The Halton District School Board’s Library Services department is proud to offer a first in Canada – Board-wide access to audiobooks and eBooks for students and staff. Given the explosion in popularity of mobile devices like interactive cellphones and tablet technologies, the Board recently launched its new system-wide digital audiobook and eBook service. Think of it as a virtual library without the Dewey Decimal System.

Library Services staff want parents to know about it as well.

As of October 31, 2011, Library Services expanded school library fiction and non-fiction title offerings with audiobooks and eBooks available for download. School library cardholders can check out and download digital media anytime, anywhere.

An eBook is the digital onscreen version of a published physical book; some eBooks are interactive, with sound and hyperlinks. An audiobook is the digital version of a book, presented on a tape or CD that can be downloaded to electronic devices like your laptop or MP3 player.

While the digitized collectionis new, with around 300 titles currently available, Library Services plan to grow the collection over time, including adding more French content. All one has to do is browse a school library’s catalogue for a title, check it out with a valid school library card and then download to a personal computer or a mobile device. An

intriguing feature of this new service is downloaded titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period so there are no overdue notices or late fees.

The Board noticed public libraries utilizing digital formats so Library Services staff began reviewing its collection and looking at new ways to offer titles to students.

The new service includes browsing the collection 24/7 to see what titles are available; you will need a school library barcode number to download any content; there is a small but growing collection of available titles, so if someone has already checked out a title you'd like to read or listen to use the 'place a hold' option and you will receive an email once your title is available to download; eBooks require Adobe Digital Editions software (user registration required) and Audiobooks require the OverDrive Media Console. This free software is available for download from the Board’s collection website; for cellphone or tablet users, a mobile app is available for download; and there are multiple ways to access the Halton District School Board Audio and eBook Collection. For students, the main access point for digital titles is through their school library catalogue. 

Lynn Wisniewski, Manager of Instructional Media, says the collection is geared for students starting in Grade 5. The collection supports recreational reading needs as well as curriculum areas; for example, novels required for high school students to read would be set aside for download. However, paperbound books will still be available for students to check out in the traditional manner, she stresses.

“We want to make sure parents and guardians are aware of the services as well as staff because they will be able to use it at home,” she saiys

There are classic titles available for download such as Wuthering Heights and current popular titles like the 39 Clues series. Schools can also purchase books to add to the central collection for all students to access, increasing the total number of titles available, Wisniewski says. Future professional collections would be purchased in electronic form, she notes.

Colleen Kelly, Online/Web Library Technician and project lead of the new system, says accessibility is critical for library services.

“This is just another avenue of opening up different ways of reading,” she says, explaining audio books can help those with low vision, for example. “It provides a different means of reading for all types of students.”

The popularity of mobile handheld devices, like cellphones, in schools was a big reason for offering digitized formats and it made sense “to take advantage of this opportunity,” Kelly says. Board statistics show that at any one point during the day, there are close to 10,000 wireless connections on the Board’s system.