Why Aren’t Students Using E-Books?

Though we keep hearing about a huge increase in sales of e-books, a recent survey shows that, for students, that needle has not really moved much.

The library e-book provider eBrary released some of the preliminary results from its 2011 Global Student E-Book Survey last week. Among its findings: that students’ e-book usage has not increased significantly in the past 3 years.

That’s contrary to other reports about consumers using e-books. Back in May, Amazon said that it was selling more e-books than print, ad the Association of American Publishers says that for the first half of the year, e-book sales are up 160% while hardcover and paperback sales were both down nearly 20%.

So why are students’ buying habits different? Why aren’t they buying more e-books?