Archive for the ‘eBooks’ Category

Summer Reading and Listening

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

I do not know if you do promoting summer reading, but an easy way of doing it is with eBooks and Catalist Digital Audiobooks since your students already have log-ins through Destiny and can use their own personal devices as well. Non-Destiny users can also have a guest login for students or easily upload student log-ins through a spreadsheet (no personal information such as email addresses required).

I have three lists on Titlewave that are Unlimited Access, One to One and Catalist Digital. If you want me to send them to you, tell me and they will appear in the Inbox in Your Lists in the upper right of Titlewave after logging in. Of course there is no obligation and you can ignore them, delete them, add to them, move select titles in them to other lists or remove any. There are various age ranges so you might want to search within list or sort them under different criteria.

If you just get a few Unlimited Access eBooks then all the students will get access so they would be enough to use in the summer. For example, you could purchase these 8 titles for under US$300.

Nola’s Worlds. #1,Changing moon
By Mariolle, Mathieu Dewey: 741.5
Nola finds life in Alta Donna boring and prefers to daydream about a more interesting life until two new kids move into town and Nola decides to investigate to discover their true identities.
Lexile: 370

A game for swallows to die, to leave, to return
By Abirached, Zeina, 1981- Dewey: 741.5
Zeina Abirached, a woman born into a Lebanese Christian family in 1981 during the civil war in Lebanon, reflects on her childhood, the disappearance of her parents, and the help and protection she received from neighbors.
Lexile: 680

Wolf’s coming!
By Kulka, Joe Dewey: 811
All of the animals in the forest go into hiding because the wolf is coming, but why they are hiding is the big surprise.
Lexile: 150

Russell and Elisa
By Hurwitz, Johanna Dewey: -E-
Seven-year-old Russell and his three-year-old sister Elisa have adventures with friends and family in their apartment building.
Lexile: 650

Swing around the sun poems
By Esbensen, Barbara Juster Dewey: 811
A collection of poems that celebrates the seasons, with illustrations for each season by a different Minnesota artist.

Taj Mahal
By Arnold, Caroline Dewey: 954.02
Recounts the love story behind the building of the Taj Mahal in India, discussing how it was constructed and providing information on Indian culture.

Weird-but-true facts about gross things
By Coss, Lauren Dewey: 031
Text and illustrations look at different things that are gross for children.
Lexile: 900

Clues in the attic
By Meister, Cari Dewey: 741.5
Ben must face his fear of the attic in order to find his sister’s pet snake.
Lexile: 200

Here is the titles in the lists under three worksheets if you want to see what I made: http://goo.gl/zOJ0i

You can also give the student the link to any list that you have created. Here is a sample of where it would go:
Sample List in Destiny http://goo.gl/2rbQr

Lastly, don’t forget to promote no matter if you do something for the summer or not.

Here is some promotional stuff we have for eBooks as well as instruction sheets for various devices:
http://www.aboutfollettebooks.com/download.cfm#javascript:

Here is the promotional items for the Destiny Quest App:
http://www.follettsoftware.com/ezform.cfm?ezid=282

Why Choose Follett eBooks

Friday, January 25th, 2013

If you compare our offerings with other options, we most likely represent all of the publishers that they carry as well as a whole lot more.  We have over 100,000 eBooks and most of them are non-fiction.  In addition, you can use the tools in Titlewave to get exactly what you want and we have lists that have been compiled by experts.  These lists would not favor any one or several publishers.  Our eBooks are a one-time purchase and the school owns the book.  That means there are no subscriptions and if the publisher changes the terms of use, then it would not affect any previous purchases. 

We have apps for iPads and Android tablets and the eBooks can be access through browser so many different devices can access them.  We also have tools:  Text to Speech, Highlighting, Note Taking, Dictionary, Copying and Printing. 

Looking at other competitors, here are some general advantages of FollettShelf: 

1.     All of our eBooks can be download to tablets and iPads.  In addition, most can be downloaded to a computer.  In addition, all can be read on-line so no additional software is needed just to read the books.  Most competitors have it so you can either download it or read it on-line, but not both.

2.    Follett eBooks have one standard interface no matter where or how you are accessing them.  Some competitors have a different interface depending on the publisher.

3.    Follett eBooks can be simply read online without logging in or checking it out so that once it is closed on the device, it is immediately available to others to access.

4.    Follett eBooks can also be checked out with a circulation time completely controlled by the librarian and the can be checked back in by the user before the circulation time is over.  Most others do not allow the early check in which would make the eBook inaccessible for a longer period of time.  Also, the competition’s circulation time may be fixed or need to be changed through the company.

5.    Follett sells two types of eBooks 1-1 where only one person can access it at a time and Unlimited Simultaneous Access eBooks (USA) where there is no restriction.

In order to access the eBooks, we give the school a free browser eBook manager called FollettShelf.  Also, you would get the MARC records for the books to put into your library system.  Students here can create reviews and you can generate reports on usage as well as determine the circulation period and any restrictions that you would like.  For example, if you only want 5th graders access to certain eBooks that is possible.  

In addition, on the FollettShelf, we can add access to other digital content that we sell.  First are some interactive eBooks such as Lerner, ABDO Interactive Books and ABDO eBoost all of which are unlimited simultaneous accessed.  These are a one time purchase.  We also have Catalist Digital which are audiobooks that can be streamed on the computer or downloaded to a smart device.  These are a one time purchase.

The FollettShelf can house any subscription services that we offer so all your online resourse are access in one place.  Here is a link to the ones that we currently have:  http://www.titlewave.com/intro/digital/index.html.  You can get a free trial of any of the items that I mentioned.

 

New eBook usage statistics

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Read about the popularity of our eBooks: Library Journal Study Results

A New Experience from our eBooks and FollettShelf

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

On September 21, the new FollettShelf and eBook Reader will be coming out.  With these improvements, my previous posts about types of eBooks to purchase has expanded to include anything that supports your program.  Here are just a few of the features:

  • New support for reading on small devices (smartphones and smaller tablet devices)
  • Reflowable text
  • A simpler checkout process and new support for holds
  • New notebook functions that allow patrons to continue to access notes even after eBooks are
  • returned, take notes across books, and support project-based learning
  • Offline/download improvements that make it easier for students and staff to use your content
  • anywhere at any time
  • • Resource links will be available from each eBook to allow the student to easily discover other
  • related digital content

This all comes with no subscriptions or minimum purchase.

Ipad Digital Reader

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

Here is what I would currently recommend if your school has class sets of iPads (This may change in the future so please contact me)

For younger children, create usernames and logins for each of the iPads on the FollettShelf and log the iPad user into to the reader app.  This way when anyone opens the app, they can easily get more eBooks on the iPad.  The only issue for this is that they will not be able to create individual notes and bookmarks for each book since it is a general login.  If they wanted to do reviews they could but they would not have their name appear, which is probably a good thing.

Older children could access the books using the method above, but if they have their own login, they can log into the reader app and get books.  They could then take notes if they are reading the book in the reader online (not downloaded).  These notes will be available any time that they access the book again and the books that they checked out on the iPad online can be accessed by them on computers as well as their notes and bookmarks.

Suggestions for eBooks

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

 

 Here are some examples of eBooks for your school.  When the HTML reader comes out, this list can be expanded to include popular fiction titles.

eBook Materials Elementary with examples:

  • Picture Books (Raven by Gerald McDermott)
  •  Story Books (First Day Jitters and Last Day Blues both by Julie Denneberg)
  • Reference Materials (Sorting the Elements the Story of the Periodic Table by Ian Barber)
  • Nonfiction (What Do You Do With a Tail Like This by Steve Jenkins)
  • Poetry (Swirl Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman)
  • High Interest (Ex. Eew! Icky, Sticky, Gross Stuff in Your Body By Pam Rosenberg and Technically, It’s Not My Fault Concrete Poems by John Grandits)
  • Graphic Novels (The Salem Witch Trials by Joeming W Dunn and The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, the Robin Hood of Korea by Anne Sibley O’Brien and Attack of the mutant lunch lady by Scott Nickel)

 eBook Materials Secondary with examples:

  • Novels used in Classroom (Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (Yes you could access this in Gutenberg but our reader allows for individual notes/bookmarks.)
  • Support for Classroom Novels (Bloom’s How to Write About Shakespeare’s Comedies by Paul Gleed and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice by David Nicol)
  • Reference Materials (Atoms, Molecules, and Compounds by Phillip Manning and the Encyclopedia of World Religions)
  • Poetry  (My Own True Name New and Selected Poems for Young Adults by Pat Mora)
  • High Interest (Michael Jackson King of Pop by Pratt, Mary K and Monsters of Mystery by Hamilton, Sue L.)
  • Graphic Novels (Yummy the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by Neri, Greg and Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Manga Edition by Sexton, Adam)

Instructions for FollettShelf

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Here is a school that has created instructions for using FollettShelf.

FollettShelf Demo

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Here are some videos of my demonstration with a school in Victoria, Australia:

Info on Follett eBooks

Monday, February 27th, 2012

1.       Because a school purchases eBooks and not leases them, there is no subscription fees, no cost to access them and the terms of use cannot change from year to year.  Just pay one time for only the books that you want.   As a librarian, I purchased eBooks from Follett over 5 years ago and now these can be access on more devices and have more features then when I originally bought them.  My former library gets all this, with no other fees since then.

2.    2.    We also have a free online school digital manager called FollettShelf for any school that purchases eBooks from us.  Students can login and access the ebooks from here.  You can also have the MARC records and access them through your library system.

3.       3. We now have over 100,000 eBooks, over 10,000 Unlimited Simultaneously Accessed eBooks and other items.  These can be accessed through our free FollettShelf Online Catalog or through your catalog via a MARC record. 

4.      3.  We have an app for both the iPad and Android.   Any books that you have purchased in the past as well as in the future can utilize this.* Users can move books from being checkout online that can be accessed anywhere to download on the tablet for offline use.

* The rights to the eBooks are determined by the publisher.  The good thing is that these rights are locked in when the eBook is ordered.  Speaking of that, make sure that you look at the title details on Titlewave to see if the rights/ways of access meet your needs.  Here are some comments on these

1.       Full-featured Online Reader: Our Follett Reader with advanced tools, including keyword search, dictionary, note taking, highlighting, and bookmarking (Adobe Flash® 10.0 plug-in required).

Pretty much all books have this.  If students log in with their account on FollettShelf and accesses the book, it will save all their notes, highlights and bookmarks so that when they accessed the book again, they can use these.

2.       Basic Online Reader: HTML Reader with all of the standard features, including keyword search and dictionary.

All books have this.  This is to deal with non-Flash products (iPad and iPhone specifically).  The link to the eBook will check for Flash and if not available will ask if one wants to read it with this non-Flash reader.  When the app comes out for the iPad, this will not be needed.  However, you would still need this on the iPhone. (This too will be addressed in the future.)

3.       Offline Reader: Download our stand-alone Follett Reader with advanced tools, including keyword search, dictionary, note taking, highlighting, and bookmarking (Adobe Flash® 10.0 plug-in required).

Most books have this (USA does not).  If reading offline is a need with the book, make sure this is listed.  A vast majority of users opt for reading online rather than downloading the book to a computer.

4.       Also, when you preview the eBook in Titlewave, please click on the Information button at the top.  This will tell you how much can be printed, copied and if read aloud is an option.   The copying will copy the text but the printing will print exactly how the page appears with graphics.  Even if copying is not available, if you select a section of text and right click to make a note, when you print the note, the selected text will print as well.

5.    4.    Individual titles can be ordered and you have a full preview of each.  We do have bundles of eBooks that is mostly as a help to librarians who want assistance in choosing eBooks and those titles can also be ordered individually.  

Why Choose FollettShelf (Part 2)

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

In addition to managing eBooks online, FollettShelf can also access our audiobooks from Catalist Digital and Lerner Interactive Books as well as quality databases subscriptions (if purchased through Titlewave) such as:

Capstone Interactive Library includes an online collection of up to 450 enhanced digital books and provides reading practice time over the Internet. Each book includes audio that reads the text aloud, and embedded online activities to extend the learning environment.

 PebbleGo, the award winning K-3 database for reading and research, includes PebbleGo Animals and / or PebbleGo Earth and Space. Both databases feature leveled text, read-aloud audio, highlighting, educational games, and videos that support high interest topics for your youngest researchers.

 PowerKids Life Science is an online science resource specifically designed for learners in grades 3 to 6. Comprised of curriculum-correlated content, PowerKids Life Science promotes digital literacy and 21st-century learning skills while offering research, report, and homework help.

 Rourke interactive e-books are all built using state of the art Flash technology. Our books incorporate read along audio and word highlighted text to provide fluency help for students. Many of our titles feature video and animation to improve learning. Rourkes interactive e-books are compatible with Mac’s and PCs and will play through nearly any web browser.

 Teen Health & Wellness provides real life and real answers for teens, 24/7, with credible, trusted information, comprehensive curricular support and self-help tools