplates were armorial in nature until 
the mid-eighteenth century, when other 
imagery (of books or landscapes) crept in. 
By the mid-nineteenth century, the picto-
rial bookplate was the fashion—using 
emblematic and symbolic images, as well 
as employing visual puns. One example 
of visual punning is the bookplate for 
John Cargill Brough (c. 1870), featuring a 
jay-bird flying above a stormy sea (that is, 
J.C. Brough = jay sea be rough). Oriental 

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College & Research Libraries, ISSN 0010-0870, is published bimonthly by the Association 
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Extent and nature of circulation
(Average figures denote the average number of copies printed each issue during the 
preceding twelve months; actual figures denote actual number of copies of single issue 
published nearest filing date: September 2011 issue.) 15a. Total number of copies (Net 
press run): average 13,569; actual 13,553. 15b(1) Paid/Requested Outside County: average 
12,418; actual 12,375. 15c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: average 13,569; actual 
13,553. 15d(1). Free distribution by Mail Outside-County: average 4; actual 4. 15e. Total free 
distribution: average 4; actual 4. 15f. Total Distribution: average 12,422; actual 12,379. 15g. 
Copies not Distributed: average 1,147; actual 1,174. 15h. Total: average 13,569; actual 13,553. 
15i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: average 99%; actual 99%.