The May Update for LearnAlberta.ca has been posted.  Several new digital resources have been added.

>> To view these new resources, click here.

Under the auspices of the Learning Resources Strategy, we are investigating the possibility of purchasing a CBE-wide platform that would host audio and e-books that could be signed out as digital library books. Please stay tuned for more information in the coming months. At this time, this platform would not provide a hosting solution for schools that have purchased their own digital books. Hosting for school-owned digital book content would remain at a school level. Currently, there is no simple solution for on-site hosting or device selection. Due to the rapidly changing marketplace that includes competing file formats and reader devices, software/hardware compatibility, licensing and distribution restrictions, etc. the industry is in constant flux and an easy-to-use and manage system has yet to become apparent.

Adding to the frustration is the fact that our desire for content for K-12 (in English and other languages) is not being met by what is currently available in the marketplace. Non-fiction (especially with Canadian content) is very sparse at the K-9 level, as is fiction and non-fiction for younger grades. Currently, American, Australian, and UK Copyright law does a better job of protecting the digital rights of authors and publishers. This is not the case in Canada, and is one of the main reasons our digital book market lags behind these other markets. This is of considerable relevance to us as we seek to provide resources that support the Alberta Program of Studies. At the moment, the desire for digital content far outreaches our ability to provide quality content in an easy to manage solution.
If you are planning to invest funds in digital books (files or devices), it is still a “buyer beware” situation. Please find attached an article that helps describe the current status of e-books in Canada. The author is a member of a board of Canadian publishers that is actively investigating these issues.
http://sites.google.com/site/cbedigres/e-books

The Digital Resources Team is in the process of publishing the CBC series Canada: A People's History to the Learning Object Repository in Desire2Learn. The CBE has recently acquired a five year license for this series.  As of May 14, 2009 the first nine episodes, taking us to 1873, have been published.  Please continue to search the LOR to see new episodes as they are added.   Search keywords: Canada, history

A question has come to the Research and Learning Commons Team regarding the CBE position on the Internet reference website – www.enotes.com. E-notes is an online community of educators that share teaching resources. Full access to the site requires membership available to individuals. Although CBE chools and teachers are free to pay for memberships the boad would not likely engage in an effort to provide a system-wide license to the resources. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Proquest Learning Literature - A database of full-text works of poetry, prose and drama from around the world, author biographies, literary criticism, essays, reviews, genre study pages, audio and video clips, images and Web links. It includes articles from a wide range of Educational, English Literature and Library journals.
• Novelist Plus - Use this resource to find information on fiction and non-fiction books and authors of interest to older teen readers. The resource includes author biographies, recommended titles, new books, genre outlines, and book discussion guides. It contains over 800,000 full-text searchable reviews from the most trusted sources.
• Novelist K-8 Plus - Use this resource to find information on fiction and non-fiction books and authors for children and young teens. The resource includes information about your favorite author, series books, picture books, new books, and recommended books and authors. It also contains over 800,000 full-text searchable reviews from trusted, reliable sources.
• TeachingBooks.net - Use this resource to locate information on how authors and illustrators write and illustrate their books, as well as links to author Web sites and audio book readings. Coverage includes graphic novels, picture books, historical fiction, adventure stories, mysteries, science fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.

We have had many questions about what the new 2010/2011 username/ password for Learnalberta.ca will be for the fall so that it can be printed in school agendas, etc.

Please note the information below from Learnalberta.ca:

"As part of LearnAlberta.ca’s mandate, we are continually looking to improve our users’ experience with the site. One of the areas that we would like to improve is our login process and are investigating alternatives to our current system. Until we have a new system in place, the current user name and password for your institution will not expire. Thank you for your continued use of LearnAlberta.ca."

If you have further questions regarding this issue, please use the "Contact Us" link on the Learnalberta.ca website.