“Print vs Electronic”... scontro o incontro?

Abstract

This paper presents results from the Italian section of the Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS), the largest investigation of university students’ preferences and behaviors towards reading their academic texts on electronic screens and print. At the University of Bologna, more than 1000 students from Rimini Campus and Ravenna Campus, completed the online questionnaire in spring 2015 by agreeing or disagreeing with statements about their format preferences when engaging with their academic texts. Results show overwhelmingly that they prefer print over electronic formats for learning purposes, but different factors such as accessibility, cost, complexity and importance of the readings affect their actual behaviors. The findings are then considered within the larger picture of amalgamated results from nearly 10,000 students in 19 countries and again show that they still prefer print over digital for their academic readings. They believe their comprehension and retention of the subject are better if they read their assignments in print and most respondents do not feel the language of the text impacts their preference. This topic has special relevance to librarians and educators as we search for the correct balance of print and electronic resources in our collections and syllabi.