 CEL Newsletter May / June 2010 |
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Online? Downloadable? What's the Diff?
We're frequently asked whether the e-books in the Canadian Electronic Library are downloadable. Our answer is proudly "no."
Books in CEL are Online. Here are a few key differences:
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Advantage | Online | Downloadable |
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| Not hardware or platform dependent | Books in CEL are available anywhere there's an online connection. No specific device is required. They'll work on any computer, operating system, mobile computing platform, or web-enabled device including the Apple iPad and the upcoming HP Slate. | Downloadable books are device-specific. Moving them to a device is often troublesome and problematic. | | Copyright protection without DRM* | Copyrights are protected without the hassle of coding and other impediments | Every device has its own DRM code. | | Universal access | Any member of any institution accessing CEL through the institution's website may access any book in the collection anywhere and anytime, without restriction | On most downloadable systems, books may be "checked out" by only one user at a time. |
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 Goes Live
BC Books Online, the first-ever collaboration between publishers and libraries with the aim of delivering digital content to an entire province, was released on the Canadian Electronic Library last week at public and educational libraries throughout British Columbia.
In 2007, a consortium of library organizations and publishers came together to initiate a project to deliver a digital collection of BC published books to the entire province. BC Books Online supports equitable access to all British Columbians through Internet technologies. Users access the entire collection through library portals from home, work, and school, and from anywhere in the world. Unlimited access allows the books in the collection to be used without checkout or library processing.
We welcome inquiries from publishers' or library groups in other provinces interested in emulating BC Books Online.
"The staff and users of British Columbia libraries are delighted that BC books are now properly represented in the increasingly important world of digital content. BC Books Online is a crucial first step in ensuring that students and general readers of all ages have Internet access to the books that best represent our province: its history, peoples, nature, and culture," City Librarian Paul Whitney (Vancouver Public Library). "As educators we understand the value and importance of resources that reflect the experiences of our students. This forward-thinking project will further enhance school library collections by providing BC materials in a range of subject matter that can be accessed online both from the school itself or from the student's home. The digital world is our new reality and BC is at the forefront in providing good, regionally developed materials," Judy Dallas, executive director, Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium
"Working together, our librarians and publishers are bringing a collection of riches created by British Columbian authors to people in every corner of the province. The BC Books Online project is an inspired way of combining technology with the great legacy of reading our own stories and exploring our own history." consortium publishers' representative Peter Milroy, director of University of British Columbia Press
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Health Resources in the Canadian Electronic Library:
Health information centres often need to provide their users with a broad range of materials on a limited budget. The ebrary/CEL solution, which delivers thousands of recent copyright titles to libraries online with virtually no overhead, is the best way for a small library to provide rich collections cost-effectively.
· Canadian Health Research Collection offers online access to over 6,000 health-related monographs from hundreds of Canadian research institutes, government agencies and university centres working in the area of health and medical research. Monthly updates keep the collection current.
 · Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, one of the leading addiction and mental health organizations in North America and Canada's largest addiction and mental health teaching hospital, has released the bulk of its in-print list through CEL.
More information.
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