EBSCO Adds New Subject Sets To Its e-Book Collection
EBSCO
Information Services has added 12 new e-book subject sets to its
complete library
that now numbers more than 200 sets.
EBSCO's
e-book subject sets are pre-packaged collections of titles in
specific,
high-interest subject areas designed to make it easier for a library's end user
to
search for information they need and, at the same time, make the
library's job
of developing a collection of e-books less complicated.
For
instance,
a library patron or a student using a college library who is looking
for information on diseases or pharmaceutical science (two of the new
subject
sets now being offered by EBSCO) can go to one of these subject sets to
search
for e-books that would be most helpful to him or her.
Once
the
end user has identified the e-book, and if it is already one that the
library has purchased from EBSCO, he or she can download it immediately.
If the
library has not already purchased the e-book, it may make the decision to
purchase
it immediately and, if not, at least be aware of the e-books its end
users are
looking for.
The
new
subject sets EBSCO is adding to its collection are:
- Diseases
and
conditions;
- Pharmaceutical
science;
- Doody’s
core
titles essential purchases;
- Dentistry
and
oral science;
- Robotics;
- Mobile
technology;
- Self
help;
- Poetry;
- American
history;
- Biography;
- Anthropology
and
archaeology; and
- Urban
studies.
EBSCO
currently
has more than 600,000 e-books and audiobooks in all of its
collections and is constantly acquiring new content, based on the
dynamic needs
of libraries.
Some
of
the clearly most popular subject sets — like American history, health
and
wellness and personal growth — have as many as 600 titles each. Others,
in more
specific scientific or technical fields, have fewer but are targeted at
the
niche audience that would be interested in them. None of the titles
appear in
more than one subject set — meaning there is no overlap between them.
Likewise,
although EBSCO releases new subject sets each year in some very popular
subject
areas, there is no year-to-year overlap either.
Offering
end
users access to EBSCO's database in this way increases the amount and
range
of information libraries can provide them with. At the same time, it
lowers
costs for libraries by making the e-book and audiobook collections its
users
most want available to them.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.