Ebooks and electronic textbooks
Ebooks are online or offline electronic documents. They come in many different formats - PDFs and EPUBs, wikis and webpages, and publishers' proprietary formats, all with a variety of options and limitations. First let's look at electronic textbooks and library ebooks.
Most of the electronic textbooks in use at SUNY Broome are on the Brytewave platform, and most of the library’s ebooks are on the EBSCO platform. Some are PDFs or EPUBs.
Advantages of ebooks
Portability. This is the most obvious advantage of ebooks. They don’t have the heavy weight of paper textbooks and you can carry them in your pocket. You do need an internet connection to access them initially, but some can be downloaded for offline reading.
Navigation. Most ebooks have a clickable table of contents to jump directly to chapters and sections.
Searchability. Ebooks, and almost all electronic documents, can be searched using a search box or the Ctrl-F function. Find the term or name you’re looking for right away!
Citation. Ebooks have a built-in citation generator, so you can copy and paste the information into your papers. Most library items have a similar tool.
Annotation. Annotation is a powerful active reading technique. Some people do it on paper by highlighting text and making notes in margins. Ebooks have virtual tools for this, with no space limitations. You can also use hyperlinks to connect to other documents.
Limitations of ebooks
Printing. Publishers may lock printing or limit the number of pages that can be printed.
Copying. Publishers may lock or limit the ability to copy and paste text.
