Ebooks seem to be the hot topic in the library world for the last few years - virtually every conference I've been to was about the pros and cons of ebooks. The concensus seems to be that they're very much in the works for academic libraries and that they can be extremely useful for academic purposes. There is some debate over whether they're as useful to Humanities scholars as they are for business, science and technology-based disciplines, but I think they can work within any discipline; especially as the technology grows to become more intuitive and functional and as publishers loosen their tight grip on licensing issues.
Within our library, I know the copyright restriction of 5% is offputting for some students, but I think this can help students to be more efficient and focussed in their choice of materials for study. Most of us have at some point been that 1st year who worriedly photocopied large chunks of a dozen books while cramming for exams or assignments, only to throw the unread majority of papers into the recycling bin. Realistically students need to be very selective about the materials they can absorb. In any case they can take notes within an e-book as they read it, and search within it for a particular topic or reference.
I found iTunes University staggering in its potential. I really do believe that learning in the future can and will incorporate many different streams; videos, podcasts, ebooks, print books, online resources etc. It makes perfect sense that a range of learning tools will be utilised to fully engage students. I've often wondered if Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe is being incorporated into a learning environment somewhere in the world. I've seen dozens of eye-opening documentaries and heard radio programmes that would have both clarified and educated me in ways that classes, lectures and reading lists didn't. As a library we have good reason to be in on the shift towards multimedia educational resources, but a thought that struck me was that you really do need the collaboration of the whole College if you're going to make something as far-reaching as iTunes University work to its full potential. Imagine if every student had a Google reader type place to gather lots of feeds in different formats related to their subjects of study, which they could share with others in their class. I think it would contextualise their subjects by giving them the current news, updates and opportunities that relate to what they're studying, instead of receiving their education in abstract or unsituated chunks...ok I think I'm getting carried away here. I'm off to splash my face with cold water...
