Improved Functionality for Electronic Textbooks

Abstract

Electronic books, including e-textbooks, are not going away. In fact, thanks to the continued, heavy investment into various forms of electronic technologies by higher education institutions, electronic textbooks, among other e-resources, are getting more visibility. Although patron resistance or reluctance to using electronic textbooks still exists, they are beginning to adjust to the presence, availability, and utility of electronic texts. Specifically, medical library patrons know e-texts exist but are still trying to place them in their didactic toolkits and/or practice armamentariums. The brave patron may find that many of today's electronic textbooks have found a place in the Web age through progressive ease of search, inclusion of a dynamic, active table of contents in close proximity to textbook paragraphs, and presentation of up-to-date information. The new Books@Ovid boasts all of the e-book advances above, as well as improved functionality through a few more features. This column reviews new features of Books@Ovid and its potential future enhancements.