Ebook readers : separating the hype from the reality

Academic libraries have been acquiring ebooks for their collections for a number of years, but the uptake by some users has been curtailed by the limitations of screen reading on a traditional PC or laptop. Ebook readers promise to take us into a new phase of ebook development. Innovations include: wireless connectivity, electronic paper, increased battery life, and customisable displays. The recent rapid take-up of ebook readers in the United States, particularly Amazon’s Kindle, suggests that they may about to gain mass-market acceptance. A bewildering number of ebook readers are being promoted by companies eager to gain market share. In addition, each month seems to bring a new ebook reader or a new model of an existing device. Library administrators are faced with the challenge of separating the hype from the reality and deciding when the time is right to invest in and support these new technologies. The Library at QUT, in particular the QUT Library Ebook Reference Group (ERG) has been closely following developments in ebooks and ebook reader technologies. During mid 2010 QUT Library undertook a trial of a range of ebook readers available to Australian consumers. Each of the ebook readers acquired was evaluated by members of the QUT Library ERG and two student focus groups. Major criteria for evaluation included usability, functionality, accessibility and compatibility with QUT Library’s existing ebook collection. The two student focus groups evaluated the ebook readers mostly according to the criteria of usability and functionality. This paper will discuss these evaluations and outline a recommendation about which type (or types) of ebook readers could be acquired and made available for lending to students.

Surviving Bioscience and Pharmacology – an eBook for accelerated students in Nursing

An eBook to support accelerated nursing students is being developed at QUT. The first component of this is a formative activity comprising key bioscience and pharmacology concepts and self-help quizzes. This initiative has been reviewed favourably by the students. The eBook will also cover requisite academic skills and revision bioscience material.

The paradigm shift in realising the right to read : how ebook libraries are enabling in the university sector

Millions of people with print disabilities are denied the right to read. While some important efforts have been made to convert standard books to accessible formats and create accessible repositories, these have so far only addressed this crisis in an ad hoc way. This article argues that universally designed ebook libraries have the potential of substantially enabling persons with print disabilities. As a case study of what is possible, we analyse 12 academic ebook libraries to map their levels of accessibility. The positive results from this study indicate that universally designed ebooks are more than possible; they exist. While results are positive, however, we also found that most ebook libraries have some features that frustrate full accessibility, and some ebook libraries present critical barriers for people with disabilities. Based on these findings, we consider that some combination of private pressure and public law is both possible and necessary to advance the right-to-read cause. With access improving and recent advances in international law, now is the time to push for universal design and equality.

EBook readers in Australian public libraries - are they REAL-e worth it

Hand-held ebook readers present many challenges for Australian libraries that want to integrate this emerging technology into their library’s service. In 2001, both Toowoomba City Library and the Brisbane City Council Library Service embarked on such projects. This paper reports on the differing experience of these two public library services, outlining difficulties encountered, customer reactions to the technology, and the central issues that acquiring and circulating these readers pose for public libraries in Australia.

“Success in (Surviving) Bioscience and Pharmacology” – an eBook to improve the retention of diploma nurses transitioning to a Bachelor of Nursing course

Diploma students transitioning into the NS40 BNursing (BN) course at QUT withdraw from the bioscience and pharmacology units, and leave the university at higher rates than traditional students. The diploma students, entering in second year, have missed out on 2 units of bioscience taught to the traditional students in their first year, and miss out on a 3rd unit of bioscience taught to the traditional students in their 2nd year. Instead the diploma students receive one specialized unit in bioscience only i.e. a bridging unit. As a consequence, the diploma students may not have the depth of bioscience knowledge to be able to successfully study the bridging unit (LSB111) or the pharmacology unit (LSB384). Our plan was to write an eBook which refreshed and reinforced diploma students’ knowledge of bioscience aiming to prepare them with the concepts and terminology, and to build a level of confidence to support their transition to the BN. We have previously developed an intervention associated with reduced attrition of diploma nursing students, and this was our starting point. The study skills part of the initial intervention was addressed in the eBook, by links to the specialist services and resources available from our liaison librarian and academic skills adviser. The introductory bioscience/pharmacology information provided by the previous intervention involved material from standard textbooks. However, we considered this material too difficult for diploma students. Thus, we created simplified diagrams to go with text as part of our eBook. The outcome is an eBook, created and made available to the diploma students via the Community Website: “Surviving Bioscience and Pharmacology”. Using simplified diagrams to illustrate the concise text, definition to explain the concepts, the focus has been on encouraging self-awareness and help-seeking strategies and building students who take responsibility for their learning. All the nursing students in the second semester LSB384 Pharmacology Unit have been surveyed face-to-face to get feedback on their engagement with the eBook resource. The data has not been analysed to date. An important consideration is that the website be evaluated by the diploma students as they come into bioscience in first semester (LSB111), the student population for whom the eBook is primarily intended. To get a good response rate we need to do a face-to-face survey. However, we have not been able to do this, as the co-ordinator of the unit has changed since we started the project, and the present co-ordinator will not allow us access to these students.

An account and analysis of the implementation of various ebook business models at QUT, Australia

QUT (Queensland University of Technology) is a leading university based in the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and is a selectively research intensive university with 2,500 higher degree research students and an overall student population of 45,000 students. The transition from print to online resources is largely completed and the library now provides access to 450,000 print books, 1,000 print journals, 600,000 ebooks, 120,000 ejournals and 100,000 online videos. The ebook collection is now used three times as much as the print book collection. This paper focuses on QUT Library’s ebook strategy and the challenges of building and managing a rapidly growing collection of ebooks using a range of publishers, platforms, and business and financial models. The paper provides an account of QUT Library’s experiences in using Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) using eBook Library (EBL); the strategic procurement of publisher and subject collections by lease and outright purchase models, the more recent transition to Evidence Based Selection (EBS) options provided by some publishers, and its piloting of etextbook models. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of each of these business models at QUT, focusing on access verses collection development, usage, cost per use, and value for money.

Mobile technology platforms for flexible access to information resources : considerations in the use of ebook readers, smart phones, netbooks and iPads

Smart phones are everywhere, people are taking eBook readers on holiday, the iPad has queues of people wanting to buy one, and some netbooks can fit in a pocket. The technology is attractive and increasingly affordable – how can it help an individual in their access to and use of texts, journals, databases, clinical sources, the web and day-to-day information? The Library has been investigating and trialling mobile devices during 2010, and has received interesting feedback from staff and students on the effectiveness of the technology in the University and personal environments. Each device has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the needs of the individual or activity it is supporting – productivity, research, study, clinical or recreational. The presentation will explore these issues along with some of the practical implications at Deakin, and international experiences in academic environments.

Las editoriales ante la llegada del ebook : ¿Qué sucede con el patrimonio editorial?

La pregunta que guía este trabajo tiene que ver con c162mo se refleja el funcionamiento del campo editorial a través de la gestión del patrimonio editorial digital. Para ello se desarrollan algunas perspectivas ligadas a la noción de patrimonio editorial digital, su vínculos con los diferentes actores del sector y con el soporte que sustenta el texto. Asimismo, se explora la situación de algunas casas editoriales en relación con las nuevas tecnologías y los nuevos modelos de negocio que indefectiblemente suponen un cambio en la política editorial

Las editoriales ante la llegada del ebook : ¿Qué sucede con el patrimonio editorial?

La pregunta que guía este trabajo tiene que ver con c162mo se refleja el funcionamiento del campo editorial a través de la gestión del patrimonio editorial digital. Para ello se desarrollan algunas perspectivas ligadas a la noción de patrimonio editorial digital, su vínculos con los diferentes actores del sector y con el soporte que sustenta el texto. Asimismo, se explora la situación de algunas casas editoriales en relación con las nuevas tecnologías y los nuevos modelos de negocio que indefectiblemente suponen un cambio en la política editorial

Las editoriales ante la llegada del ebook : ¿Qué sucede con el patrimonio editorial?

La pregunta que guía este trabajo tiene que ver con c162mo se refleja el funcionamiento del campo editorial a través de la gestión del patrimonio editorial digital. Para ello se desarrollan algunas perspectivas ligadas a la noción de patrimonio editorial digital, su vínculos con los diferentes actores del sector y con el soporte que sustenta el texto. Asimismo, se explora la situación de algunas casas editoriales en relación con las nuevas tecnologías y los nuevos modelos de negocio que indefectiblemente suponen un cambio en la política editorial

The development of an eBook for teaching and learning mathematics

Mobile devices, smartphones, phablets and tablets, are widely avail‐ able. This is a generation of digital natives. We cannot ignore that they are no longer the same students for which the education system was designed tradition‐ ally. Studying math is many times a cumbersome task. But this can be changed if the teacher takes advantage of the technology that is currently available. We are working in the use of different tools to extend the classroom in a blended learning model. In this paper, it is presented the development of an eBook for teaching mathematics to secondary students. It is developed with the free and open standard EPUB 3 that is available for Android and iOS platforms. This specification supports video embedded in the eBook. In this paper it is shown how to take advantage of this feature, making videos available about lectures and problems resolutions, which is especially interesting for learning mathematics.

Modelo de ebook multimédia para divulgação cultural investigação e desenvolvimento de um protótipo no formato EPUB

Esta investigação teve por objetivo investigar as possibilidades de criação de um modelo de ebook interativo, com o título “A Lagoa de Óbidos”, no formato EPUB3, e a compreensão das vantagens e desvantagens da sua utilização sustentada num painel com 21 participantes. O formato EPUB (electronic publication) define um conjunto de características específicas para a criação e a distribuição de publicações digitais. Estas especificações têm sido desenvolvidas e implementadas pelo International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) que, em 2011, aprovou a versão 3, designada como EPUB3. A inclusão de novas tecnologias - HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript - numa publicação digital deu origem a esta investigação, um estudo de caso que pretendia conhecer as potencialidades dessa integração em ebooks interativos e a sua possível utilização em diferentes áreas do saber. O trabalho da recolha de textos e a sua análise permitiram a criação de um protótipo de ebook interativo, cujo objetivo era a estruturação das especificações que compõem a versão EPUB3. As opiniões sobre as possibilidades que este modelo apresenta, ao nível da usabilidade e dos recursos utilizados, foram colhidas através de um “Questionário de Opinião”, onde participaram 21 voluntários. O tema escolhido para o ebook foi “A Lagoa de Óbidos” por considerarmos um lugar de memória cultural, com características paisagísticas, históricas, sociais e ambientais reconhecidas e que lhe dão uma identidade própria merecedora de ser divulgada, através de textos, imagens, vídeos, animações e jogos. A análise dos resultados obtidos no “Questionário de Opinião”, leva-nos a concluir que a maioria da amostra sentiu que a leitura do ebook foi uma experiência variada, interessante e ativa. A totalidade achou que a interatividade trouxe benefícios à compreensão dos assuntos. Em síntese, a opinião dos sujeitos em relação ao ebook “A Lagoa de Óbidos foi considerada bastante positiva. No entanto, a opinião quase uniforme dificulta a análise da relação entre as variáveis do “Questionário de Opinião” levando à necessidade de aprofundar este estudo.

Sustaining a healthy workforce

The changing demographics of the mining workforce and the increasing demand for skilled workers increases the importance of sustaining a healthy workforce now and for the future. Although health is strongly related to safety, the two areas are not well integrated and the relationship is poorly understood. As such there is an important need to raise the profile of health within the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) domain. The mining industry carries health and safety risks, often greater than other occupations. Whilst the mining industry is regulated by stringent OH&S controls, the very nature of the work and environmental influences expose employees to a greater number of injury risk factors than many other industries. In contrast to its excellent safety record, compared to most other industries, the mining workforce has a high proportion of chronic health problems. These problems can be exacerbated by the ageing of the workforce, regional location of sites and organisational issues influencing work demands. A major focus has been on the treatment of these conditions with relatively limited attention to prevention strategies. An important prevention strategy is the raising of awareness among the workforce of health issues and the significant increase in the volume of health related information has provided an excellent opportunity to access relevant information. Unfortunately, this information is of varying quality, may not be evidence based, and may provide the wrong guidance to the development of interventions designed to improve health. Limited time of most employees and potential lack of knowledge of ability to differentiate quality information presents additional problems or barriers to increasing awareness of health issues...