Phase Two: Week Three

Thing 18: Read about E-books in relation to Information Services
E-book publishers to gain access to 15,000 libraries
Irish e-book distribution company ePub Direct plans to offer access to libraries for publishers' e-book titles. The move will give publishers access to 15,000 library outlets in 13 countries, 70 of which are based in the UK and Ireland....read full story here.


Digital literacy strong in Irish youths - Irish Times article by Eoin Burke Kennedy.


Challenges and Opportunities of E-Books - Article by John Cox, Deputy Librarian, NUI, Galway

E-book uptake in Academic Libraries in Ireland An Overview Survey Report 2010 Maud Conry, James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Thing 19: Read about iTunes University and explore some recordings from Universities using this application.

What is iTunes University (iTunes U)?
iTunes University is an application that allows Higher Education Institutions make available audio and video content to view or download. A user must have iTunes installed on their computer to access iTunes U. You can can subscribe to iTunes U via iTunes and download new content on the subject that the user has selected. iTunes can be downloaded from the Apple site at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. 


iTunes U allows a user to listen or view content on their computer or on the move by downloading the content to a mobile device such as an iPod. An institution can make iTunes U content available only to students and staff or to the world at large via the iTunes Store. With an internal iTunes University site, user access is controlled through password protection. A public iTunes U site distributes material for free on iTunes U. Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin all have public iTunes sites.  You could also create a public and a private iTune U site, like Stanford. Read more about iTunes U.

Oxford University has millions of downloads available on its iTunes U site including public lectures, teaching material and interviews with leading academics - and all this material is available free of charge! Other institutions also use iTunes U including the New York Public Library and 

Extra Activity 1: Explore Google books.

Read about Google books on Wikipedia and read about Google Books Library Project.

Read about Google's recent agreement with publishers in relation to Google books and check out the Google Books blog. Also read about Google's book deal with the British Library.