Elsevier are offering free chapters of professional books for you to download. This one is Facing contemporary challenges in librarianship and whilst it is not directly related to school librarians I thought it looked very interesting. The chapters we are discussing in June is :-
Excerpt 3 — Conclusion: E-books and the Future of Technical Services
Questions are open now. Please join in when you can.
Picture from Elsevier digest- Facing contemporary challenges in librarianship
1. Do you have any e-resources in your school library? If so what do you have?
We currently subscribe to JSTOR, OED, Philip Allan Magazine Archive, Cambridge Companions, The Times, The Economist, New Scientist, Student BMJ, Philosophy Now and Grove Art Online.
@Ella Taylor Hi Ella, thanks for joining in! Sounds like your school has a lot of online resources. Are you in a private school? I work for a Schools' Library Service and we provide ebooks, Britannica online, Q-Files, Science in Context, Global Issues in Context, History Reference Centre and Digital Theatre Plus.
@Elizabeth I am in a state school, sixth form college. We are very lucky in that, amongst other things, we have very good budget allocation and are able to subscribe to such a good number of e-resources.
2. If you have an e-book collection is it well used? How do you promote it?
We have an Overdrive collection. We bought it because it was the only one that integrated with our library management system, however, it never worked that way. We provided access via the Overdrive platform but it still seemed really hard to engage the students with it. I did wonder at this point if it was worth the expense.
They have now brought out the Sora app which looks good, is easy to use and our students love it. We have created library cards just for our ebook collection and we are seeing a massive uptake. We do expect this to reduce but it is a great start. It is important to give students a choice and I am glad we stuck with it.
We have access to two eBook platforms : Wheelers and Overdrive. And the Sora app as well. I don't have access to the usage data for either of the platforms but I guess I could request that information.
Re promotion : our LMS OPAC allows for embedding links on the home page as well as a Google slide show. The old version did not have this. So now we can link to each of the eBook platforms directly. And I create slides, which are put into the slide show on the site, to promote a selection of eBooks, audio books and read-alongs.
I have also created QR codes to both eBook platforms, printed, and taken up to class spaces where they are displayed in a common area for easy access by students and teachers. We have had staff PD on the Ebooks platform which got a lot of staff excited.
My next step is to get the link onto the school website and start speaking to parents - a project for next year.
@Annie Hello Annie, thanks for joining us :) You will have access to the data, how do you order your books for Sora?
I had forgotten about promoting it on the LMS. The problem for us is that our LMS needs to be promoted itself! Apart from it being used within our libraries to issue and return books it is not used beyond the classrooms. I think if this changed we could promote the e-books more. Everything is about promotion... Nice idea to promote to parents, if they know about them they may encourage use too.
3. Do you think your e-book collection currently provides value for money, if so, why/why not?
e-books are hugely expensive in comparison to physical books. If they are being used then it is worth spending the money. However we do need to keep promoting them as they do get forgotten about unlike the physical book that can be seen.
Ummmmmm, I am not so sure about the value for money as I don't have data. But I do like the fact that audio books and read-alongs offer students alternatives to the traditional print format. Both these options would assist struggling students with developing their literacy and building their confidence. eBooks also offer students/readers the ability to annotate and find definitions of words.
@Annie I like the different option of read-a-longs, and audio too. Choice is what is important and I feel that our ebook collection give that.
4. Were you aware of all the licensing problems with e-books? Has this chapter helped you understand some of the issues?
I was aware of the licensing issues as I am the person who buys our ebooks. However, not everyone know this and trying to explain to teachers why we can't supply an e-book version is sometimes difficult.
I was/am aware of the licensing issues - it is something we looked at when I did the Diploma in LIS (about 5 years ago)
And this is why I don't like eBooks personally - when I purchase a print book it's all mine till the ends of time :) :)
@Annie I think school librarians understand the licensing issues but teachers don't. I was doing a demo for some yr 3 (7yr olds) children and the teacher was asking me why every child could not look at the same book... or why certain books could not be bought as an ebook. I could have spend the whole lesson talking to the teacher rather than getting the children onto the system, luckily she let me get on with what I was there to do :)
5. I found it fascinating to read that students could find their way around a physical book using the index and content but struggled with an e-book version. Do we still make the wrong assumptions about students and technology?
I think we definitely do. Students are often referred to as digital natives and I certainly used to have the assumption that they would be more confident navigating e-resources than printed ones. However I have found this really isn't the case and as a result have started running sessions on how to navigate the library world online as well as in the physical space. A lot of our students are more apprehensive about using e-resources, especially databases like JSTOR, as they try once and find it hard to navigate as they don't instinctively use advanced search options. That is a large part of my guidance when talking through e-resources with them, that tools like the index and contents page of a book are still there albeit in a slightly different format.
@Ella Taylor Me too! We do a lot of teaching the importance of keywords online and how to navigate a database but I had not really thought about students struggling to read an e-book though. It made me smile that giving them a non-fiction e-book to hear that they forgot all about contents and indexes. It just shows you that not all skills are transferable and they do need to be taught/reminded again.
It is easy to forget that just because they have skills at using technology they do not have the skills of research which is essential for higher education and work. I saw a funny video the other day of two teenagers being given a dial phone to make a phone call (the one with the circular dial) They took 10mins to work it out... Not all skills are easily transferred.
@Elizabeth Exactly that, the students always ask if I am 'coming to shout advanced search at us again'! I didn't think that students wouldn't apply tools from physical searching to the electronic realm. Reading the chapter made me think a lot about how we embed those skills in classroom teaching and how the library can supplement that. We had an MFL listening exam the other day and the students didn't know how to use individual CD players - it aged me!
6. “Rather than e-resources being perceived as an ancillary and specialised format [ ] electronic resources will become the standard format within libraries, and the physical formats will become specialised”. This may be the case for university libraries but do you see this happening anytime soon in your school library?
I think that school libraries that only provide physical books are going to be left behind. I do think that it is important to have both and maybe the number of physical books will be reduced but still have an important place in school libraries.
My worry is that schools will buy online resources without the support of the school librarian and then the skills needed to access them will not be taught. School libraries should be the hub of all educational resources both physical and online.
I sure hope not!!!
A couple of years ago, a new school in our system decided not to purchase any printed non-fiction material for their students - after all, they had access to digital resources. Less than two moths later, there was a mad scramble to buy print books.
I think there has to be a healthy balance between the two mediums. Students learn the basics and build their foundations with print and then move to using digital media. And as @Elizabeth and @Ella Taylor have said earlier - there needs to be constant teaching and reminding.
I agree that it has to be a balance between print and electronic - books will always have a place in libraries. Librarians should be leading the digital change - we need to teach people how to efficiently search for information and how to evaluate it - after all fake news are a result of people believing everything they see, without considering it.
7. This chapter was more difficult to read than last months. Did you find it, and our discussion, useful?
I found it tedious to read and couldn’t really relate. I think it was talked mostly of academic libraries. I did not engage as well as with the previous chapter , as I did not find anything new and useful.
I agree it was a tough read and I used my skimming techniques to find the useful stuff. I am hoping the next chapter will be better. Thanks @madvidgen for joining in anyway.
We had a trial with VLEbooks through Browns a couple of years ago. I purchased 3 or 4 e-books and promoted these to the relevant students and staff. Take up was very poor. E-books work out to be more expensive than physical ones as you have to purchase the platform and then the books. I was aware of the licensing issues but these tend to be covered by whatever VLE platform you use. I remember trialling e-readers when I worked in public libraries. The admin proved to be a bit of a headache and we lost quite a bit of kit (readers or chargers not being returned). Downloading onto the users own devices will obviously sort this problem out. I agree that if schools progress to e-books (non-fiction particularly) then students may need some IL sessions/guidance on how to navigate them.
Hello again @s.holman thanks for joining in! I agree e-books and platforms are very expensive in comparison to the physical book and they take a lot more promotion because they can't be seen. It has taken a lot of effort to make sure our e-book collection is used but we are seeing the benefits now. It is like the use of our other online resources. If we don't promote these then they are forgotten about because students have Google and why would they need anything else...
I have never tried to loan out e-readers and I can imagine the problems with getting them back. I feel that if you are offering platforms to access from the library it is maybe better to offer extended opening hours rather than a device. This way the student gains access and support if needed. Do any of you @Annie @Ella Taylor @s.holman offer this? How would it go down with school do you think?
We don't offer this service. Most students have devices these days anyway. We extend the hours on Thursdays so if we did start to offer e-books I could use this time to instruct any interested parties in how to get the most out of their e-books.
I don't think it would be feasible in a school setting. Besides, students now have their own devices, either at school or at home.
At a primary school level, extended hours is a luxury that I do not have. I do make myself available to teachers and students during the lunch break if they need any support in accessing the eBooks.