“The company has provided a chapter level approach to the e-books, with individual DOIs assigned. The HTML or PDF documents are fully searchable and can be downloadedÂby individual chapterÂand printed. The service allows unlimited, simultaneous access to the e-books. There are no course-pack or other restrictions. A key differentiator is that libraries will own in perpetuity any e-books they buy and can store and archive them locally if they wish. The company hopes this model, combined with attractive pricing, will accelerate the adoption of its e-books in academic and corporate markets.”
I like the fact that the material is sold, not licensed, to the libraries but to be honest, I’m still skeptical about the whole e-book thing. Sorry, I just love the printed book.
Michael Sauers is the Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
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One Reply to “Enhanced SpringerLink Offers eBook Collection”
Michael,
As you know, I’m with you on the print book thing–but I wonder whether the Springer collection might not be a valuable addition to the “pseudobook” category that NetLibrary and Safari do so well: That is, book-length texts where expected use is of a few paragraphs, a few pages–not reading the full text.
In such cases, digital delivery with or without reading from the screen makes a good deal of sense.
Michael,
As you know, I’m with you on the print book thing–but I wonder whether the Springer collection might not be a valuable addition to the “pseudobook” category that NetLibrary and Safari do so well: That is, book-length texts where expected use is of a few paragraphs, a few pages–not reading the full text.
In such cases, digital delivery with or without reading from the screen makes a good deal of sense.