The Solution
The Solution: from bespoke elibraries to a National School Digital Library
‘A bespoke digital library can expand the choices available to a single school and that is a valuable improvement. But focussing at a school level misses the crucial efficiency benefit offered by digital that can only be achieved by centralisation of resources across all schools. We need a National School Digital Library.’
Bridget Martindale, ELFS.
Pilot School Elibraries
Our interim solution to the book problem is to provide bespoke ebook libraries to individual schools. By working with a school to understand its pupils’ needs and wants, and using the search and discovery engine TheBookSeekers, we provide an extra resource of ebooks to supplement the school’s physical library. To expand choice further in a cost effective way we are also building a core digital library that all of our pilot schools can share.
‘We believe that a small elibrary, where each book has been chosen with at least one child in mind, will engage children in reading. Supplementing this with a central core elibrary, provides a cost effective way of expanding choice, allowing children to explore beyond their current known likes’
Bridget Martindale, ELFS.
“We must embrace technology in our pursuit of improving access to books. Across human history, the first true literacy revolution was the invention of scrolls and paper… The second innovation was the printing press, bringing books and literacy to the people… Many of us have lived through a similarly important revolution in the development of e-books and audiobooks, reinventing the way we read.”
Alexander Stafford MP, Hansard, Children’s Access to Books, June 2023Â
Why eBooks for our pilot schools?
Ebook libraries offer schools and their pupils benefits over physical books. Firstly, ebooks on digital whiteboards allow pupils to follow the words and pictures in a story as the teacher reads to the class. Secondly, ebooks are available whenever and wherever you are: an elibrary is always accessible – be the child at school, at home, at granny’s house, on holiday or anywhere in between. Thirdly, elibraries are low maintenance: ebooks are automatically logged in reading records and returned, ready for the next reader.Â
Why a National School Digital Library?
Of course, the benefits of digital over physical books are available to schools now: they are free to spend their budget (if there is any) on ebooks and audio books rather than physical books.
But this misses a crucial point: if centralised, digital offers the potential for huge efficiency savings. Because digital books are not tied to a location, a digital book not being read in a school in Hull can be picked up and read in a school in Liverpool. Sharing books across space means fewer books sitting unread on shelves, and that means a lower cost per read.
A central children’s library of digital books accessible to all is more efficient than multiple individual school digital libraries. We therefore propose the establishment of a National eBook Library for Schools as the most efficient means of providing maximum choice for minimum cost. Of course, with a haystack of books, children will need help in finding the needle. Digital search and discovery backed by a central team of online super librarians should be made available to every child and teacher in all schools across the country.Â