At the mercy of advances in technology and generational norms, many things such as printed books and other publications are slowly losing revenue to their modern counterpart, e-books.
In response to this issue, the school’s librarians Evelyn McFadden and Teresa Hardage decided that there was a need for e-books to be available to the student body and selected a company over the summer.
They decided to go with Follett Company which supplies over 35,000 schools. Ms. McFadden discussed the lengths in which Har-Ber was going to acquire licenses for the books.
“We’ve gone to district meetings for textbooks,” said Ms. McFadden. “So far it’s just library books.”
The librarians do not wish to force students to choose between one or the other (textbooks and library books). Having both would be prime.
“I think there needs to be both,” continued Ms. McFadden. “Some kids can’t afford them and some would prefer them.”
E-books would put students at a financial and academic advantage, and as McFadden shared lastly, they want input from students.
“We’re hoping everyone will start to use it, and we really want input from students on what they want to read. We want to be able to reflect on what students want and need,” Ms. McFadden said.
In order to compete academically, the school must keep up with other schools’ technological advances. E-books could be an extension of the library. This means books can read on snow days, sick days, etc.
E-books can be a substitute for textbooks. If students could have all their textbooks in one location, the advantages could be endless.