School Library eBook Providers and Linguistic Equity

An Analysis of eBook Collections Available to School Libraries

Abstract

If school library collections must meet the needs of the communities they serve, the native languages of the student population must be an important consideration when making purchasing decisions about eBooks. Many professionals in the library community believe that materials in electronic format have the potential to enrich library collections with linguistic diversity. To ensure that school library collections reflect the linguistic diversity of the community, as school library professionals we need to gain a better understanding of what resources are available for our students in digital format. Recent studies indicate that eBooks available from vendors to schools libraries do not meet the linguistic needs of children whose native language is not English. Several international organizations have recognized this issue and are developing initiatives to resolve the growing digital and linguistic divide.