Professor Sullivan came in today and had questions about accessing an ebook. In our discussion in the past on ebooks we have stressed to NOT have students download as that was yet another step that might confuse them. However, the case for faculty needs are different, as faculty understand downloading and might prefer it. This is/was the case with Professor Sullivan. The confusion he was having was in regards to creating an account within EBSCO. To download items, one must have an EBSCO account, which is FREE and separate from any other accounts related to McNeese or Frazar Memorial for that matter. Once Professor Sullivan was aware that he needed and could create a FREE Ebscohost account to download the book he needed his issue was resolved.
Today's observation is that the particular needs of faculty when using ebooks will vary from the use and needs of students. It might be a good idea to add this feature about creating a FREE account in EBSCO for this purpose as faculty might not be aware this exists.
As for sharing this feature with students that is another matter altogether, but is one that I have tried to include, time allowing, in my instruction sessions.
Again, bottom line, is that a mention of this might be good for future discussion, either in a tutorial post on the ebooks page, adding to our list of questions/answers toward the collection, and/or hosting in some sort of future faculty refresher on ebook tips.
Thanks!
Tracy
