Marginalia in the digital age: Are digital reading devices meeting the needs of today's readers?

•Marginal annotations benefit readers, students, colleagues, and historians.•A survey found that a majority of readers create marginalia while reading.•Marginalia are more common when reading for work or education than when reading for pleasure.•Readers report that current e-readers do not provide sufficient support for marginalia.•The results of the reader survey can inform future e-reader device development.

For centuries, readers have added marginal commentary to books for a variety of personal and public purposes. Historians have mined the marginalia of important historical figures to observe their sometimes raw, immediate responses to texts. Now, reading and annotation practices are changing with the migration of content to electronic books. A survey of reader attitudes and behavior related to marginalia for print and electronic books reveals that the majority of readers write in their books and want e-readers to support this feature. However, many readers report that annotating electronic books is too difficult, time-consuming, or awkward with current technology. In addition, the way readers annotate books depends on whether they are reading for pleasure or for work or education. These findings can guide the development of future devices to better satisfy reader needs.