Meet the Librarian: Kyle McCarrell from Augusta State University

Our librarian of the month is Kyle McCarrell, the Acquisitions and Cataloging Librarian for Augusta State University.  He was kind enough to share some of his insights into Business Expert Press and why he chose to start the trial and purchase our Digital Collection.

What made you want to trial the Digital Library?

When I first was introduced to the Digital Library of Business Expert Press, I was immediately impressed with the diversity of business content that was available for the various parts of our business school. Books on marketing, accounting, MIS, etc. were all available in one digital collection. When I contacted our College of Business to look over the title list, they immediately wanted to trial it, particularly because the entire collection was in digital form.  

What prompted you to purchase the Digital Library?

After a month of doing the trial of the Digital Library, our College of Business faculty were impressed with the authors and the content. The titles seemed to be written so that both undergraduate students and professor could find nuggets of information that would be helpful in their research. The currency of the content (2009-2011) was also a big selling point. Finally, I was really impressed with the flexibility that Business Expert Press has regarding printing, copying, and downloading PDFs. The use of the Ebrary interface was also a big plus for us.

What's your opinion on e-books in libraries today in general?

I believe that libraries must focus on multiple forms of content. Some users prefer traditional books, while others prefer digital content that is downloadable to their computers or e-readers. Whatever form we happened to have purchased, our goal is to make users comfortable with finding and utilizing the information they need. E-books in academic libraries and for academic content will continue to grow, but I suspect not with the growth that we have seen with popular titles. We have also found that different departments are more open to having digital content than others. Our purchase of the Business Expert Press Digital Library reflects how our College of Business is comfortable with e-books.  

Are professors using the library's e-collections more frequently now?  Have they been using Business Expert Press?

I don’t know if I truly have a firm handle on this question yet. Some professors are much more open to using e-content than others and it varies widely even within a department. It really depends on the topic and what types of research are being done. I would say, in general, people are much more comfortable with finding e-journals than with e-books. With Business Expert Press, however, I anticipate that both professors and students will utilize these new titles, particularly as more titles are added throughout the year.

A big thank you to Kyle for taking the time from his busy schedule to answer our questions!