Introduction
Welcome to the sixth thing in 12 Things SWKLS. This month we will be learning about Digital Book eLending through the State Library. This lesson will give an overview of the various digital book options available through the State Library of Kansas. Through these services, you and your patrons can check out and listen to audiobooks or read eBooks on smartphones, handheld devices, and computers.
The activities for this lesson are due October 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm central time and are worth 2 credit hours. Estimated work time: 1-2 hours
If you would rather complete an alternate topic, please go to the alternate topic page and pick one from the list.
All of the patron resources for the digital book platforms can be found at: http://kslib.info/digitalbooks. The State Library has a Librarians Resources section which can be found by going to: http://kslib.info/101/Librarians.
What you’ll learn in this lesson:
- Basic information about the digital book services available through the State Library.
- How to find which services are compatible with certain devices.
- Updates to the services.
- How to find instructions.
- How to find promotional material.
If you get stuck and need help, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Content
The State Library has facilitated a cooperative arrangement which allows all libraries and the patrons that they serve to access a collection of digital ebooks and audiobooks. Materials purchased for the shared collection by any Kansas library are available to users throughout the state. Most require a Kansas Library eCard for use.
Exercises: (Due October 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm CDT)
Tools you will need:
- A computer or Internet enabled device.
- Your library’s tablet would work perfectly for this!!
- Compatible devices can be found here: http://kslib.info/799/Instructions-Devices
- An Internet connection
- Your Kansas Library eCard
- A printer
- An email address (may not be needed for all)
Activity 1: (45 min)
Activity 2: (10 – 15 min)
- You may have already done this in the last lesson. If you did already, and still have it you can skip the next steps.
- Print out the Digital Book eLending Pamphlet (directions on where to find it are below):
- Note: This document is designed to be printed two sided.
- Go to the State Library of Kansas Website.
- Find the Librarians Tab and hover your mouse over it.
- Click on Promotional Materials under the Statewide Services section.
- Click on the link or the Digital Book eLending pamphlet and print it out.
- Go to the Librarian Training Page and find the Librarian FAQ Sheet. (This can be found under the Digital Book eLending Section.) This is a great resource to study and keep at the front desk or your desk for any questions you may receive.
Activity 3: (30 min)
- Go to the Digital Book eLending Page, http://kslib.info/128/Digital-Book-eLending
- Click on the Instructions & Devices Page link.
3.Find a service you have never tried before or would like to learn more about that will work with a device you or your library has.
4. Print out the directions.
5. Follow the instructions for this service to check out or view a book.
Activity 4: (10 – 15 min)
- Go to the State Library of Kansas Page.
- Hover over the Librarians tab with your mouse and click on Statistics under the Digital Book eLending Section.
- Once the Statistics page opens, view and open the Freading Circulation Stats for 2016.
Activity 5: (10-15 min)
- Go to the Promotional Materials Page under the Librarians Tab on the State Library of Kansas site.
- (Hover on Librarians tab, and click on Promotional Materials under Statewide Services).
- View the materials that are available and print out any you may want to feature in your library.
- Printing isn’t required, we just want you to know what’s available.
Activity 6: (10-15 min)
- Take this quick quiz. I promise it’s shorter than the others!
- Answer the following by posting a comment down below:
- Which service did you try out?
- What did you think?
- Do you have patrons who would use this service?
- What did you learn?
- How many patrons are using Freading in your area?
- Were you surprised by this number?
- Respond to at least one comment down below.
- Which service did you try out?
Extras:
- Tell someone about the service
- Help a patron or coworker checkout a book
22 comments
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1. Cloud Library
1.1-looks nice. Hopefully will be able to get alot more books on it.
2.2-yes
2. how to use cloud library.
3. 41
4. yes. I thought more people would be using cloud library, not freading.
Yes, more books would be great!!
So you said you thought more people would be using cloud instead of freading — how many do you have using freading?
I would think more people would use cloud library over freading, too. It seems easier to use, in my opinion.
Author
It looks like Hamilton County has 41 people using Freading.
Cloud Library currently doesn’t have stats by town or zip, but there are stats for the whole state that you can view here: http://kslib.info/178/Statistics
If you look at the stats for the whole state, Cloud Library has a lot more patrons and circulations per month than Freading. There were 19,767 patrons and 10,368 checkouts from Cloud Library in August. In August, Freading had 84 unique patrons and 283 checkouts. I got these stats from here: http://kslib.info/DocumentCenter/View/4973
1. Total BooX and Enki
1. Pretty Cool!
2. Yes!
2. Learned how to download Total BooX and how to access Enki thru website. (Hope Simply E gets going in the near future)
3. 6 (2 Scott County Library — guess who??? and 4 at Scott County Schools)
4. No not really — not fond of the app nor comfortable with it so don’t really promote it 🙁
1. Which service did you try out? Total Boox
a. What did you think? It’s ok…not my favorite.
b. Do you have patrons who would use this service? Yes, they would like the “no holds”, “no limits”.
2. What did you learn? I learned about Total Boox and how to use Enki through my Freeding app.
3. How many patrons are using Freading in your area? 6
4. Were you surprised by this number? No. We haven’t really promoted it as much as the other platforms because it isn’t my favorite mostly because it hasn’t had “ease of use.” If I was more familiar with it and used it more often, I could promo it more and get more users.
Im not sure I can appreciate, as a reader myself or as a librarian, the idea that books don’t have a due date. (or can multiple people check out the same book?) It is frustrating enough to wait for books to become available on OneClickDigital. 25 days seems like a long time to check out an audio book
Author
Caleb,
It is hard to used to books not having due dates. In some platforms and on some books multiple people can check out the same book.
OneClickdigital has a checkout of 21 days. I saw that you put up 25 up there. I wasn’t sure if that was a typo or not. 🙂 21 days does seem kind of long, but Dodge City Public Library just changed the checkout period from 14 days to 21 days on a lot of their items and it has been successful for them. Patrons can always return books earlier if they want.
I think like you Stephanie! If I got more familiar with the different formats I could promote them more. Guess I’m old-fashioned, I prefer to hold a book in my hands but can see advantages to having a stack of books on a tablet instead of a separate bag of books on a trip!
I tried Total Boox on my Iphone 6S and really liked it! I don’t plan on reading books on my phone, but I couldn’t log into the library’s Nexus tablet, but I have a Kindle Fire at home that I want to use Total Boox on. I think the selection of ebooks is great!
I think we have a few patrons who would use Total Boox and/or other ebook services provided by the State Library, but for the most part I don’t think our demographics are suited for ebooks.
I learned how to browse for and check out books on total Boox.
No one is my area is using Freading. This doesn’t surprise me because ebooks are not popular in our small county.
Author
Stephanie,
I sent you information that should help with your library’s tablet!
I am glad to hear that you liked Total Boox! I haven’t used a few of these services in awhile and an planning on completing this lesson myself and I think that might be one I try! I use Cloud Library a lot, but haven’t branched out too much. I bet you have a handful of patrons that would love checking out eBooks.
We were just like you we had no users of Freading I just promote Cloud Library more because it is so easy to use.
I was surprised our Freading number was so high! We have 45.
I honestly thought at first maybe our numbers would be higher since we seem to have higher statistics for our library size with some of the other resources…but I guess I’ll be happily pleased that we do have patrons using it since we have not promoted it either!
I tried Total Boox, Freading, and Britantica E-STAX. I liked Total Boox more since you have one more step in Freading which I think our patrons won’t like. I can think of a teacher that would like Britantica E-STAX. I learned that I need to access Digital E-Book Lending more often because by the next time I go into it changes have been made. We have no one using Freading. I am not surprised by this at all because we haven’t promoted it at all.
Author
Wow! Great work Ruby. I think Total Boox is easier to use as well. I need to access more of the services through the State Library as well. I use OneClick almost everyday, but am not as faithful as using the other services.
I tried Cloud Library. I thought it was easy to use and search in. We have a few that currently use Cloud, but I think more would use it. I learned how to use Cloud Library. We have no one using Freading, not suprized by the number because I was not aware of this until recently! I may look at Freading another time just to see how it compares to OneClick and Cloud.
Author
Audrey,
I have always thought Cloud Library is fairly easy to use as well. It also loads fast which is nice.
1. Tumble Books
1. I thought it was neat!
2. I think if I informed patrons of it they would use it.
2.I learned how to use Tumble Books.
3.45
4. I was surprised since I hadn’t heard of it I felt like that was a lot of people.
1. I have used Cloud Library for quite a while and really like that I can switch devices & it keeps my place. I have also used Total Boox but don’t like the book selection or the browse feature as well. I tried Freading for this, I think it is harder to use & I wasn’t able to move between devices on a book. Our library has 2012 Kindle Fire tablets, and they require work-arounds for most of the apps.
2. We haven’t really promoted ebooks. There might be some who would use the apps. There is a good selection of nonfiction on Total Boox.
3.1
4. Not surprised since we haven’t promoted it.
I haven’t had time this month to investigate Britannica E-STax but from some comments above it looks like I need to do that & maybe promote it to the school.
I tried out Freading. I am spoiled by the all “in app” search, download, and reading. I didn’t like that I had to go to the website to search. Also was slightly disappoionted with some of my search results. Yes, I could see patrons using this to supplement their online reading.
I learned there were printable bookmarks for online resources – neat! Also that there are instruction by device – so helpful!
As of Sept 30, there had been 45 Freading circulation checkouts. Since some of our other online resources were being used more frequently, I thought maybe this would be too. Of course, we don’t market it like we should.
I tried Cloud Library. It was so easy to check out a book. We do not have any Freading users in our library. I was not surprised as I haven’t promoted it. I want to try and promote this service with our patrons.
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