Chapter 1 The Evolution of E-books: Formats and Issues

1. Introduction

In 1949, a teacher from Galicia, Spain - Angela Ruiz- patents the first electronic book. Her intention was to decrease the number of books that her pupils carried to school. No more back packs or book bags to lug around.

Electronic books, also known as E-books is "an electronic version of a printed book" Oxford Dictionary of English. E-books have been available more than 40 years but the popularity of it didn't take off. This research is to show how is it happens to have a slower pr ogress of E-books in a modern way of living of this generation. The main purpose of thisresearch is to discover the history of electronic books and the various E-book formats (PDF, HTML, etc.) In addition, I'll explain the advantages of e-books to those who are using it and disadvantages affecting our libraries and book-printing companies. Considering my own experience using ebooks, surveys and interview, and research, I come up with this study showing 5 major concerns about e-books. Deeper knowledge about e-books, an explanation to different kinds of e-book formats, history and other issues relating e-books, advantage and disadvantages are to be shown.

1.1 Rationale for this Research

EBooks form a growing part of the collections at research and academic libraries. Although still in the early stages of adoption, eBooks have demonstrated advantages in the areas of accessibility, functionality, and cost-effectiveness. End users are just beginning to incorporate eBooks into their information experience and research habits. Libraries are eager to learn more about the rate of eBook adoption among their end users and the ways in which users are interacting with eBooks.

E-books had a short, but uncontrolled history as of this writing. Print books have been in reality for over 500 years; yet e-books came along just forty years ago. The purpose of this research project is to gain an understanding on the history of e-books (beginning with Michael Hart and Project Gutenberg in 1971), to familiarize with the various e-book formats, with other mobile devices used for reading, and the advantages and disadvantages of e-books. After giving an overview of the history of e-books, the major issues surrounding e-books are presented, namely, digital rights management, accessibility and format problems, and content and pricing challenge.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study will be conducted to know where E-Books came from, how to use it and the devices wherein these e-books can be used. It will also help us to seek the advantages and disadvantages of using this product. With this problem, the researcher comes up in conducting a library research. This library research will contain some issues regarding this e-book. Regarding this problem, the researcher wants to find answers from the following questions:

1. 2. What are the advantages of E-books? 3. What are the disadvantages of e-books?

1.3 Objectives The purpose of this research is to inform everyone of what Electronic books is. Effectively and reliability will be also one of the main objectives of this study. At the end of this research, readers will be able to: 1. To know what e-book format will be use. 2. To know the disadvantages of using e-books. 3. To know the origin of e-books. 1.4Method

The researcher will be using Internet research for this study. Internet will be our major source in gathering information. This method will definitely help the researcher to arrive at a good conclusion. 1.5 Structure of the Research

The researcher will be using reliable web sources and effective methods to come up with great and reliable research. The researcher will be open to some comments and evaluation from professional people when it comes in technical writing to help her research paper be objective

and understandable. The researcher is open to some correction that will bring improvement and make this research a good one.