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February 28, 2011

A Look at the CDC E-books on Education Collection!

This text was initially published by Profweb under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence, before Eductive was launched.

Imagine that you could quickly check online or carry a collection of texts with you anywhere to meet your particular academic requirements! E-books have made that dream a reality! In last October’s CLIC review (in French), our techno-pedagogical trendspotters at La Vitrine Technologie-Éducation (http://ntic.org) presented a well-documented review of the advantages and and disadvantages of the various formats of e-books and e-readers (Beaudin-Lecours, Andrée (dir.), « Des livres numériques pour la rentrée », CLIC, number 74, October 2010).

There are academic e-books available! How can you get them?

The Digital Heritage Collection unique to the CDC

As a part of the Quebec College Network for 40 years, the Centre de documentation collégiale (CDC – for an in-depth presentation of the CDC, consult the Profweb column from Tuesday October 14, 2008) already has more than 4,000 digital documents in its collection, which are in effect e-books!

These documents come from a variety of sources and, as well, there are two types of digital books currently available at the CDC.

The first type is easily accessible via the online catalog of the CDC and consists of various digital resources published by members of the college network which form an integral part of the CDC’s heritage collection. These digital documents are mainly available as PDF files, with all of the advantages and disadvantages that this format involves (for a detailed description of this format, read the article PDF). You can find all kinds of texts including journal articles, essays, theses, research reports. Examples of this type of digital book available at the CDC include the following:

  • All the articles in the journal Pédagogie collégiale, bulletins and the proceedings of the AQPC (Association québécoise de pédagogie college) Symposia, of ARC (Association pour la recherche au collégial) and of SIC (Service interculturel collégial)
  • Essays written as part of the Performa programme including masters theses on education
  • Research reports funded by MELS (such as PAREA) as well as by the ACPQ (Association des collèges privés du Québec)
  • Articles in academic journals indexed in ProQuest which contain over 2,000 indexed titles, of which 1 000 are accessible as complete texts. The majority of these texts are in English.

The second type of digital document is only accessible to users of the Centre de documentation collégiale through a license negotiated by the CDC which is password protected (for more information on how to obtain an access code, contact-us). The CDC has been experimenting since the fall of 2010 with a new product called NetLibrary, which allows password access to the latest e-books. These documents, selected by the CDC team deal with such hot topics in education as dyslexia, motivation, educational technologies and e-learning. Documents on this platform are in the form of websites and PDF files which can not only be read, but allow word search, bookmarks, annotations, and even access to several dictionaries.

How are Digital Books Selected at the CDC?

Whether bound or in digital format, the books of the CDC collection reflect the new Politique de développement de la collection du CDC. Selected titles support the thinking and research of professors, researchers, administrators and professionals in the college system, contributing to the development of the college network.

Finally, digital books have become widely accepted in the college network, and are easily accessible at the CDC, an IT partner of the college network. Keep in mind that the CDC’s mandate is to create a collection focusing on education that serves as a complement to college libraries. So stay tuned for new e-books in Education on the website and catalogue of the CDC. If the integration of ICT in teaching and learning is of particular interest, you can find out about the latest arrivals in digital books on the subject right here in Profweb, under “News: RSS Partners“!

Happy e-reading!

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