Journal of Scholarly Publishing

This article reports on a national survey of university faculty members in the United States regarding the factors that influence their purchases of scholarly books. In total, 233 faculty members from eleven disciplines in more than fifty universities were surveyed. The survey gauged the impact of a series of factors that influence scholarly book purchases for research and teaching. In addition, sources of information used to locate scholarly books of interest were identified and contrasted across fields of study. The survey also examined trends in the respondents' book-buying behaviour, their propensity to purchase used books, and the frequency with which they used university library systems to obtain access to scholarly books.