c.o.d. library esl/abe/ged faculty newsletter december 2012
resource of the month
375 Free eBooks: Open Culture
I’ve included Open Culture, the website that curates cultural & educational media from across the Web, as a Resource of the Month before. In February 2011, I highlighted the wide variety of resources available on Open Culture’s site-- educational videos, language lessons, free massive open online courses (MOOCs) and more. This month, I want to focus on Open Culture’s free e-book collection, which you can browse at http:// www.openculture.com/free_ebooks. More and more of our students are using mobile devices to access the internet for personal and academic use. Not only are these devices handy, they’re much less expensive than traditional laptop or desktop computers. In the Library, we always get an uptick of patrons asking about e-books in January-- usually with a brand new device in-hand! Some devices allow users to upload books (Kindles, Nooks, etc.) while others simply allow access to online materials. The books in Open-Culture’s collection meet the needs of both users-- many titles have Kindle, Apple and Nook-friendly formats as well as a “Read Online” version which may take the reader to Google Books, Bartleby.com or other sites. For users with a brand new device, Open Culture has embedded videos demonstrating how to load books onto the most popular reading devices.
it’s the end of the semester! This has been a unique semester in the Library, to say the least. Construction began in August and continues, but without too much disruption. Some of the heavy equipment can be a little loud, especially when teaching in one of the Library’s two remaining classrooms, but for the most part we don’t feel like we’re working in the middle of a construction site. Helping our students navigate the new book-finding process has been challenging, but seems to have gone without too many hitches. More and more students are familiar with the Library Annex in the OCC building on West Campus and many probably appreciate not having to search the stacks to find books on their own! I’ve worked with some new ESL, ABE and GED instructors this semester as well as many of the “veterans”. A number of students have taken me up on my regular offer of “find me any time-- I’m happy to help!” and dropped by my new office in the BIC or the Reference Desk. I’ve enjoyed my new daily trek between the buildings as it gives me a chance to encounter students, faculty and staff that I normally wouldn’t run into as much in the closed environment of the library. I’m looking forward to spring semester-- meeting new students, working with you all to get library cards for your classes and to design creative assignments that introduce students to the library, research and simple, but essential information finding skills. Although we will continue to have just the two library classrooms through the spring semester, this fall showed us that we’re still able to accomodate all of the instruction, orientation and introduction requests we get from instructors. In addition to the classes that visited the library (and received our much-abbreviated one-floor tour) I had several sessions where I packed up my bag and travelled to classrooms across campus (and off-campus). Whatever works best for you and your students-- we can make it happen!
Naturally, most of the e-books in this collection are classics, available for free because they are in the public domain. Some, however, are short stories by contemporary writers such as Neil Gaiman and David Foster Wallace. Reading books online has many benefits for English language learners, whether ESL or ABE. Many devices have built-in dictionaries, allowing readers to access definitions without leaving the text. From a computer, students can open a book in one window and an online dictionary or translation tool in another, making the reading/ comprehension process almost seamless.
Found a resource you’d love to have in the Library? Request it for the collection!
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch about spring semester. I can work with you to plan your next library instruction session, research project or introduction to Learning Express Library or TERC anytime between now and the last weeks of spring. I wish you all a stress-free end of semester and a safe and happy winter break. --Jenn.
Schedule a Library tour, orientation, activity or librarian visit for your class-- just contact Jenn
Visit the ESL and ABE/ GED Research Guides for student and faculty resources
Jennifer Kelley, ESL/ABE/GED Librarian * kelleyj@cod.edu * BIC 2814E * 630.942.2383