Dana, All these things — including flipping through pages, making notes, looking up references, multiple books open — are possible if the books are in PDF (and you're using a suitable PDF reader, such as Utopia Documents for instance). On a single laptop; I'm doing it all the time. What your undergrads may need is not a paper book, but some computer training.
The only thing missing is the smell of a book. Which is indeed a drawback of electronic literature. Best, Jan Velterop On 1 Jul 2012, at 23:49, Dana Roth wrote: > In regards e-books in the sciences and engineering ... > > > This from one of our undergrads … who didn’t want an e-book … > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > It is mostly personal preference that I prefer paper copies - > > * I like being able to quickly flip through pages (especially with math > books) to refer back to equations/concepts, while I'm not tech-savvy enough > to open two pages in a e-publication. > * Similar concept - having multiple books open and available is useful > * Being able to look up references online in books > * I take notes on my computer, so if I have an e-publication up, I can't > take notes > I suppose I'm just old fashioned. I realize now that this is not so much > "anti-epublication" as "not enough e-readers to look at several of these > e-pubs simultaneously." > > > > > Dana L. Roth > Millikan Library / Caltech 1-32 > 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125 > 626-395-6423 fax 626-792-7540 > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > http://library.caltech.edu/collections/chemistry.htm > ________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Eric > F. Van de Velde [[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:35 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [GOAL] Becoming Unglued... > > I posted my latest blog a couple of days ago. It is slightly off-topic for > this list in that it is about books, not journals. However, it is 100% about > open access and an innovative way of getting around long copyright terms. Who > knows, it can be translated to journals... > > On Becoming Unglued... > On June 20th, the e-book world changed: One innovation cut through the fog of > the discussions on copyright, digital rights management (DRM), and various > other real and perceived problems of digital books. It did not take a > revolution, angry protests, lobbying of politicians, or changes in copyright > law. All it took was a simple idea, and the talent and determination to > implement it. > .... > > http://scitechsociety.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-becoming-unglued.html > > > --Eric. > > http://scitechsociety.blogspot.com > > Google Voice: (626) 898-5415 > Telephone: (626) 376-5415 > Skype: efvandevelde -- Twitter: @evdvelde > E-mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > > > _______________________________________________ > GOAL mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal
