Newsletter issue 7: July 2019
Welcome to the July edition of the e-books for FE newsletter. This edition of the newsletter brings you the latest news and updates to the e-books for FE service, including an important reminder to re-subscribe to the new licence agreement.
As always, we value your feedback and suggestions – please email these to content.feandskills@jisc.ac.uk
In the August issue…
e-books for FE 2019-2022 licence agreement
Top 20 users – July 2019
Top 20 titles – July 2019
Page turner of the month
New titles added
Titles expired on 31st July
e-books for FE webinars
e-books for FE is 10 years old!
The last word
e-books for FE 2019-2022 licence agreement
We would like to remind you that it is time to renew your licence agreement to access e-books for FE. The current licence agreement will expire on 31st August 2019, so please do subscribe on Jisc Collections as soon as possible to continue to use this free service.
Top 20 users – July 2019
Well done to all organisations who reached a spot in the top 20, and a special congratulations to the top 5. The FE and skills team thank you for your promotion and use of e-books for FE. Congratulations to our new entry at #1, Varndean College!
If any organisation has tips to share on how you promote e-books for FE to teaching practitioners and learners, we would love to feature you and showcase your work in promoting e-books to your students. Please get in touch if you would like to be featured at content.feandskills@jisc.ac.uk
| # | Organisation | User sessions |
| 1 | Varndean College | 445 |
| 2 | Capital City College Group – WKCIC Group | 246 |
| 3 | Uxbridge College | 215 |
| 4 | Barton Peveril College | 202 |
| 5 | College of Richard Collyer | 202 |
| 6 | Cardiff and Vale College | 196 |
| 7 | Colchester Sixth Form College | 170 |
| 8 | Suffolk One | 144 |
| 9 | Richard Huish College | 139 |
| 10 | South & City College Birmingham | 138 |
| 11 | Activate Learning | 137 |
| 12 | Mid-Kent College of Further and Higher Education | 125 |
| 13 | Tower Hamlets College | 124 |
| 14 | Walsall College | 120 |
| 15 | Farnborough Sixth Form College | 119 |
| 16 | Stafford College | 100 |
| 17 | Woking College | 100 |
| 18 | Truro and Penwith College | 98 |
| 19 | Buckinghamshire College Group | 95 |
| 20 | The Cheadle and Marple College Network | 92 |
Top 20 titles – July 2019
Mergers: If your organisation has recently merged with another, ProQuest may not have the most current merger information and your merger may not be reflected in the usage data. Please check with ProQuest and request that they update your account to reflect the merger. Their e-book support contact address is: ebooksupport@proquest.com
| # | Title | User sessions |
| 1 | BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care: Student Book 1 | 424 |
| 2 | BTEC Nationals Health and Social Care Student Book 1 | 416 |
| 3 | BTEC Nationals Health and Social Care Student Book 2 : For the 2016 specifications | 345 |
| 4 | Cache Level 3 Child Care and Education | 332 |
| 5 | Edexcel Psychology for A Level Book 1 | 308 |
| 6 | BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care: Student Book 2 | 242 |
| 7 | BTEC Level 3 National Business, Book 1 | 230 |
| 8 | BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 1 | 195 |
| 9 | Early Years Educator, Level 3 | 193 |
| 10 | BTEC Level 3 National Public Services Student Book 1 | 172 |
| 11 | BTEC Nationals Business Student Book 1 | 170 |
| 12 | BTEC First Business Student Book | 164 |
| 13 | BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book | 158 |
| 14 | BTEC Nationals Applied Science Student Book 1 | 152 |
| 15 | CACHE Level 2 Introduction to Early Years Education and Care | 142 |
| 16 | BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 2 | 135 |
| 17 | AQA a-Level PE : For a-Level Year 1 and AS | 132 |
| 18 | Access to History: Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA 1850-2009 for Edexcel | 106 |
| 19 | BTEC Level 3 Business Book 2 | 103 |
| 20 | BTEC Level 3 National Construction and the Built Environment Student Book | 94 |
Page turner of the month
Title: Edexcel Psychology for A Level Book 1
Authors: Brain, Christine; Naish, Francesca
New titles added
We are very excited to share with you the new titles that we have procured on a three year licence, from 1st September 2019 – 31st August 2022. Together with our focus group, we procured a new set of titles that reflect the needs of the FE sector, and decided which of the expiring e-book titles to extend. This year, we have increased the number of titles in the collection by a huge 26%, and expanded into many new A Level subject areas including English literature, modern foreign languages, economics and law.
We are very excited to share the new A level subject areas that we have expanded into this year:
- Design and technology
- Economics
- English literature
- Modern foreign languages (French, Spanish and German)
- Performing arts
- Law
- Mathematics
- Music
- Philosophy
We have also significantly expanded provision in the following areas:
- Geography
- Media studies
- Politics
- Sociology
- Updated SQA tiles to reflect 2018 updates to Higher English and Maths
- Performing arts vocational titles
- Newly published vocational titles in education and childcare
All new titles can be viewed on the first tab of the spreadsheet below:
e-books for FE new titles 2019 with expiring titles
The new collections spreadsheet can be found below; this details which collections are currently in licence, and which have expired:
e-books for FE collections spreadsheet August 2019
Titles expired on 31st July
As you are aware, most of our e-books are procured on three-year licences. This year we will have e-books coming out of licence in July, August and October. Seven e-book licences expired on 31st July 2019, and you can view the full list of expired titles here. For advice on how to delete MARC records, please visit our guide here.
e-books for FE webinars
Library staff webinar
On Wednesday 25th August at 14.00pm, we will be hosting our first ever e-books for FE webinar .
The webinar will share the latest updates to the e-books for FE service for the new academic year. Also, there will be time to ask any questions you might have, and have these answered live by the team.
This free webinar will cover:
- New titles that we have added
- How we select new titles
- New subject areas that we are expanding into
- Best practice in embedding e-books into the curriculum
- Q&A
We will record the webinar so that you can share it with colleagues who are unable to attend. If you would like to view the webinar but are unable to attend, please register to ensure that you receive the recording. Please click here to register.
If you have any requests for what you would like to see covered in these webinars, please get in touch at content.feandskills@jisc.ac.uk.
Teaching practitioner webinar
We are often told by members that the biggest barrier to getting students to use e-books is teaching practitioner engagement. To try and overcome this barrier, this year we will be hosting our first ever teaching practitioner webinar, which will be dedicated to supporting teaching practitioners with using Ebook Central, and sharing the benefits of using e-books in the classroom. This webinar will be especially useful for teaching practitioners from the new subject areas that we have expanded into this year.
The webinar will take place on Wednesday 2nd October at 14.00pm. We will send out further details, including the registration page, as soon as they are available.
e-books for FE is 10 years old!
This year, e-books for FE turns 10. To celebrate the development of the service over the past decade, we would love to share some user stories of how the service has benefitted your organisation. This could be anything from helping to manage budget cuts, to increasing learner attainment, or developing the digital literacy skills of staff.
If you have a story to share about how e-books for FE has helped your organisation, we would love you hear from you and showcase your story. Each month’s featured organisation will receive a book token for your LRC.
Further details can be found by clicking the image below. We will also be hosting competitions and giveaways over on the Twitter account from September, so do make sure that you are following us!
The last word
Pearson to be the first education publisher to purse digital-first strategy
The UK’s largest educational publisher, Pearson, become the first to announce that they will be phasing out traditional print textbooks as part of their ‘digital first’ strategy.
The strategy, which is initially starting in North America, will mean that students will now only be able to rent physical textbooks, which would be updated much less frequently than they currently are. Their e-book counterparts will be continually updated, ensuring that students have access to the latest learning resources.
Pearson boss John Fallon told the BBC:
Over half our annual revenues come from digital sales, so we’ve decided a little bit like in other industries like newspapers or music or in broadcast that it is time to flick the switch in how we primarily make and create our products.”
Changes to students studying habits in the US have meant that students are increasingly renting textbooks rather than purchasing them, meaning publishers are making less money. As a result, Pearson have taken the decision to stop revising print books on a three year basis.
To counter this Mr Fallon said Pearson would stop revising print books every three years, a model that has dominated the industry for 40 years. The move will begin in the US, and eventually be replicated in other markets such as the UK.
In a generation of students who are so used to renting content online, from music on Spotify to shows on Netflix, Pearson feel that this is a natural move for the publishing industry. Read the full story on the BBC here.
Do today’s students expect to rent rather than own? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Support queries
Telephone: 0161 413 7520
Email: content.feandskills@jisc.ac.uk
Website: https://support.ebooksforfe.jisc.ac.uk
