CDL: (Response) E-books?

From: John Abbott <AbbottJP_at_conrad.appstate.edu>
Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 11:00:14 -0500
To: colldv-l_at_usc.edu
(original posting followed by the response)

"Tony Horava" <thorava_at_uottawa.ca>

I am wondering about other libraries' approach for selecting and 
managing ebooks. Here at the University of Ottawa (Canada) we 
have access to almost 2,000 ebooks from NetLibrary. I assume 
that many of you have consortial arrangements for ebook 
collections.  I wonder if any of you select individual ebook titles, the 
way you select print books (if you don't have approval plans). If you 
select individual ebbok titles, what subject areas do you collect ?

Also, I wonder about authentication re ebooks. For example, at our 
university, a person can walk into our library, access NetLibrary, 
and then create an account.....they can then access NetLibrary 
from any PC, regardless of whether it is connected to the university 
or not.  Ebooks have not been that popular so this isn't a major 
problem yet, but it could be in the future. For Economics and 
Business there is definite interest in ebooks, but in other areas 
there is very limited interest.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you may have on acquiring and making 
accessible this type of material.

Thanks very much !

Tony Horava
Collection Coordinator / Coordonnateur des Collections
Morisset Library / Bibliotheque Morisset
University of Ottawa / l'Universite d'Ottawa
Tel : (613) 562-5800 ext. 4563


====#1

From: Terkemp_at_aol.com

The University of Miami (Florida) uses NetLibrary. Since I am not affiliated 
with a university library, although I would like to be, I am not familiar 
with the issues and problems. I might suggest though, since is an extramural, 
i.e. non-library function, that it has little to do with the library itself. 
Many of us are getting books from non-library sources these days because of 
problems with the way libraries have traditionally solved problems.
Received on Fri Mar 01 2002 - 08:02:12 EST