British Columbia Public, School Libraries Offer First E-Book Collection
RSSBY SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 05/19/2010
Public and school libraries across British Columbia, Canada, are for the first time offering an e-book collection made up of nonfiction works by local publishers.
The project started in 2007, when a consortium of library organizations and publishers launched BC Books Online to provide the entire province with a digital collection of books published in British Columbia.
Launched last week, the 650-book collection is going through one-year beta testing and consists of a broad range of nonfiction titles that focus on history, natural history, aboriginal culture, arts and culture, political commentary, biography and autobiography, urban issues, and the environment.
Three school districts—the Nanaimo School District, the Central Okanagan School District, and the Prince George School District—along with nine other libraries, including the Vancouver and Richmond Public Libraries, and three universities, are participating.
“BC Books Online is a crucial first step in ensuring that students and general readers of all ages have Internet access to the books that best represent our province: its history, peoples, nature, and culture,” says City Librarian Paul Whitney of the Vancouver Public Library.
Elementary and secondary school students, university students, and the general public can now access the entire collection through library portals from home, work, school, or anywhere in the world. Users can also bookmark, highlight text, cut and paste, copy, and print a limited amount of the content, and the books are fully searchable across the collection. No checkout is needed and users have unlimited access to the entire collection. However, nothing is downloadable—instead a digital copy of a book pops up with an image that resembles a page.
The 17 publishers involved, ranging from Douglas & McIntyre to Arsenal Pulp Press, have gone back through their catalogues to find interesting titles and negotiated digital rights where they didn't have them. The project is being financed through the BC Library Association.
“As educators we understand the value and importance of resources that reflect the experiences of our students,” says Judy Dallas, executive director of the Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium. “This forward-thinking project will further enhance school library collections by providing [British Columbia] materials in a range of subject matter that can be accessed online either from the school itself or from the student’s home.”
