LBCC LIBRARY COMMUNITY UPDATE LCU 8 March 17, 2003 by Henry DuBois

COMING SOON TO YOUR LIBRARY… DVDs! Library E-Books!

Through a generous grant from the LBCC Foundation the library is pleased to announce that digital video discs (DVDs) soon will be among the information resources it provides to the campus community. The $750 provided by the grant will be used to select English and foreign language feature films which will be of particular interest to students enrolled in music, film, and language courses. The new collection is expected to be available for loan by mid-May; it will be located near the elevators, adjacent to the existing VHS video and audio CD collections. Library DVDs can be viewed in the library or checked out for three days for viewing at home. Also on the horizon for availability this semester is access through the library to a landmark collection of over 4,100 electronic books. Through a collaborative agreement with the California Community College League, LBCC Libraries will share "ownership" of these e-book titles, which support eleven subject disciplines, plus vocational guidance and general reference. An online "tour" of the e-book experience is available at: http://www.netlibraryebooktoolkit.com/library_patron_support/support_ebookdemo.asp How will you check out an e-book? Look in Voyager, LBCC's online catalog. E-books are listed, along with traditional books, and like traditional books, searching can be by author, title, subject, or keyword. If the book you want is an e-book, the catalog will say so, and provide a link. Click on the link to display the book on your desktop computer. If a book is checked out by one library user, can another have it too? No, the same e-book, like bound books, can't be used by two people at the same time, unless the library has paid for multiple copies. If a lot of libraries are sharing these titles, won't it mean that they're always checked out? No, because the "loan" period is much shorter than it is for traditional books. E-books are checked out only during the period when they're in actual use. When you're finished reading/consulting them, they're automatically checked back in for others to use. Reading a book on my pc doesn't sound very inviting-what's the advantage? When a student is looking for information on a topic for a research paper she/he finds books on that topic, looks in the index to see what chapters and pages have the information needed, and goes to those areas of the book to gather the quotations, statistics, and other factual information to support the paper's conclusion(s). Often these books are consulted, rather than read from cover to cover. Similarly, manuals, guides, cookbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias are used for short periods to extract needed information. The library's e-books will serve the same needs, and they'll have the advantage of "anytime/anywhere" availability. Readers don't have to come to the library to read them, and note taking can be done with cut-and-paste ease. Can I print pages from an e-book? Yes, individual pages and excerpts can be saved and printed. Of course, copyright regulations prohibit the printing or downloading of complete works. For more information contact: Monica White, Collection Development Librarian (562) 938-4582 email: mwhite@lbcc.edu