E-Book Information for Faculty
eBook
About E-Books
E-Book Advantages
Choice – many solutions exist for reading text electronically, including viewing on computers, tablets, e-readers, and even smartphones
Lower cost – can be “leased”
Portability – many books on one device
Readability – adjustable font size
Annotation – powerful commenting and tagging features
Definition lookup – words can be found in online dictionaries and other sources
Flexibility – “course packs” made up of texts from multiple sources can be created
Accessibility – Some e-readers can convert printed text to speech
Efficiency – e-readers can hold hundreds or thousands of books and can double as web browsers and email clients
E-Book Disadvantages
Layout – less information can be displayed on a digital page
Restrictions – digital rights management may limit the number of devices that can contain the book, or provide restrictions on sharing, or copying and printing text.
Media limitations– e-readers can only display one or two books at a time.
Complexity – many incompatibilities exist between e-readers, file formats, and online purchasing methods
Hardware limitations – e-textbooks from some sources, including Barnes and Noble, cannot be viewed on handheld e-readers
Software E-Reader Downloads
Adobe Digital Editions (reads PDF and Adobe EPUB format, used by the Mid-York Library System)
Kindle (reads pdf and Mobi format, but not EPUB)
Nook (reads pdf and EPUB format, but not e-textbooks)
Nook Study (reads pdf, EPUB, and e-textbooks)
Hardware E-Reader Models
Kindle Models
Nook Models
iPad, iPhone (running iBooks)
Android Tablets and Phones (running e-reader software)
Free E-Book Sources
Project Guttenberg
Google E-Bookstore (requires personal Gmail account)
Open Library
ManyBooks.net
Mid-York Library System
E-Textbook Resources
College Bookstore Online Book Request form
Request print books and e-books (if an e-book exists for a given title, it is automatically made available)
See books used in prior semesters
Identify and choose new titles
Submit additional information about courses and book needs
XanEdu CoursePacks
CoursePacks in traditional print, digital, or digital plus print
Custom Textbooks
Copyright services
The Faculty Center Network
Review and compare college-level textbooks
Discover publisher information
Useful Links
The Digital Reader
Recent events related to e-readers and e-text
