In spring 2013, the Austrian Science Fund and OAPEN agreed that all Austrian Science Fund eBooks would be deposited in the OAPEN Library. This was a very important initiative and happily in the latest issue of D-lib Ronald Snijder evaluates use in an article entitled “Evaluating the Impact of the FWF-E-Book-Library Collection in the OAPEN Library: An Analysis of the 2014 Download Data”.
Some key information from the article follows
1. The titles covered a range of subjects:
| Subject | Number of titles |
| History (HB) | 60 |
| Literature: history & criticism (DS) | 18 |
| History of art (AC) | 12 |
| Archaeology (HD) | 8 |
| Music (AV) | 7 |
| Science: general issues (PD) | 6 |
| Architecture (AM) | 5 |
| Other subjects | 30 |
| Total | 146 |
You can see the collection exposed through OAPEN here.
2. Language and use. “Most of the collection is written in German, and this can also be seen when the total number of downloads are charted. Of all downloads, 24,303—or 86%—were of a German language monograph.”
3. Use. While German and Swiss use was high there users came from a wide range of countries and domains:
4. Subject area. History and Literature: history & criticism were the most downloaded subject areas.
There is a wealth of analysis and data in the article that illustrates the impact of open access, particularly on access by academics to e-Books.
CAUL Publishing 