General Words:
E-books And Their Place In Academic Libraries. Modern e-books range from copies of print books to much more
complex, database-type structures. They differ in the way they have been
produced – some are digital reproductions of print resources, some are
born-digital resources, and some are simultaneously issued in print and online
editions. Although the heart of an e-book is still its content, it is important
to distinguish between these types of e-books because they vary in many
aspects, in their construction, functionality, price, and even in the type of
readers they attract. Digitized books and books issued in both electronic and
print formats have less functionality than born-digital e-books.
E-books And Their Place In Academic Libraries
Description:
They may be full-text
searchable, but by their nature they imitate their print counterparts, and they
cannot have, for example, embedded audio or video like born-digital editions. Digitizing
old material brings additional issues. Typesetting was not standard in early
books, and OCR is not easy. Additional work is needed to make them full-text
searchable. Some collections, like Early English Books Online, include books as
scanned images without any searchable text. Price models too are very
different. Authors of books in collections like Eighteenth Century Books Online
or Early English Books Online are long dead, and there are no royalties to pay.
The cost of these collections is usually a one off capital cost. They are sold
with perpetual usage licenses rather than licenses with annual subscriptions.
The downside of this model is that once publishers have sold
these collections to the worldwide academic market, they have little interest
in improving the platform or functionality. Born-digital books have living
authors who require royalties and are likely to write new editions. Publishers
struggle with pricing models in this context, and fear that their markets might
be damaged. They are afraid that e-books will be downloaded and shared, and
that students won’t buy books if they are freely available in libraries.
Digitised collections differ from born-digital collections in the types of
readers they attract and in the way they are used. Digitising heritage
collections is of inestimable value but the reading public attracted by that
type of book are generally small groups of students and researchers engaged in
historical research. Born-digital books,
on the other hand, serve all subject areas, are used by all type of
readerships, and their usage is much higher.
Modern universities encourage and promote the development of
fl exible educational models, the use of new teaching technologies and
computer-assisted learning management systems. Flexible, distance and
e-learning initiatives involve engaging students in online learning
experiences. Together with other online resources, e-books offer excellent
support for teaching and learning. Many university libraries around the world
have been eager to fi nd ways to incorporate them into the learning and teaching
initiatives of their universities. One area that is well recognised as benefi
ting from e-books is distance learning. Online education makes higher education
more affordable and accessible, and the number of students enrolling for online
education programmes is constantly increasing.
Students can complete or advance their education while they
work. Thanks to e-books, they can eliminate shipping costs, and reduce the
number of library visits and associated travel time. E-books have brought a
whole new experience to monograph reading with the possibility of attaching
video and sound fi les to the text. Multimedia capabilities have not been
explored and used to their full potential as yet, but examples of their
successful use are increasing. One example is the net Library audio fi le that
pronounces words. This feature is popular in many electronic dictionaries.
Multimedia can also be successfully used in education, especially in distance
education when complex ideas need to be explained to students who are not present.
E-books help learning outcomes in distance education match or
surpass those in traditional classrooms. Historical researchers benefit from
being able to access digitised copies of old and rare books from their
desktops. Collections such as Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century
Collections Online enable academics and students to access books which they
would have had to travel the world to view in the past. Universities are keen
to facilitate digital access to scholarly works. They are digitising their own
collections of theses and making them freely available on the Internet. Having
theses in electronic format enhances their visibility, and encourages more use
of them for further research. E-books expand levels of library service too.
Conclusion:
The search capabilities they offer are extremely important
for the work of library reference staff. The integration of full-text searching
with other search capabilities allows librarians to search collections more
comprehensively and mine considerably more information than ever before.
E-books have become an important part of the learning environment in tertiary
institutions. Their importance continues to grow, and the number of academic
libraries supporting digital collections grows with it.
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