This paper provides an overview of the development of electronic books and electronic publishing in Croatia with the focus on the role of academic libraries in the distribution of ebooks. E-books or electronic books are an electronic (digital) equivalent of a printed book. Electronic books can own and extra content such as online magazine or other books in the digital version composed as audio books as part of e-book itself. Andries van Dam from Brown University in the United States introduced the use of the term e-books or 'ebook' (eng. 'Electronic book') in 1971, the same year that Michael Hart, a student at the University of Illinois, started production and distribution of e-books through through university networks. Since then it is possible to monitor the gradual growth of interest in this type of publishing products. This paper describes some of the most popular digital formats developed for the purpose of creating and distributing electronic books. Electronic books represent a major challenge in today's work of a library. Copyright protection and freedom of information are some of the problem areas (in)directly related to the production and use of electronic book. In this final work was investigated by the method of analysis of web site and online catalogue of Croatian university libraries, the representation of e-books in the library fund higher education, models of their acquisition, loan and ways of distribution to end users.