Overview
Clearview Regional Senior High School in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, serves approximately 1,500 students in grades nine through 12. In January of 2013, the school library began subscribing to EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection, which contains more than 5,600 titles that support a quality learning experience across all academic subject areas. Designed specifically for high school students and educators, this collection offers an easy, cost-effective way for libraries to provide full-text eBook coverage that aligns with their school's curricula, as well as complement other database resources from EBSCO. With content that includes a selection of classic literary works, important historical documents, and general reference materials, EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection is helping the Clearview Regional High School Library to better support students and educators.
EBSCO eBooks are ubiquitous and quality items. It’s a well-curated collection.
EBSCO eBooks are ubiquitous and quality items. It’s a well-curated collection.
Challenges
According to school librarian Arlen Kimmelman, the changing information needs of students at Clearview Regional High led her to pursue an eBook subscription for the library. The school does not supply portable reading devices to its students; however, several students began coming to school with new tablets they’d received as holiday gifts.
“The students really were the impetus for us to get more e-material for them so that they could use these devices at school as well as at home,” Kimmelman said.
In addition, the library was working with representatives of the special education department to devise strategies for meeting the needs of students with varying learning styles.
“We were trying to figure out ways that we could accommodate differentiated learning styles and all of the nuances that occur,” Kimmelman explained. “This even included the new laws about concussions, and the accommodations schools are required to offer students with temporary learning differences.”
With these challenges in mind, Kimmelman began a trial of EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection during the fall of 2012. She also obtained a trial of a competitor’s eBook product. Kimmelman sent an email to the Clearview staff and asked them to review both resources and vote for the one they liked best. Ultimately, EBSCO’s product won the vote.
Solutions
Kimmelman said four aspects of EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection appealed to her. First, an annual subscription would offer users unlimited, simultaneous access to the collection. Second, new titles are continually added to the collection at no additional cost to the school. Third, the content could be viewed online or downloaded. Finally, the availability of MARC record data meant the eBooks content could be easily integrated with both the school’s EBSCOhost research interface and its electronic library catalog.
Kimmelman provides students and teachers with access to eBooks through a variety of channels. Students and teachers can access the collection via an image link on the library home page, a link in the left-hand menu on the library homepage, and via the catalog “eCollections” page. EBSCO eBooks also turn up in library catalog searches if the user changes the material type to eBook.
“Students need to be able to find resources no matter what they do, so I’m giving them multiple access points,” Kimmelman said. “They can stumble upon them more frequently that way.”
The school library officially launched EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection in January of 2013.
Benefits & Results
Kimmelman said that the use of eBooks at Clearview Regional High has increased since implementation of EBSCO’s eBook High School Collection. She has been pleased to see that the titles being downloaded span across disciplines, from English Language Arts, history, psychology, and world language to math, science, technology, health, and gym.
“When my library assistant or I do a search, inevitably something from EBSCO eBooks come up,” Kimmelman said. “They’re ubiquitous and quality items. Everything that we’ve pulled up has been useful and on-topic. It’s a well-curated collection.”
Furthermore, the eBook collection is helping the school to meet auditory and visual accommodations mandated by law in certain individualized education plans.
“By showing we [can] accommodate a student's special reading needs while at the same time providing the same rigor and information the other students receive in other formats, the library helps the school maintain its compliance with regulations,” Kimmelman explained. “Since EBSCO suits our needs so well, we've even stopped comparing other vendors’ options to EBSCO. We're settled and happy with EBSCO’s products and services.”