Andrea Hawkins

Opinions Editor

In January, Tomlinson Library at Mesa State College acquired more than 1,600 eBook titles, when they became a part of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. The new membership for the library will provide resources for MSC students in a more economical way.

According to Betsey Brodak, the library director, Springer Publications gave MSC a great deal on the eBooks. If MSC bought each book in hard copy it would cost upwards of $122, but since it is eBooks they only cost the college 83 cents per book.

“It seemed like a good deal,” said Paul Rolland, the MSC head reference librarian. 

The library made the decision through the use of a committee with the help of faculty who got to express what books would be good to supplement the texts for their classes.

In order to download a book, users must go to the Tomlinson Library website at mesastate.edu/msclibrary. To find a book, users can simply type in “Springerlink” and the subject desired in the search area. Then a whole array of eBooks will pop up.

These books are offered to students, faculty or community members using the public computers at the library.

The eBooks are in a simple PDF format and can be easily transferred to disk or jump drive. Students don’t even have to download them to read them; they can just read the PDFs that appear on their screen.

All of the books are scholarly, which means Harry Potter and Twilight won’t be included, but there is a vast amount of resources at students’ fingertips. 

According to Brodak, generally textbooks are not included because the library doesn’t collect them, but the eBooks offer no “geographic boundaries.” This is a huge advantage to students who might otherwise be disappointed if a book they desire is already checked out. 

Currently, Tomlinson Library is receiving eBooks from 2005 to the present, and will receive any new publication in 2010 that Springer Publication offers.