8 ways to jump into eBooks

These strategies will help you design an eBook implementation

eBook-webAs districts increasingly move to digital content, many school leaders are chucking printed textbooks in favor of the more interactive content that eBooks and digital texts can offer.

Ann Fondren, retired district library coordinator for Spotsylvania County Schools (Va.), outlined a number of key considerations district library media specialists and administrators must keep in mind as they move to eBooks during “Take the Plunge with eBooks,” an edWeb webinar.

“I believe it’s eBooks and print books that can live quite happily in your library,” Fondren said. “eBooks are just another format to enhance our collections–I don’t believe eBooks eliminate the need for print books or will anytime soon.”…Read More

This is the hottest Common Core project in schools right now

What’s a project that combines technology skills, creativity, writing and a sense of accomplishment? Look no further than eBooks.

eBooks-project-schools From webinars to iTunesU courses, and from word-of-mouth to Twitter devotion, everyone in education is talking eBooks. And though eBooks are suitable for a wide range of uses, some of the most innovative teachers are using eBooks as classroom projects, allowing students to gain the Common Core skills they need while letting their creativity to shine.

During a recent webinar, “Students as eBook Creators,” hosted by edweb.net, Carl Harvey, school librarian at North Elementary School in Noblesville, Ind., and former president of the American Association of School Libraries (AASL), discussed how classrooms across the country are using eBook publishing tools to help craft student projects that use Common Core requirements. [Join the eBooks community at http://www.edweb.net/e-books]

The Common Core, said Harvey, asks students to not only better present their critical thinking skills using online tools, but requires them to know many digital literacy skills, and one project that incorporates all of these characteristics is creating an eBook.…Read More

6 ways eBooks can support Common Core

eBooks could help fulfill new standards’ requirements

eBooks-Common As schools begin implementing the Common Core State Standards, experts say that this could be an opportune time for districts to explore eBooks, specifically because eBooks’ technology features can help fulfill many Common Core requirements.

“Right now, schools are investing in a lot of information texts (nonfiction) and hoping to balance these with literacy texts (fiction) for instruction, research, and recreational reading. It’s now, when schools are looking to better implement Common Core Standards that eBooks should come into play,” said Carl Harvey, school librarian for North Elementary School in Noblesville, Ind., during and edweb.net webinar.

[Harvey recently discussed the first steps of eBook implementation: “What to consider for eBook implementation.”]…Read More

What to consider for eBook implementation

Library expert answers the question: ‘What comes first? eBook content or device?’

ebooks-schoolseBook implementation is becoming crucial for schools and districts as part of the digital content movement. As mobile devices become a classroom staple, printed books are becoming a staple of the past. But as more schools begin to consider eBooks, many administrators are asking “Where do we start?”

According to Carl Harvey, school librarian at North Elementary School in Noblesville, IN, and past president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the first question most administrators ask is “What should we focus on? The content or the device?”

Sometimes it’s hard to consider because you’re wondering ‘do we get devices that are eBook-specific, like Kindles or Nooks, or do we want iPads and use iTunes U? mused Harvey. Or then you ask ‘well, should we focus on a massive platform for content and use whatever devices are compatible for that platform?’…Read More

Children’s publisher developing app for eReading

eBooks make up only 5 percent of Scholastic's sales of children's books now, but the company hopes Storia will change that.

A leading publisher of children’s books is taking a big step into the electronic market: Scholastic Inc. is developing an app called Storia, which includes around 1,300 eBooks and multimedia eBooks that can be bought directly from the publisher or from retailers.

Such favorite picture book series as “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and “Ready, Freddy!” will be in digital format for the first time. The app also will feature games, quizzes, interactive stories, an electronic dictionary, and a virtual bookshelf that kids can organize.

Scholastic Media President Deborah Forte says the idea is to make eBooks “more accessible and more relevant.”…Read More

Study: eBook piracy is on the rise

As the popularity of eBooks and eReaders continues to increase, eBook piracy is also growing rapidly, ReadWriteWeb reports. According to Attributor, a company that develops anti-piracy and content monitoring solutions, the daily demand for pirated books can be estimated at up to 3 million people worldwide. The company’s latest study also highlights that the total interest in documents from file-sharing sites has increased more than 50 percent over the course of the last year. Interestingly, eBook piracy is moving away from large sites like RapidShare to smaller sites and those that specialize in pirated eBooks. Unlike the music industry, the leading publishing houses haven’t resorted to suing eBook pirates yet, but while the publishing industry has been more open about allowing DRM-free content on the market, most of the eBook content that is for sale today is still crippled by DRM. Sharing books—just like sharing music—is deeply ingrained in our culture, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that a lot of people would use these illegal conduits to access pirated content…

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Two eBooks cost more than Amazon hardcovers

Readers of eBooks might not be able to turn paper pages, lend their copies to friends, or file them away on living room bookshelves. But until now, they did have the comfort of knowing that they paid less for their eBooks than for hardcovers, reports the New York Times. Last week, on Amazon.com, the price for the eBook version of “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett—published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group USA—was $19.99; the hardcover edition was $19.39. For  “Don’t Blink,” by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, publisher Little, Brown & Co. charged $14.99 for the eBook, while Amazon priced the hardcover at $14. Customers, unaccustomed to seeing a digital edition more expensive than the hardcover, howled at the price discrepancy and promptly voiced their outrage with negative comments and one-star reviews on Amazon. Several major publishers said those two books were the first they knew of that cost more as eBooks than in hardcover on Amazon. The skirmish over prices is possible because of deals that publishers negotiated with Amazon this year that allowed the publishers to set their own prices on eBooks, while Amazon continues to choose the discount from the list price on hardcovers. That upended a previous understanding by Kindle customers, who were used to paying only $9.99 for an eBook…

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Amazon launches ‘Kindle for the Web’

Amazon has unveiled a program that allows Kindle electronic books to be sampled in a web browser, AFP reports. “Kindle for the Web” is featured on the online retail giant’s web site, Amazon.com, and book samples can be embedded on other web sites or shared through Facebook and Twitter. Users can click on a “Read First Chapter Free” button on selected Amazon books, and a browser window opens featuring the sample chapter. The eBook also can be purchased directly from the browser. “With Kindle for the Web, it’s easier than ever for customers to sample Kindle books—there’s no downloading or installation required,” Amazon Kindle director Dorothy Nicholls said in a statement. “Kindle for the Web is also a great way for bloggers and authors to promote books on their web sites by letting visitors read a chapter without leaving their site.” Bloggers or web site owners who sign on to “Kindle for the Web” can earn referral fees from Amazon when customers buy books using the links on their web sites, Amazon said…

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Survey: Children like eBooks, parents not so much

 

A new report reveals that kids might read more if they had access to eReaders.
A new report reveals that kids might read more if they had access to eReaders.

 

Children and teens are ready to try eBooks, with some thinking that a bigger selection of electronic texts would make reading for fun even more fun, according to a new study. But a solid majority of parents aren’t planning to join the digital revolution.…Read More

Supporters of eBooks say they make readers less isolated, more social

Volumes have been written about technology’s ability to connect people. But burying one’s nose in a book has always been somewhat isolating, reports the Seattle Times—so what about a device that occupies the evolving intersection between? “Strangers constantly ask about it,” Michael Hughes, a communications associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said of his iPad, which he uses to read a mix of novels and non-fiction. “It’s almost like having a new baby.” An iPad owner for four months, Hughes said people were much more likely to approach him now than when he toted a book. With the price of e- readers coming down, sales of the flyweight devices are rising. Last month, Amazon reported that so far this year, Kindle sales had tripled over last year’s. When Amazon cut Kindle’s price in June to $189 from $259, over the next month Amazon sold 180 eBooks for every 100 hardcovers. Social mores surrounding the act of reading alone in public might be changing along with the increased popularity of eBooks. Suddenly, the lone, unapproachable reader at the corner table seems less alone. Given that some eReaders can display books while connecting online, there’s a chance the erstwhile bookworm is already plugged into a conversation somewhere, said Paul Levinson, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University…

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Barnes & Noble launches eBook software for students

One-third of students are comfortable with eBooks, according to a recent study.
One-third of students are comfortable with eBooks, according to a recent study.

Barnes & Noble has joined the growing list of companies and organizations giving college students electronic alternatives to their pricey textbooks with the book retailer’s free NOOKstudy software that could save students 40 percent at the bookstore.

The NOOKstudy software will be usable on PCs, Macs, the Apple iPad, and, of course, the Nook when the program is released in August. More than 500,000 free eBooks will be available through the software, according to the Barnes & Noble web site, including some texts that might be required for college students.

Barnes & Noble will partner with learning management giant Blackboard in its NOOKstudy launch, allowing students who use Blackboard’s online learning platform to buy and read texts available in the NOOKstudy library, which will be stocked with more than 1 million eBooks in all.…Read More

Are standalone eBook readers doomed?

New research suggests that devices like the iPad, which let you read books and much more, are likely to dominate the market so fully that standalone eBook readers have little hope of hanging on to much market share, Yahoo! reports. eReaders are being assaulted on all sides by all manner of gadgetry: tablets, smart phones, and laptops large and small. As screens get bigger and crisper on all of the devices, the need for standalone reading devices inevitably will shrink, according to market research firm Informa Telecoms & Media—especially as online book purchasing markets develop and streamline into something easier to manage. After all, who wants to carry two devices when they can tote just one? Informa posits that 2014 will mark the high point of sales for standalone eReaders, peaking around 14 million devices. After that, “multipurpose devices” will pick up the slack, Informa predicts, though its analysts figure a niche will linger for low-cost readers that have no networking features and that consumers can treat less carefully than more expensive devices. Imagine, for example, gifts for children or devices to take on vacation: As with netbooks before them, they’d be no great loss if damaged or misplaced…

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