On June 1, a new Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) initiative began that provides students at all Virginia public and many Virginia nonprofit private institutions of higher education with immediate and on-demand access to thousands of e-books from premier publishers in the STEM-H (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health) fields, with new books added each week. The e-books made available through this initiative will support the efforts of Virginia higher education to increase the number of college graduates in STEM-H related fields, making Virginia’s workforce more ready than ever for the jobs of the future.
The VIVA initiative, called “demand-driven acquisitions,” will open access for students and faculty to a much larger collection of STEM-H books and materials than could be offered through the purchasing power of any single institution. Students and faculty will be able to find these e-books using the library-provided search already available on their campuses, just as though the libraries owned the materials. However, only those books that students and faculty actually select to use will be paid for by VIVA, guaranteeing a return on each dollar spent in the program. The purchased books will be added to the permanent collections of all the VIVA libraries and will remain a shared resource in perpetuity. The e-books may be downloaded in their entirety to many popular mobile devices, including tablets and e-book readers.
The pilot program will be carried out under a contract with e-book supplier Ebook Library. Publishers participating in the pilot program include John Wiley & Sons, Oxford University Press, Jossey-Bass, McGraw-Hill UK and Wiley-VCH.
The addition of these collections was made possible through the generous support of Governor Bob McDonnell, Secretary of Education Laura Fornash, the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia, and funding appropriated by the General Assembly.
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VIVA is the consortium of the libraries of 74 nonprofit higher education institutions in Virginia, including 39 state-assisted colleges and universities within the Commonwealth of Virginia, 34 independent private, nonprofit institutions, and The Library of Virginia. VIVA’s mission is to provide, in an equitable, cooperative, and cost-effective manner, enhanced access to library and information resources for Virginia’s academic libraries serving the nonprofit higher education community. VIVA is funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and by investments from participating institutions.
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For additional information contact:
Katherine A. Perry
VIVA Director
George Mason University, MS 1D1
Arlington Campus Library
3351 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22201
Tel: 703-993-4654
Email: kperry@gmu.edu
Source:
The Virtual Library of Virginia
New for Summer Semester 2013
6/5/2013
