A creative idea that will be worth watching since these two local institutions (specifically the public library and area school districts) working together can reduce costs and that will hopefully provide access to a resource that if they were working alone might not happen.
[ebrary announced today a] new pilot program that combines more than 20,000 e-books from leading publishers under a simultaneous, multi-user access subscription model; free access for local public high schools; do-it-yourself e-publishing tools; and complimentary marketing services.
ebrary’s Public Library Complete Pilot Program includes the following:
+ A growing collection of more than 20,000 full-text e-books publishers such as Random House, Penguin, The McGraw-Hill Companies, and Taylor & Francis in multiple subject areas for schools & studying, career development, fiction, practical life skills, arts & leisure, and more.
Preview the selection at: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/publiclibrarytitles.
+ Affordable, subscription-based pricing with simultaneous, multi-user access – No checkouts required.
+ Free access for local public high schools.
+ DASH! (Data, Sharing Fast) for uploading, integrating, and sharing searchable databases of government forms, community college programs, ephemera, special collections, and more.
+ Free MARC records
+ COUNTER-compliant usage statistics
+ Multiple options for searching, navigating, and browsing
+ Ability to copy/paste and print text with automatic citations and URL hyperlinks back to the source.
+ Personal bookshelves with moveable folders that can be mailed to others
++ Much More
And what would a ResourceShelf mention about ebrary be without once again making note of one of the web's greatest freebries, ebrary Discover. You can read more about it here. In a nutshell, after free registration and placing $5 or more on a credit card you'll get access to over 20,000 full text book for FREE. All you do is pay $.25 to print or save a page.
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
