No Shelf Required

The current NSR poll asks, “is your institution using patron driven acquisition to purchase eBooks.”  PDA is a business model, offered by (currently) 3 ebook aggregators  - NetLibrary, EBL, and Ingram Digital.  In this model, patrons determine which eBooks are purchased based on the eBooks they use.  There are many variations to PDA, but each variation does allow for […]

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Wow, my first member!  Thanks Lora.  I’m glad to see that the resources in NSR are assisting library students too.
Dear Sue Polanka,
I’m a library student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  I just did a research project on the future of reference books for a collection development class.  In my research I came across […]

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I recently attended the School Library Journal (SLJ) Summit and had the pleasure of working with Roger Rosen, of Rosen Publishing, on a panel about the future of digital reference.  Roger spoke about Rosen’s Teen Health & Wellness product.  I finally had a chance to look it over.  WOW, this is what I call a reference […]

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According to a survey conducted in the UK by NetLibrary, most libraries do intend to increase the acquisition of eBooks in the coming years.
The highlights:
300 libraries responded

 3/4 of academic libraries intend to increase eBook collections
1/2 of public libraries intend to increase eBook collections
85% of publics were interested in fiction eBooks
65% of publics were interested in […]

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**and crashed, unfortunately, due to popularity.  It’s currently down!  sp, 11/21 4:30 p.m. EST  The site hopes to be back up, on a more robust engine,  by mid December.
From Knowledgespeak.com
The European Commission has launched Europeana, a multimedia online library.  Over 2 million books are included as well as maps, recordings, photographs, archival materials, and […]

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I posted a while back about a wonderful eBook site, DailyLit.  DailyLit sends me bits and pieces of eBooks to my email box each day, just enough to read for a minute or two.  The first title I chose (yes, because it was free) was 100 Ways to  Succeed by Tom Peters.  Yesterday, #39 arrived.  […]

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Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Eric Calaluca, Founder and President of Paratext.  Eric and I discussed the Reference Universe product and how it promotes the use of both print and ereference collections.  Listen to the interview here, or find it linked on the interviews page.

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LJ just released E-Reference Ratings, “an evaluation of nearly 180 subscription based electronic resources in 14 subject categories.”  Of course, many of these are eBook platforms like Britannica, Credo, GVRL, Oxford, and Sage.   There was no category for eBooks, instead you’ll find them listed under the various subject categories.
Products were reviewed by a team of […]

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I love widgets.  Last week at the Charleston Conference I was on a panel discussing “bridging the google gap.”  I was to discuss ways libraries were bridging that gap through reference services.  Widgets was one of my answers.
Widgets can be embedded on multiple library web pages, course management systems, facebook, teacher/faculty websites, anywhere really!  Caution, […]

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eBook collections and platforms are popping up faster than daisies these days.  New this month is the Palgrave Macmillan platform - Palgrave Connect.  This is a collaborative effort from Palgrave and Nature and will include eBooks in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and business areas.  About 4,000 eBooks are available with the launch.�

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