Re: Searching for ebooks (5 replies)

From: <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:50:06 -0800 (PST)
To: acqnet-l <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>
Original message included at bottom. 

(1) ------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:24:28 -0500 (EST) 
From: Forrest Link <linkf_at_tcnj.edu> 

Michael, 

I think the main problem you are having is that you are looking for textbooks. The major ebook aggregators are not strong in that area and publishers have been hesitant to license them. My only suggestion beyond what you have tried would be to take a peek at the offerings of MyiLibrary, which YBP doesn't offer. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll find much more. 

Good luck! 

--Forrest 

-- 
Forrest E. Link 
Acquisitions Librarian 
The College of New Jersey 
linkf_at_tcnj.edu 

609.771.2412 
609.637.5177(fax) 


(2) ------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:50:32 -0500 
From: "Helen P. Mack" <hpm0_at_Lehigh.EDU> 

I don't think there is a sure-fire way of determining if something is available as an ebook. You mentioned all the possibilities that I can think of -- WorldCat/Connexion, YBP's Gobi, and publisher websites. My guess is that what you find in Gobi is pretty comprehensive. I don't think that Ingram's MyLibrary or Ebsco would more. The only difference is that for some reason ebrary seems to have the most content, and EBI the least. 
-- 
Helen P. Mack, Acquisitions Librarian 
Lehigh University, Linderman Library 
30 Library Drive 
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3067 USA 

Phone 610 758-3035 * Fax 610 758-5605 
E-mail hpm0_at_lehigh.edu 

(3) ------------------------- 

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:55:58 -0500 
From: "Eleanor Cook" <cooke_at_ecu.edu> 


This is an emerging area. We're just now discussing this on my campus - we have a medical school and library. The whole Etextbook frontier is ever expanding. Several Ereader vendors (Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and maybe Sony Ereader- not sure about them) are offering medical texts, but the problem is that none have a majority of common texts (I don't think). Apple iPads and other tablets will offer apps for these and other types of book reader software. There is no one answer right now - we all need to keep up with what is happening though - good luck! 

Eleanor Cook 




Eleanor I. Cook 

Assistant Director for Collections & Technical Services 

Academic Library Services -- Joyner Library 

East Carolina University 

East Fifth Street 

Greenville, NC 27858 

252-328-2598 

252-328-4834 fax 

cooke_at_ecu.edu 
(4) ------------------------- 

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:54:38 -0500 
From: "Yilibuw, Dolores" <Dolores.Yilibuw_at_EKU.EDU> 

This response is for Michael Koehn on "searching for ebooks." Have you tried ebooks.com , http://www.ebooks.com/ ? 

Regards, 

Dolores Yilibuw 
Acquisitions Librarian 
Eastern KY University Libraries 


(5) ------------------------- 

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:39:13 -0600 
From: "Mason, Tim" <Tim.Mason_at_unthsc.edu> 

In regards to searching for ebooks, you might want to look into the product called Doodys Core Titles. 
Here's an excerpt from their homepage: 

"We're very excited about how our eBook discoverability program has exploded this past year. We started 2010 with nine partners that enabled us to link from our title listings to vendors offering digital versions. Now, we partner with 17 eBook vendors, which means not only are there more titles available in e-versions, but also more titles are available from multiple vendors, giving librarians the ability to choose among suppliers." 

Tim Mason 
Technical Services Librarian 
UNT Health Science Center 
Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library 
3500 Camp Bowie Blvd. 
Ft. Worth, TX 76107 

817-735-2466 
tim.mason_at_unthsc.edu 
http://library.hsc.unt.edu 

---Original Message----- 

Sent: Thursday, January 6, 2011 5:58:51 AM 
Subject: [ACQNET-L] Searching for eBooks 

I fear this is a newbie question, but I've stumped my Technical Services 
department with it, so here it goes. 

The library is trying to determine availability and cost of electronic 
versions of required pre-clinical textbooks for medical and dental 
students at our institution. I have obtained the textbook lists, but 
now I hit a wall. How does one determine availability of an electronic 
version of a book? (Part of this is more basic -- How do I prove a 
negative?) How do I get a comprehensive list of the platforms on which 
an ebook is available? 

I've searched Gobi, but that only shows ebooks available through YBP. 

I've searched Books in Print, but it's difficult to work through, and 
I'm not certain how accurate their coverage of eBooks is. 

I've searched WorldCat, but it quickly gets overwhelming, especially 
when there are multiple editions of a title. Also, I'm depending upon 
there being a member contributed record of the [electronic resource] 
version, which isn't guaranteed. 

Am I reduced to contacting individual publishers for title lists, and 
manually comparing them, or is there a better way? 

Thanks, 

Michael 

-- 
Michael Koehn 
Acting Director 
Head, Resources Acquisitions and Organization 
Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library 
Columbia University Medical Center 
701 West 168th Street, Rm. L10 
New York, NY 10032 
Ph: (212) 305-9216 
FAX: (212) 234-0595 
mdk2126_at_columbia.edu 



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Received on Fri Jan 14 2011 - 14:18:04 EST