E-Reading on the Rise, ECPI University Continues to Build E-book Collection

By Rebecca Tabakin, Library Director

Studies show that the proportion of Americans who read e-Books is growing. Students in higher education today are exposed to more print and electronic resources than ever before, from course materials to the campus libraries. ECPI University students are provided with an iPad in their first semester to prompt more discovery time and a comfort level with using digitized resources.

The ‘Library’ link on Moodle points the way to thousands of digitized resources, including e-Books on the Library website. ECPI University libraries maintain a print books collection, but continue to grow the e-Book collection. This assemblage of over 150,000 titles has become a “go-to” resource for students and is available 24/7.

E-Book collections from different vendors provide the user with different interface experiences and user-friendly features such as citation tools. The eBrary Academic Collection is the leading subscription-based e-book provider trusted by academic libraries; Safari Books Online offers bestselling computer books written by experts in the industry; and award-winning titles make Salem Press Books Online collection a trusted source for the University health science programs. e-Books are also available from the library’s traditionally all-periodicals content databases from Gale, ProQuest, and Ebsco.

The coming trend in higher education is shifting from e-Book reader to e-Book creator. ECPI University libraries support creative e-Book development by providing links to faculty-created VPubs (e-textbooks) from LibGuides, the online research guides developed by the University’s librarians. Google Analytics data revealed from November 2014 to May 2015 LibGuides received over 21,000 views. The most popular APA Citation Style LibGuide accounts for over one-third of the LibGuides usage.

For more information about the resources in this article go to the Library website at http://ecpi.ent.sirsi.net.