Amy Chow NYC School Librarian Talks eBooks

Amy Chow, Vice President, Hudson Valley Library Association and the
Head Librarian at The Brearley School in New York City, caught up with eBookNewser to discuss eBooks in school libraries.

EBN: What do you think about eBooks?
AC: eBooks are a great addition to the growing number of formats that
are available. I think it’s important to make the distinction between books that are available electronically, such as the eBooks that are available through Gale’s Virtual Reference Library, eLibrary or Netlibrary over the Internet, and the eBook readers themselves, the devices on which one can read an eBook, that are becoming more ubiquitous.

I think the way people read when using an eBook or eBook reader is
somewhat different from reading a book in print. The best feature of
an eBook is that it is searchable. For research, that is invaluable.
I think for the most part, when people access an entire book online,
they often read or use specific parts of the full-text instead of
starting at the beginning and reading every page to the end. I’ve
noticed the usage of eBooks at my school to be largely consisting of
nonfiction books as opposed to longer narratives, like novels.

EBN: How has your library embraced eBooks?

AC: We are in the process of finding out more information about how eBooks can be used in schools and school libraries. We are not early adopters of new technologies, but once a new technology has proven useful and valuable, we look for ways in which we can include them.

We’ve been providing access to eBooks online for some time now. We subscribe to Questia School eBook collection and we use the free Google Book Search to support the research done in the Brearley Upper School. We bought one Kindle to circulate among faculty, but we have not moved beyond that yet. We are waiting to see which device is the most functional and cost effective. I’m also interested in seeing whether schools and textbook publishers will make textbooks available on eBook readers. If there can be a more complete integration of eBooks and eBook readers into school functions, I feel the potential for successful adoption is increased.

EBN: Do lower priced eReaders help get eBooks into libraries?

Probably, although eBook readers are still big ticket items. Considering all the materials and formats a school library collects and/or makes accessible — books, periodicals, online subscriptions to databases, multi-media content — it is sometimes difficult to justify the purchase of such an expensive device, comparatively speaking, that has such limited usage. Only one person can use an eReader at a time.

EBN: What opportunities and challenges do eBooks pose for libraries?

I think the opportunities and the challenges go hand in hand.
Thinking of the contents of books as digital or electronic information puts them in a completely different realm and changes how people use what’s in books. Essentially, this shift in thinking of the information contained in a book as separate from the physical format changes how we seek information and use it.

It also changes the role of the librarian from merely selecting what to physically buy and put on the shelf to deciding what information to provide access to such as subscription databases and eJournals as well as eBooks. And then we have to figure out how to guide people to find that information. What’s the digital equivalent of handing a book to someone? Sending a link?

Also, many eBook collections that can be purchased or subscribed to
online are preselected and include a bundle of titles, some of which I want and some I do not. These bundles do not allow librarians to
customize the purchases for their community’s needs, which can
sometimes be frustrating. Some eBook providers allow the library to
purchase a title and own it (with a permanent link and full catalog
record in their online catalog) while others essentially just lease a
license to access the book to the library. So not only accessibility,
but longevity of the material comes into play.

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