Becky Brown

MEDT 7478/Spring 2014

Current Issue Topic: Role of eBooks in the School/Media Program



The eBook is a publication consisting of text, images, or both in a digital form that can be
readable on computers or other electronic devices. Over the past twenty years, this type of publication
has grown in popularity. The Pew Internet Project has reported that the portion of the United States
population which has used an eReader to read an eBook has risen from 23% of the population in 2012 to
28% of the population in 2013 ("E-books for Your School," 2014). But, how this change impacted the
school/media program? In 2012, it was stated in a report from Scholastic that a total of 46% of students
in the United States had read an eBook over the course of the year with 56% of K-12 school libraries
having eBooks in its collection in 2013 ("E-books for Your School," 2014). In addition, the findings
reported that the groups of students most impacted by the emerging role of the eBook in the school
library are middle and high school students. While there are several reasons that explain the vital role
eBooks play in a school/media program, there are also several barriers that play a role in its use.
There are many advantages to promote the role of the eBook in a school program because
eBooks serve a variety of needs for the library patron and eBooks solve some problems for libraries
(Survey of Ebook Penetration, 2010). One of the most appealing advantages that eBooks satisfy patron
needs is through their capability of engaging several users at one time. For instance, The eBook Hook
by Bettie Parsons Barger and Mary Hotwell describes how fourth grade students were given the task of
completing a project describing the earths features using eBooks to satisfy their research needs. The
instant availability enabled the students involved to have a deeper understanding of their topic but to
also have multiple users of the eBook at the same time. The eBook enabled teachers with a time to
discuss the appropriate use of technology in the classroom to students. Additionally, the students and
faculty advocated the use of eBooks to other classes which then created a demand for the technology
and the circulation of the collection increased exponentially. Another advantage for the use of eBooks is
the fact that eBooks do not wear out or need to be replaced because each is stored digitally. However,
the most important role an eBook plays is its part in reading literacy. Julie Hume, a reading specialist in
University City, Missouri, used the eBook program Tumblebooks to determine the benefits with
reluctant readers. She randomly placed her students into two groups-one that worked with
Tumblebooks and another that received the normal reading intervention that Hume had already used
for several years with other students. Within three months, the average fluency rate for the
Tumblebooks group was 23 percentage points higher than that of the control group. Students using the
eBooks had moved from a Lexile level of K to M. By January, the entire group of children in the eBook
program had achieved fluency to the point that they were exited from the pull-out sessions and
integrated back into their regular classrooms. It took the control group two months longer (Guersney,
2011).
While there are many advantages to the use of eBooks in the school library, there are however
many disadvantages. Even though there was $73 million dollars spent on eBooks during the 2012-2013
school year, there is an alarmingly lack of school budget money spent on purchasing the technology
(Peterson, 2014). This is due largely in part to the lack of funding for schools which then inhibits school
library budgets. This lack then largely prohibits a library collection to purchase eReaders and eBooks.
After speaking to Glovis South, the media specialist of Heard County Middle School, I found this to be
true. While she has a very healthy budget, there is not enough to cover the cost of purchasing eReaders
for the students of her school along with developing an effective collection of print titles and eBooks.
According to the School Library Journal, one of the disadvantages of eBooks, and in fact one of the
factors that has impeded eBook adoption in the book-buying population as a whole, is the plethora of
mutually incompatible formats and often draconian digital rights management (DRM) schemes (Survey
of Ebook Penetration, 2010). During my time at Heard County Middle School, I have had to help a
student attempt to download an eBook to several eReaders. After several failed endeavors, I had to
admit defeat because there was not a way for me or the school systems IT to overcome the
incompatibilities. Another issue of note is that there is a fine line between its use as an educational tool
and an animated movie. For example, my sister downloaded a Toy Story eBook for my niece onto her
iPad. It is highly interactive and she completely loves it because the program makes the characters
come alive for her. However, as I began to peruse the eBook I began to notice that it was more activities
and movie clips than an actual story.
Social reformer Henry Ward Stowe once stated that "a library is not a luxury but one of the
necessities of life." As a necessity of life, it must change and reinvent itself to better help those who it
serves. The eBook and its role in guiding student literacy is just one example of this change. And, while
there are countless examples of this shift to the use of eBooks in a school or media program, it remains
to be seen whether the issues and barriers confronting the its uses in the K-12 classroom and library will
actually allow the technology to take root and flourish.












Bibliography

Barger, B., & Notwell, M. (2013). THE eBOOK HOOK. Science & Children, 51(4), 31-37.

Doiron, R. (2011). Using eBooks and eReaders to Promote Reading in School Libraries: Lessons from the Field.
Retrieved March 18, 2014, from IFLA website: http://conference.ifla.org/past-wlic/2011/143-doiron-
en.pdf

E-books for your school library - issues and options. (2014). Retrieved March 18, 2014, from National Library of
New Zealand website: http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/school-libraries/collection-formats/e-books-your-
school-library-issues-and-options

Felvegi, E., & Matthew, K. I. (2012). Ebooks and Literacy in K-12 Schools. Computers In The Schools, 29(1-2), 40-52.

Guernsey, L. (2011, June 7). Are Ebooks Any Good? Retrieved March 18, 2014, from School Library Journal website:
http://www.slj.com/2011/06/books-media/ebooks/are-ebooks-any-good/

Kowalczyk, P. (2013, December 25). 50 thought-provoking quotes about libraries and librarians [Blog post].
Retrieved from eBook Friendly website: http://ebookfriendly.com/best-quotes-about-libraries-
librarians/

Peterson, K. (2014, January 14). SLJ Survey: Ebook Usage in School Libraries Expected to Rise Incrementally.
Retrieved March 18, 2014, from School Library Journal website:
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2014/01/k-12/
slj-survey-ebook-usage-school-libraries-seen-rising-slowly/

Survey of Ebook Penetration and Use in US School (K-12) Libraries. (2010). Retrieved March 18, 2014, from Library
Journal website:
http://c0003264.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/School%20Library%20Ebook%20Report_2.pdf