HELIG Webinar: The e-book dilemma in these strange times: the academic, librarian, and user experience

In a time when access to electronic resources made possible by academic libraries should be far more easier due to the shift from print to electronic, it is found during the current Covid-19 pandemic that we face a dilemma regarding access to prescribed textbooks. Most of the South African publications that academics prescribe across disciplines, are mainly available in print only, and some publishers limit access to the electronic version on a one-user/individual-purchase model, excluding library acquisitions.

Pre Covid-19 pandemic, many students enrolled at South African higher education institutions relied heavily on borrowing prescribed textbooks from their academic libraries’ short loan collections. However, this borrowing privilege was non-existent since the start of the lockdown as libraries’ physical spaces and print material were inaccessible. Copyright compliance, rigid licensing agreements, unstable Internet, high e-book purchasing costs and information seeking skills especially among first years are just some of the challenges faced by academics, librarians and users in a time of multimodal teaching and learning. Considering the theme for South African Library Week being: Libraries Matter!, it is fundamental that all stakeholders work together towards reaching our goal of inclusivity and bridging the digital divide.

Join Ingrid Thomson (WCHELIG Convenor) and Dr Lynn Kleinveldt (Acting Chair: HELIG) online over coffee/tea, on Thursday, 18 March 2021 at 14:00 for an informal conversation on the e-book dilemma in the Digital Age that we find ourselves in, and where are we heading. This session aims to invite academics, librarians, acquisitions staff, publishers and users to interact, share challenges faced, best practices and innovative ideas towards finding a collective solution.