eBook News

 A friend of mine just reminded me that often we go to Google first to search for something, but all search engines have limitations. Here are some good tools to look for when searching for books: www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedias, monographs, and magazines. www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where you can access the nearest rare book you need. https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, and research protocols. www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries. http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science. www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed. www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of ...

  College Students Still Prefer Print Despite Growing  eTextbook  Popularity goSkagit SEATTLE, Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Most college students still prefer print textbooks over   eTextbooks , though the digital medium is gaining   favor. Direct Textbook surveyed more than 1,100 college students and found that: 54% prefer print textbooks for academic learning 40% prefer eTextbooks 6% have no preference   Still, comparisons to identical surveys conducted in 2021 and 2015 indicate that eTextbooks are gaining popularity – up 11% from 2021 and 13% from 2015 – while print preference has declined by 8% since 2021 and 18% since 2015. Students who prefer print cite these reasons: Easier to read: 75% Difficulty concentrating on eTextbooks: 64% The ability to physically highlight: 68% Internet access isn't required: 49% eTextbooks are difficult to navigate and bookmark: 46% eTextbooks make students' eyes hurt: 50% The ability to write on pages: 39% The abilit...

  Here is something that I have been fighting with teachers and librarians for years. Although either is good, together is even better for many students (RWL - Reading While Listening). I've been reading audiobooks for years now. For those who are starting to read audiobooks, don't expect your comprehension/ability to be the same initially as with the printed page. It takes practice, just as printed reading takes. You will also get reading tired after so many minutes, especially with non-fiction, but as you keep listening you will get better and longer at a setting. The other thing that I noticed was I can now not only listen longer, you might also listen faster. I always tell my students that they need to talk slower when making audio recordings for classes, as the normal speaking voice is too fast for many. But since I started using audiobooks I've gradually increased my listening speed and now find the standard speed on many audiobooks (such as those from Audible) to be ...

 From the Mental Daily (https://www.mentaldaily.com/article/2022/01/survey-finds-three-in-ten-americans-are-readers-of-e-books)  There are a substantial number of American adults that prefer to read electronic formatted books, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center “Americans are spreading their book consumption across several formats,” the authors of a Pew report stated. “The share of adults who have read print books in the past 12 months still outpaces the share using other forms, but 30% now say they have read an e-book in that time frame.” The  Pew report  found that 65 percent of American adults surveyed preferred reading a print book in the past year. The survey was conducted during January and February of 2021. These kinds of questions always make me wonder why they didn't also ask how many books the people read so that that information could also be included. If you only ask if "they have read an ebook, audiobook, or print book then that is a 0 or 1...

  Digital reading in schools, and how the pandemic has impacted it Resources exploring the impact of COVID-19 on edtech and how schools are adapting to ensure every reader has access to the right books – including getting the most out of government relief funding. (1/10/2022)   Here is an excerpt  from the report:  

Sir John Lavery's Miss Auras the red book (circa 1900)  reading a Kindle Paperwhite (waterproof)

  How students benefit from digital books Digital books are key resources for students, notes Alexandra Brown, educational technology specialist for National Heritage Academies. Brown writes that digital books offer 24/7 availability, greater choice and the ability for students to create curated collections. Full Story: SmartBrief/Education (11/9/21)   

  How digital books connect vulnerable students with reading Diana Thomas, 7th and 8th Grade Reading Teacher, Cleveland Metropolitan Schools October 1, 2021 Digital books connect all students with reading opportunities--but vulnerable populations, in particular, see huge benefits

Researchers surveyed over 2,400 mothers and found that children who routinely spent time on electronic devices, such as TVs, smartphones and tablets, were less likely to read print books with their parents at age 3. The findings in Pediatrics also showed that those who read less at age 3 spent even more time on electronic devices at age 5. Full Story:  HealthDay News  (5/24)  

Between March 2020 and February 2021, ebook usage at schools increased dramatically. "It's really quite stunning," says Angela Arnold, general manager of OverDrive Education. "We have seen a real paradigm shift in perceptions about digital books. Prior to the pandemic digital books were nice to have and seen as accessories, or digital resources with very specific utility. Where we are today in 2021, I think digital books are more perceived as a necessity." Full Story:  Tech & Learning  (5/21)   https://www.techlearning.com/news/student-ebook-reading-surges-during-the-pandemic?utm_source=SmartBrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EDAE705D-DA25-4606-A952-76D10DFA2839&utm_content=BB04051B-A969-4448-9306-BB58B5542B90 

This map contains highly-rated books (selected by students) with stories set in Florida, use these books to boost interest in reading. FL Teen Book Map of Adolescent Literature

  Survey: Increased ebook usage & value amid COVID-19 With COVID-19 altering nearly all aspects of daily life, including the way students learn, this survey sought insight from those on the front lines of education, specifically regarding the use and impact of ebooks. As the pandemic has changed the way educators teach, we wanted to understand what adjustments were made, and how ebooks help educators ease the transition between classroom and at-home learning. The survey found that ebooks have become even more essential for learning during the current school year.

 When looking at books and ebooks it is often like comparing apples and oranges and pineapples. Somethings are just too different. Take this study that also used ebooks with lots of bells and whistles.  For reading comprehension we just need text, even adding pictures may change the effect.  There is a similar issue when they use digital text that you can't go back and look at which makes it very different than a paper test. Then too there is the practice effect. I always wonder in these studies if they would change if they only used children that had extensive digital reading experience.  Anytime you give people a new medium that they have to work with it changes the system (try driving with someone new to stick shifting - the driving is the same, that shift makes a huge difference). I'm sure that the data analysis is good, but it is also backward-looking situational.    Studies: Physical books aid reading comprehension Children perform better on reading c...

 Good reading is always more than just putting the letters together to make words. You need to read for comprehension, fluency, learning, association, and more. One strategy that helps new or struggling readers is Reading While Listening, that is where the reader silently reads while someone else reads aloud. The research available consistently demonstrates its favorable contribution to improving reading fluency. Since improving fluency is an instructional goal of elementary schools, we should always be on the lookout for tools that can assist in improving reading fluency.  Children who are reluctant to read or who have low rates of fluency can benefit from hearing a text read aloud while they follow in a print version. When they are able to hear the words and phrases, they increase their speed and prosody (intonation) appropriate to the material being read, and are able to identify more words. In this case, though, I not thinking of reading silently. Fluency is defined a...

 Was just talking to a friend in China about how her classes were working out during COVID-19. One issue that she said that she was having dealt with the students' textbooks. When they were sent home before the next semester they didn't have their textbooks for their new classes, and what with Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) there, all her students were online. The problem was that package delivery had been paused. Very different from here where Amazon broke sales records, and I saw their prime trucks everyday. To help her students she uploaded ebooks into their distance learning environment in order to help her students get their textbooks and keep up with the course instruction.  So if you are teaching ERT you might want to consider adding some public domain texts or ones that have been released under the Creative Commons license and get some books to your students.  I have three that you are welcome to use. I wrote a textbook titled Florida Science: The Science that ma...

 Perhaps there is only so much TV a person can stand or perhaps it is the restrictions that some put on themselves against going to stores for anything other than groceries, or perhaps some people know how printed books have been shown to be disease carriers  ( COVID can be found up to three days in printed books ), or maybe it is a mix, either way, libraries have seen a growth in ebook use.  The Northbrook library in Illinois published that they saw dramatic growth in their digital checkout, with a 308% increase in ebook checkouts and a 165% increase in digital audiobook downloads, compared to the same month in 2019.  The District of Columba Public Libraries saw a similar impact, with an increase in digital checkouts that was 37% higher as compared to the same month last year. In Ireland, the latest data on book patronage has shown that during the pandemic downloads of ebooks downloads have increased to 529,416 over the last nine months (2020), while the total for l...

Ok, this is a bit off-topic, but I was just presenting about ebook accommodations at a science teacher convention and they wanted to know about some good "science books" that would work well for the classroom collection. I'm a strong believer of having classroom collections (real or virtual). There are lots of great books out there that people just don't realize. Too many people think of science books and then immediately go to the science textbook or some kind of field book (although those are great to have in the classroom too. If you are building a classroom collection for your high or middle school science classroom make sure to include a variety of books, not just non-fiction, but also picture books (think coffee table books), and fiction (that would include science fiction too). So here are some non-fiction books that I think are great to have in a collection.  Some great books on science that are not textbooks: The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interste...

AudioFile has just opened the SYNC: Audiobooks for Teens 2020 Summer season. Starting the week of April 30th, teens (and others) can download two titles that are paired each week for the next 14 weeks (till August). Each of the pairs will be available for free during their week. Readers can download the books using the Overdrive app, and once you have downloaded them they are yours for free. So if you know a teen introduce him or her to some new titles or format or allow yourself to try some young adult books. SYNC is available through Sora, the student reading app from OverDrive. Available on Apple Apps and Google Play stores. The books are available at  https://www.audiobooksync.com/ Titles this summer are: Week 1:    Week 2:  Week 3:  Week 4:  Week 5:  And nine more weeks after that.

Here is a principal doing a great activity with his students each week. Using video technology to read to students, allowing him to reach more students than just going to one room. Watch this week's book at:  https://sites.google.com/lpssonline.com/jwj/home School principal reads aloud via YouTube videos A librarian at a Louisiana elementary school records the school's principal reading a book aloud to students and uploads the video on YouTube. The videos -- said to engage students in reading -- are distributed via the principal's weekly newsletter. TheAdvertiser (Lafayette, La.)  (1/10/2020)   

I love to read (print, digital, and audio), and if you always have a book with you, then you can find some time to read. I'm also a strong believer in anchoring while reading.  I can remember listening to Chopin A La Moog when I was a teen while reading Journey to the Center of the Earth and Ira Leven's This Perfect Day, and sill today when I hear music from that album I remember those books. I also think that that kind of anchoring can be done with where you are reading. Of course, not your favorite reading place at home where you normally read, but when you are traveling. I am lucky that I can travel for work, I am a teacher and Fulbright Specialist, and my work has taken me so many interesting places. When I was younger one of the problems I had while traveling was brining enough books to read, since depending on where you go you might not be able to get more books. This wasn't a problem while traveling in my home country, but you might not be surprised that it is a bi...