EDITOR'S NOTES
Ways and Means for Leveraging E-Resources
by Dick Kaser
In this issue, we are pleased to present the results of a data-rich study by the ReadersFirst Working Group on the licensing options and costs for maintaining digital collections in public libraries. The report follows up on an earlier study we published in 2019 on the same subject (infotoday.com/cilmag/nov19/Blackwell-Mason-May--Ebook%20Availability-Pricing-and-Licensing.shtml).
In their new study, the researchers looked at the digital availability of 204 popular print titles in ebook and audiobook format in the U.S. and Canada, comparing the detailed results based on the offerings of four vendors in the U.S. and three vendors in Canada. Use the extensive data in this report to consider your own options for building a viable, sustainable digital collection or to help explain to your funders the challenges you face in maintaining a digital collection. (There’s also a related story in the Online Searcher section of the May issue: “Untangling the Real Cost of Ebooks to Libraries” by Steve Coffman. You can find it here: infotoday.com/cilmag/may25/Coffman--Untangling-the-Real-Cost-of-Ebooks-to-Libraries.shtml.)
Two other CIL features in this issue explore ways to leverage other digital technologies that present challenges and opportunities for libraries and schools. A makerspace case study by Melissa Taylor (Fayetteville Public Library in Arkansas) reports on a summer program for teens who were challenged to create merchantable products and then commercialize them, thus leveraging the makerspace as an entrepreneurial space that uses technology to also teach small-business-management skills.
The topic of plagiarism and its most recent incarnation—aigiarism (the use of AI to do school work without attribution)—is addressed by Patricia Sarles (coordinator of library services for New York City public schools). In her case study, Sarles describes a workshop she conducted for librarians and teachers, offering tips for how to turn the tables by giving and supporting assignments that leverage AI skills development over the composition writing assignments of the past.
There’s a lot of food for thought in this issue. May it inform and inspire you to reach new heights.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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