There are several things you should think about:

• Is it for Research or Teaching? 
• Is the book essential reading or supplementary reading? This will influence the number of copies you may want to purchase.
• If it is for essential UG reading we would recommend purchasing one print copy and one e-version if available.
• If you are recommending only one chapter from a book, consider getting the item digitised. 

The Library subscribes to a large and growing number of e-books. The are often popular with undergraduate students as they usually allow multiple accesses at the same time. E-books often allow greater functionality, allowing students to create notes or search through an entire book or series of books quickly. 

Library e-books usually, but not always require the user to read the book online, although some packages will allow permanent or temporary download of sections of the book. 

When purchasing e-books, Library staff will look at several different vendors who often offer different pricing models and different access methods. Therefore, it isn't usually easy for Academic staff to price e-books  -although there are some e-books on Oasis they aren't always the ones that we will end up buying. The Library usually will purchase the cheapest version available that allows multiple accesses and with permanent availability if possible.

If you require a price for an e-book please either give us an indication (by email or in the Oasis notes field) of how much you are prepared to pay or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian for a quote.

We have a service for students to request books from the Library for purchase. This can either be for items that they feel would be useful additions to stock or where there are insufficient numbers of copies. To use this service students should email  morebooks@st-andrews.ac.uk