ERENFREW COUNTY — Every Renfrew County District School Board (RCDSB) student, no matter where they are in the Valley, can now access 1,000s of library items from anywhere, at any time, on any device.
At the end of February the RCDSB introduced a free reading service providing digital books through OverDrive. Students can browse a constantly growing collection of titles (2,500 at launch) in a variety of subjects including classic and current fiction as well as popular nonfiction titles.
OverDrive can be accessed on the board’s website at rcdsb.lib.overdrive.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Titles can be borrowed using the same username and password assigned to all students by the RCDSB at the beginning of the school year. Books can be read online or offline after downloading and enjoyed on a computer or mobile device. All major computers and devices are supported including, but not limited to, the iPhone, iPad, Chromebook and Android phones and tablets.
For students without access to a mobile device, each school will have three to five iPads on hand to support the online library that students can check out, much like they would check out a library book, and access the catalogue.
The RCDSB has also implemented a new online cataloguing system called L4U. The RCDSB eBook collection is an extension of the physical libraries at our schools throughout the board. Schools with physical collections can access their catalogues through L4U on the board’s website rcdsb.on.ca. L4U provides the ability to conduct integrated searches including books in the library; eBook titles available online; and educational databases. It is convenient for students to check out eBook titles anytime, anywhere, from any device with no worry about misplacing a book or running up late fees – these digital titles automatically return at the end of the lending period.
“It’s about accessibility,” RCDSB Electronic Library Coordinator Jonathan Pratt said. “This gives every RCDSB student anytime, anywhere, any device access.”
Pratt started his RCDSB elementary school tour early in March to share the new online library systems with students, give them a tour and show them how it works.
Pratt says the reaction from students has been “amazing. They are really, really excited about it.”
At the time of this writing, Mr. Pratt had only visited Palmer Rapids and Sherwood public schools.
“Add some word of mouth to that and we have already had more than 700 checkouts,” Mr. Pratt said.
