Kennedy Library expands eBook collection for Cal Poly

Kennedy Library recently purchased over 16,000 new scholarly eBooks to meet the growing demand for eBooks and advance its goal of expanding electronic access for all disciplines.

Tim Strawn, director of information resources and archives, worked closely with college librarians last year to select eBooks for the six colleges and their subject areas.

Supporting the Cal Poly curriculum

In addition to selecting individual titles of interest to each college, the library purchased several large collections with broad disciplinary coverage. “This hybrid approach meant that librarians could strengthen support for important scholarly trends, such as green building technology, while also adding eBook content that supports the entire Cal Poly curriculum,” said Strawn.

In addition, researchers using certain platforms (Springer, CRC, CABI) can find both eBook and ejournal content using a single search interface, since the library also subscribes to ejournal and database content from these publishers.

“As one of the first institutions in the Cal State System to purchase Springer eBooks, Kennedy Library is granting their users access to thousands of new textbooks, major reference works, book series and monographs from the world’s leading STM eBook publisher,” said David Celano, the vice president of library sales at Springer US.

“Ease of use sets Springer’s eBooks apart from others – featuring no Digital Rights Management, unlimited concurrent users, compatibility with eReaders and the option of Springer’s unique Print on Demand service” Celano said.

New Kennedy Library eBook collection highlights include: