How good is Oyster, the new ebook subscription service? Linda W. Braun puts the application through its paces in a screencast series showing how to get started with Oyster, how to search titles, and what it all means for libraries.
Sharing Public Domain Ebooks with the Book Elf
By on September 6, 2013
The Book Elf is a new tool for getting PD digital content into the hands of readers. Discovery of titles could be improved, but it does have some potential.
Dr. Seuss Ebooks Finally Available on September 24
By on September 5, 2013 Leave a Comment
Children’s book classics such as Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat and the Hat will be available in ebook format for the first time beginning on September 24. Fifteen of author/illustrator Dr. Seuss’s (aka Theodor Geisel) beloved titles will make their digital debut on that date, keeping the original layouts and iconic illustrations from their print editions, says publisher Random House Children’s. By November 2013, a total of 41 ebooks will be available for children, parents, and educators.
Follett Launches New Version of K–12 Digital Bookshelf
By on September 4, 2013 Leave a Comment
Follett’s new back-to-school release of its FollettShelf hosted digital bookshelf—which includes a new HTML5 reading environment for econtent called Follett Enlight—is now available for schools to download this week via apps for GooglePlay and iOS, even though it does not yet appear in searches of Apple’s iTunes store, the company assures School Library Journal.
SLJ’s School Ebook Market Directory
By on September 3, 2013
Which ebook provider will best meet your school’s needs and budget? SLJ’s snapshot of 19 ebook vendors outlines the suppliers’ range of offerings, terms of use, and pricing options.
E. It’s Complicated. How Two Schools are Riding the Transition to Ebooks
By on September 3, 2013
For this close-up report on going digital, SLJ talked to academic experts, librarians, teachers, and students at two Illinois high schools. Big questions: What are the best ebook providers? How many student iPads get damaged? Do students read more in ebook or print? And more.
Capstone’s Interactive “Super” Ebooks; Gamers Wanted for the Innovation Math Challenge | News Bites
By on August 22, 2013 Leave a Comment
Thirty-two titles from the “DC Super-Pets,” “DC Super Heroes: The Man of Steel,” “Superman,” and “Batman” series are now available as interactive ebooks from Capstone. Educators, student teams, gamers, or programmers can submit entries of games, math videos, infographics, or manipulatives to the WGBH Educational Foundation’s Innovation Math Challenge for prizes of $1,000.
Hachette, Mackin Partner to Distribute Ebooks
By on August 12, 2013
Mackin Educational Resources, national distributor of PreK–12 books, ebooks and digital resources, has announced a new partnership with Hachette Book Group (HBG), beginning this month. As part of the deal, HBG’s entire catalog of more than 6,000 eBooks will be available to Mackin customers, on and offline, through their school’s exclusive MackinVIA platform.
Hachette Ebooks Coming to School Libraries Via Follett
By on August 8, 2013
Follett announced today a partnership with U.S. publisher Hachette Book Group (HBG) to provide preK-12 school libraries and students expanded access to popular children’s titles. Award-winning books such as Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ninth Ward and Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will be available in an ebook lending format for the 2013-2014 school year. The company recently announced a similar agreement with Random House Children’s.
Pew Study: Technology Aids Students’ Writing Skills Though Challenges Remain
By on July 16, 2013
Digital technologies are impacting American middle and high school students’ writing in many ways, both good and bad, a new national report from the Pew Research Center shows. According to the survey, tech tools provide significant advantages to learning—although students are still having trouble with informal grammar and navigating the issues of plagiarism, citation, and fair use.
‘Here Be Fiction’ Site Launches with 500+ Ebooks
By on July 16, 2013
The School Library System of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (GVEP) has announced the launch this week of “Here Be Fiction,” a site devoted to the discovery of fiction ebooks available with school library friendly licensing terms, with over 500 ebooks from 17 participating publishers.
StarWalk Kids Media Offers Free July Access to eBook Collection
By on July 12, 2013
StarWalk Kids Media has announced that it has made all 160-plus ebooks in its collection available free of charge to children, families, and educators during the entire month of July. In just the first three days after the initiative was launched via Twitter (#PopUpLibrary), nearly 3,000 ebooks have been read, the company says.
‘Here Be Fiction’ Launches: New site features ebook fiction available to schools on library-friendly terms
By on June 28, 2013
Discovery of ebooks in K-12, particularly worthwhile fiction, has been tough going. A new site, Here Be Fiction, will attempt to remedy that, enabling users to identify quality ebooks accessible to schools on library-friendly licensing terms. Featuring ebook previews and reviews, HereBeFiction.org will enable librarians and others to discover fiction from a wide variety of publishers made available for both individual and multi-user access.
Amazon Expands Content on Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, Subscription Service Aimed at Parents
By on June 20, 2013
Amazon Kindle’s FreeTime Unlimited, a subscription service geared for parents, has added 1,000 books, games, educational apps, movies, and TV shows to its offerings for children since its launch six months ago.
Traditional Tunes Find Modern Formats | Touch and Go
By on May 16, 2013 Leave a Comment
This week’s column takes a look at productions that incorporate music: an iPad app featuring a new setting for a classic counting tune, and iBooks that take children around the world as they drift off to asleep.
Self-Published Ebooks not a Solution for K-12 Schools
By on May 6, 2013
While self-published titles may be an option for public libraries when it comes to acquiring ebooks, not so for schools, according to SLJ columnist Christopher Harris, who lays out the ongoing challenges for ebook adoption in K-12.
Hachette to Sell Frontlist Ebook Titles to Libraries
By on May 1, 2013
Hachette Book Group today announced that it will once again sell its frontlist ebook titles to libraries, beginning on May 8. Hachette’s entire catalog of 5,000 ebooks will now be available through OverDrive, Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 platform, and the 3M Cloud Library, under a pricing and licensing model similar to the one employed by Random House.
SLJ Reviews Gobstopper and Subtext: Apps that Enable Interactive Classroom Reading
By on April 15, 2013
The ability for teachers and students to embed their own content into digital texts, write notes, and get feedback on student reading—classroom reading just got a lot more dynamic. SLJ columnist Jeff Hastings test driives Gobstopper and Subtext.
SLJ’s Best of Apps and Enhanced Books | April 2013
By on April 15, 2013
High-res 3-D images of black holes and nebulae that you can tweet or post to Facebook are among the features of a companion app to a popular BBC series, which is reviewed this month in School Library Journal.
Welcome to the Mothership: Travis Jonker’s Take on Amazon/Goodreads
By on April 11, 2013
When word came out that Amazon was pulling social network Goodreads into its acquisitional tractor beam, reaction seemed to fall into one of two categories… Travis Jonker, a librarian who blogs at 100 Scope Notes, falls somewhere in between.
