Netskills Training Suite, University of Newcastle Tuesday 27th October 2009, 9.30 – 16.30
Course Outline
This course opens the door to a new electronic format and is designed to support librarians who are beginning to set up e-book collections. In the last eight years, there has been an unprecedented growth in the publishing of e-books with an increasing array of different types available for all sectors. The programme will give you the opportunity to explore different e-books including a range of commercially-published and free reference works, monographs, textbooks, and fiction. Examples will include individual titles and also collections of e-books, such as those offered by NetLibrary, Credo, MyiLibrary and Oxford University Press. The course will also facilitate consideration of the new opportunities e-books offer for librarians and users in academic, public and special library and information services, and will explore the significant collection management and promotional issues which challenge information and library staff.
The course is designed to offer:
* an understanding of the nature of e-books
* a familiarity with range of commercially-produced e-books from publishers and aggregators
* a familiarity with range of free e-books
* an appreciation of the advantages and disadvantages of the medium
* an appreciation of the collection management issues associated with bibliographical control, selection, acquisition, access, evaluation, licensing, and archiving
* a familiarity with the different ways of promoting awareness and use of e-books.
In addition to talks by the presenters, the course includes practical exercises. One will allow delegates to explore examples of online e-books in a structured way. Others will comprise activities during which delegates will examine the major collection management, and marketing and promotion issues. Plenary sessions led by the course presenters will be held to enable delegates to discuss their findings in the light of current research and professional practice.
Course Presenters: Ray Lonsdale and Chris Armstrong Chris Armstrong and Ray Lonsdale have been working and offering courses in the field of e-books, e-resources and collection management for the past 12 years, both in the UK and abroad. Up until recently, they were members of the Joint Information Systems Committee e-Book Working Group, which has been promoting the publishing and uptake of e-books in further and higher education and sixth form colleges. Ray is Reader in Information Studies at Aberystwyth University and a Director of Information Automation Limited. He has specialised in the field of collection management and, in particular, in the management of electronic collections. Ray has published extensively and has edited several national and international professional and academic journals. Chris runs a consultancy, research and training company, Information Automation Limited, which he set up in 1987. The company specialises in all forms of electronic resources and in electronic publishing, a topic on which Chris has taught a module in the Department in Aberystwyth. Chris is a regular writer, and sits on the editorial boards of three professional journals. He is also a National Councillor of CILIP.