This video explains how you can get the most from our Proquest Central ebooks.
It includes how to :
For more library videos click here or access them anytime from Primo Library Search in My Ara
For printable guides about using our library resources visit the How do I guides also available in My Ara in Primo Library Search and in every Subject Guide.
Today, I needed to blog. Yesterday was both World Orangutan Day and World Mosquito Day, but I missed those.
So I googled “what shall I blog about today”, and got lots of results, none of which were particlularly helpful. I do not have a cute pet or ideas on how to use Facebook as a marketing tool, and I do not choose to share my ‘guilty pleasures’, whatever they might be, with the internet.
So I thought, I’m a librarian. I shall search our catalogue and see what happens.
Turns out, we have 205 items in our collection about blogs and blogging.
I’m particularly taken with the idea of Blogging for Dummies – that’s about my level of skill.
For a more philosophical look at blogs, try Blogging, citizenship and the future of media.
While the idea of Blogging your way to a six-figure income appeals, the fact that the best I could come up with today was a blog about blogs might not be the best start.
So, if you’d like to share your thoughts with a wider audience than Facebook, or find the 140 characters of Twitter a bit limiting, try a blog. It’s fun, really. Especially if you have a cute pet, or ideas on how to use Facebook as a marketing tool.
Also, if you type ‘blog’ often enough, it stops looking like a real word.
Reported this week in The Age, an Australian newspaper, is a new library book delivery system whereby … “students will be able to order books … via an Android smartphone app and have one of six Flirtey drones deliver them to their door in Sydney.”
See more delivery drone services from mail delivery to pizza delivery on you tube.
It will be interesting to see if the new drone technology catches on. Meanwhile at CPIT we can offer electronic delivery of information to your computer, ipad, tablet, etc. via our e-books.
1. In Primo Library Search try a search on your topic e.g. dancing then on the next screen under Show only in the left column, select Full Text Online.
e.g.
2. Click on the title of your chosen resource to open it. e.g. Ballroom Dancing
3. Use your CPIT username and password to access it when prompted for this.
Note: Click here for instructions of how to print from an EBL ebook. Depending on the size of your EBL ebook under copyright you may be permitted to print 1 or 2 chapters.
Lindstrom, M. (2012) Brandwashed : tricks companies use to manipulate our minds …
Oliver, L. (2012) The small business book : a NZ guide
Bartlett, B (2013) Practical recording techniques
Ray, M (2013) Alternative, country, rap, hip hop and more …
Miller, M (2011) Using Google Advanced Search
Jackson, W (2012) Android apps for absolute beginners
Wolber, D (2011) App inventor: create your own android apps
If you need any assistance with using ebooks ring 940 8089 or email library@cpit.ac.nz or ask at the Library desk.
There’s an assignment on at the moment that apparently involves Florence Nightingale. I know this because there are seven requests for her book Notes on Nursing. This is a problem for us, and the students who want to read it…
The internet to the rescue!
Notes on Nursing is out of copyright (it’s more than 50 years since she died), and is freely available online from a number of sites. I prefer Project Gutenberg, because…well, I just do. But all of these can be freely downloaded and printed – just be wary of trying to make money out of them. 
Notes on Nursing – Project Gutenberg
Notes on Nursing – Digital Library
Notes on Nursing – Internet Archive
So, before giving up on a book, or a journal, it’s worth having a quick google. Just the other day I found Wounds: a compendium of clinical research and practice – full text access is free online, to anyone who’s interested. And it’s peer-reviewed.
Sometimes you strike internet gold. Other times you just find pictures of cats.
1. Start at the library homepage at http://library.cpit.ac.nz
2. Enter your search terms and select Go or press Enter on your keyboard.
3. To view only e-books select Full Text Online
4. To view the eBook click on its title.
E.g. Project management
6. If you are off campus, use your normal
CPIT username and password to login.
7. Select Read online (available)
8. Now you can:
a. Select a chapter from the Contents e.g. Different types of projects
b. do a keyword search for a particular topic in this book
9. Select the chapter you wish to view.
10. To print from your e-book select Print
11. Select Yes (Create a loan)
12. Now you can:
a. Print current page
b. Print selected pages
c. Print a chapter
d. Notice how many pages you can print under copyright conditions. E.g. 115 pages.
13. To return to your original results list click on the back arrow in the top left corner.
14. Now you can:
15. Download printable instructions here: Find and print from an ebook
For further assistance with using e-books
Still have another question? Try our How do I …? guide.
Here’s a great infographic of the top ten books based on book sales over the last 50 years.
Some might surprise you!
Here is also a link to ten free tools to help you create your own cool infographics from makeuseof.com – Perfect for someone like me who is seriously graphically challenged – can’t you tell?! Yes, I’ve resorted to Microsoft Office’s free clipart to put a bit of colour in this post.
You can also read one of our awesome ebooks on this subject:
While picking up books…again..after the recent quakes, I had time to reflect on the 0n the value of electronic collections, where there are no shelves to rattle, no journals to spill, no books to fall. Wouldn’t it be nice…I thought.
But.. it’s not all beer and skittles with electronic collections. There is the absence of the look, feel and smell of a good book, and the need to have access to decent broadband, and the necessary software .. and hardware. But, more importantly for Academic Libraries, there are serious gaps in what publishers make available electronically. Concerns over the management of digital rights, the threat of pirating, and copyright issues, have made academic publishers wary of providing libraries with access to textbooks, and key academic titles.
Public Libraries have started to issue e-readers preloaded with titles, and there are strong arguments for and against this move. Academic libraries, especially those outside of the United States, do not have so many options.
Things will change, and publishers will come up with new licensing models, which will provide libraries with access to content. There will be a cost, and that is only to be expected as publishers try to protect their business. In the meantime, it is interesting to keep an eye on the developments in the public library world, where publishers still call the shots, and can make it difficult to, meet the demand for ebooks, and the expectations of an e-savvy public.
Here at CPIT we continue to grow our collection of ebooks. There are a growing number of suppliers, increasing the range of titles available, but also increasing the diversity of reading experiences – some are better than others, and some allow for downloading onto a reader…some don’t.
I am interested in hearing about experiences of ebooks here at CPIT.
Do you use ebooks?
Have you noticed the different publishers?
They all look and behave slightly differently, but the aim is to provide students with the information they need, when they need it, without having to come into the library, or wait for the book to be returned.
For the titles that are not available as ebooks, and for those who prefer their words and pictures in print, we will continue to maintain our book collections…and continue to pick them up off the floor in the event of an aftershock!
The past few years have seen a huge increase in the availability of electronic books. With readers such as the iPad and the Kindle, personal book collections have become extremely portable, and have reduced the need to visit a bookshop, or buy a large bookcase. For Libraries, ebooks mean improved access. They can be read anytime, anywhere, and (depending on the licence) can be read by more than one person at a time. There is no need to wait till the library opens, or join the waiting list for a popular title, and a recent study shows that the “humble laptop” is still the e-reader of choice.
CPIT Library has been an online library for a long time, mainly through electronic journals and databases. Searching Library databases to find an article for an assignment, reading it online, or printing it, should be (or will become), a familiar pastime for every student.
Ebooks are not quite so familiar, but 24/7 access, the ability to keyword search, bookmark, highlight, print and copy content, make the electronic version of a required or recommended reading an attractive option. I would love to see all of our High Use Collection available online. No more 3-hour loans, or scrambling to reserve a 3-day loan ahead of your classmates! BUT… while there has been rapid growth in the popular ebook market, the availablity of e-textbook titles is still limited. Academic textbook publishers depend on each individual student buying their own copy of textbooks. They also produce a new edition every year, limiting the re-sale value of older copies. These publishers are reluctant to provide electronic textbooks to libraries, which can then be used by several students at once, and which never wear out!
Meanwhile CPIT Library does provide access to a range of ebooks, and just like our Databases, they all look slightly different, and behave in slightly different ways. For Business and Computing we subscribe to Safari Books Online. This collection is regularly updated with titles published in the last 5 years. N.B. The Library subscription to Safari does not allow for downloading onto a mobile device or e-reader, but it does allow for 3-5 simultaneous users.
EBL (Ebook Corporation) provide a large selection of ebook titles spread across the whole collection. These titles can be downloaded but require Adobe Digital Editions. If you are reading an EBL book on-campus it is recommended that you do not download it but read online. Downloading a title onto a PC on-campus restricts you to reading it on that machine. From your home computer you can download and transfer to an iPad or iPhone and read via the free Bluefire Reader app, or EBL books can be transferred to any portable ebook reader that supports Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). There’s a list of these compatible devices on the ADE website. EBL titles also allow for multiple users to be reading the same book at the same time.
Our other main ebook supplier is Ebrary. These titles can only be read online, although ipad and iphone apps are currently being developed. Ebrary titles are also restricted, because of the licence agreement, to one user at a time.
Electronic resources support students studying off-campus or through blended course delivery, but they were also very useful after the earthquakes when CPIT was closed. Next time you are looking for information in the Library, do not be put off by the view-online option, check out an ebook.
We won’t be getting rid of the print collections just yet, but ebooks take up much less space, and we don’t need to pick them up off the floor in the event of another aftershock!
Our CPIT Library was quickly up and running after the earthquake but other local libraries haven’t been so lucky. The University of Canterbury’s Central Library will be closed for the rest of this year and only part of the Lincoln University Library collection is accessible at present. Teams of CPIT Library staff are pitching in to help shelve the fallen books at Lincoln.
We have some interesting electronic, print and AV resources about earthquakes…
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Kusky, T. (2008). Earthquakes : Plate Tectonics and Earthquake Hazards. New York : Infobase Publishing. “…provides readers with an understanding of how, why, and where most earthquakes occur. It includes coverage of what happens during an earthquake.” Read this book online |
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Rafferty, J. (2011). Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes. Chicago : Britannica Educational Publishing. “Along with the science behind each phenomenon, readers learn about major examples and cases that bring home the effects of nature’s awesome power.” Read this book online |
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Villaverde, R. (c2009). Fundamental concepts of earthquake engineering. Boca Raton : CRC Press. “…presents the concepts, procedures, and code provisions that are currently being used to make structures as earthquake-resistant as is presently feasible.” TA654.6VIL |
We have recently given our library collection a new injection of ebooks by adding about 15,000 to the library catalogue. You can identify an ebook by the [ electronic resource ] at the end of the title, there is a web link at the bottom of the catalogue record (to the right of the words “Online version”) and their location is “eResource. Our ebooks are available 24/7 and cover a range of subjects including business, computing and science.
There is a also a rapidly growing collection of ebooks available for free on the web including New Zealand titles provided by the New Zealand Electronic Text Center. Since 2002 the NZETC have been working at digitizing historical New Zealand publications including Maori and Pacific Island, biographies and science texts. Most recently they have added to their already extensive collection of writing by Katherine Mansfield.
In addition to to this local effort there are many many projects worldwide to make ebooks available for free over the World Wide Web, the project of the longest standing is Project Gutenberg which started in 1971 and have made 30,000 documents available. By far the largest but also most controversial is Google Books project which has been challenging existing copyright laws.
Olson, M (2013) Bon Jovi
Ara Library Blog 