Oh the agony and ecstasy of ebooks. They seem to be the answer for all our problems with supply of English books in a country which has strict customs controls. The chapter, ‘Acquiring E-books’ in Polanka, S. (2009). No shelf required : E-books in libraries, is a very comprehensive guide to the issues around e-books. I can add a few thoughts having launched our ebook collection three years ago.
I wanted to use ebooks but without purchasing the devices on which to read them. As far as I could see if you have a kindle with 50 titles on it the minute the student takes it out they not only have the device and the book they are reading on it – they also have 49 other books no one else has access to for the time they have the device. I looked for products and systems which allowed students access 24/7 and from any computer or tablet regardless of operating system.
This has been successful for the most part with the acknowledged frustration from kindle and nook users (I am one myself) that our ebooks are unavailable to them on the ereader devices. Almost all of these people also have laptops, tablets or smart phones so the problem is minimal and as they are avid readers I have found they overcome it willingly.
We started with Tumblebooks a Canadian company. We subscribe to the full Tumblebook collection which includes animated books, audio books, books in which the text lights up as it is being read and ebooks. This collection is growing every month. The company sends newsletters outlining new titles, new upgrades and requesting user input as to which title to acquire next. Most recently they have been expanding their nonfiction collection and have included short films from National Geographic among other education providers. Initially it was extensively used by our lower primary as an integral part of the daily 5 . More recently we have the high school English department accessing it for the Shakespearean plays and for the Orca books (high interest, low level vocab books for reluctant or ESOL readers). Our French and Spanish departments also use it for resources for their students.
Over the past six weeks we have been trialing Storybox an Australian company which has a very different approach to ebooks to Tumblebooks. The upper primary students have welcomed the contrast to Tumblebooks and we will take out a subscription next year as a point of difference. This company is very responsive. This is another example of a subscription collection so we do not select the books but rely on what is provided.
Two years ago I began to select ebooks through Follett. Our library management system is Follett Destiny. As we use this we get the interface for the ebooks free of charge (unlike overdrive in which you purchase the interface and then the books). These books are lent to our patrons for two week loan periods through any computer device. I have been trying to select nonfiction books with unlimited access which allows for as many users as we have to access the book at once. These books are more expensive and not every book has this option. All other ebooks we purchase have one user at one time.
Some unexpected ‘problems’ with our ebook collection through Follett have been – some ebooks are unavailable for sale outside of USA and Canada. This is a source of immense frustration. Not every book is available as an ebook – which surprises so many of my colleagues. I have yet to find a good way to differentiate age suitability on the catalogue. We can only add Follett titlewave sourced books on to the Follett system.
Some wonderful benefits of the ebooks. Once I have sent the order in the books arrive available for loan within days. We can add to the catalogue records. The books can be reviewed, recommended and placed on virtual shelves of our patrons like any other book. The books are returned to the library on time – if a student loses the device they are reading it on we still get the book back.
We have just stretched our budget to ebrary through Proquest. We purchased the full collection with unlimited access mostly to avoid the hidden costs of being charged for each use of a book. We have had it for four weeks and already students in the senior high school have found it invaluable as a resource for their extended essays and personal research.
So we have a combination of subscription based and selected ebooks available to our school community. The subscription based books all offer the school something I cannot accomplish alone. Usually the ebooks are enhanced in some way – like Tumblebooks and Storybox. The ebrary books are mostly academic texts and so highly specialized I would not think to purchase them because only a few students would use them. The fact that the specialization is made possible through this collection is its appeal. Each year our senior students do in depth academic research on topics that interest them. Ebrary resources these studies very effectively. Then by building our own collection of ebooks I can resource the other areas of the collection that may not be covered so well – middle school students, professional development, nonfiction on topics that are highly sort after.
I find myself delighted and frustrated by ebooks in almost equal parts. Publishing companies will need to climb out of their silos I think the ebook readers’ bill of rights created by Sarah Houghton best reflects my views on ebooks. I finish this reflection with her rights. Please do go to her blog “Librarian in Black” and retweet these and share them.
Every eBook user should have the following rights:
the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitations
the right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses
the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright
the right of the first-sale doctrine extended to digital content, allowing the eBook owner the right to retain, archive, share, and re-sell purchased eBooks
References
Daily 5 (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department104.cfm
Ebrary. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.ebrary.com/corp/
Follett eBooks. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.aboutfollettebooks.com/
Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2011/02/ebookrights.html
Morris, C. and Sibert, L. Chapter 6, ‘Acquiring E-books‘ in Polanka, S. (2009). No shelf required : E-books in libraries, ALA : Chicago, pp. 95-124
Story Box Library – an Australian online storytelling resource featuring popular authors, illustrators, teachers’ notes and activities for students and families – Home. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.storyboxlibrary.com.au/
Tumblebooks -Read Watch Learn! (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.tumblebooks.com/