Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Florida university lets students buy titles for its e-book-only library

by: Mariella Moon

It's not uncommon for libraries to offer e-books in addition to dead-tree copies, but the newly opened Florida Polytechnic University takes its digital tome offerings a lot more seriously. The institution has decided to completely forego stocking its library with paper books and will instead rely solely on e-books, which its 550 students (the school is so new, it's not even licensed yet) can browse on tablets, laptops or e-readers. Now, here's the kicker: the students can browse any book they want using the school's proprietary software, but they can access it for free only once -- the second time someone clicks on it, he/she ends up purchasing it for the whole school. In fact, the university has set aside $60,000 for e-book purchases, leaving the library's catalog in its student body's hands.
Aside from that, the school's also discouraging students from printing out documents even though printers are available in the library, in an effort to move away from using paper. Students who still prefer holding hard copies, however, can always just borrow a book or two from the school's off-campus library, which it shares with another institution.

from: engadget

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