本文探討學術電子書於英美國家學術圖書館之利用情況、利用方式及有關電子書試用之結果。學術電子書於做為複本、替代易損毀書籍、電子課程指定參考書（E-reserved readings）、支援遠距教學及全時現場網路影音參考服務（24/7 Web-based live video reference services）等領域尤其具長足優勢。依學科而言，以資訊科技、商業管理及參考工具書等學科領域成長最快。目前電子書數量上仍嫌不足，學者教授認為電子書應抓穩大學生的市場，卻不熱衷研究所需書籍。由於電腦螢幕線上閱讀容易造成眼部疲勞，教授與學生目前普遍偏好將電子書印出後閱讀。

　　　　　The paper explores the academic usage of scholarly e-books in the U.K. and U.S. Most institutions are still in the trial stage with e-books. E-book pricing options include one-time purchase of a title with premium for perpetual access and annual subscription fees access with or without ownership. Subject areas with a broader customer base, such as information technology, business, and reference, are growing most rapidly. E-books play a key role in the e-learning and 24/7 live web-based reference environments. E-books can be an excellent alternative to traditional paper-based books in course reserve services (electronic reserves or e-reserves). The corpus of academic level e-book is still small. Scholars believe that vendors should aggressively build undergraduate e-book collection. The majority of e-book users complained about eye fatigue from prolonged reading on the computer monitor and preferred the print-on-paper format.