(Activity report/Library Service Section) On Sept. 14, the Library information team from the Preparatory Office of Dharma Drum University gave an e-book training session on the 7th floor of the Degui Academy. The topic was ‘Mastering E-Books: How to Make Good Use of E-Book Resources Everywhere’

The session was led by Professor Kong Cheng-Chung. Forty-five attendees listened attentively to the speaker lectures and took part in the classroom interactions; they also expressed their own opinions on a variety of e-book issues, and shared the latest e-book carriers, information contents as well as new operation knowledge.

The first session, ‘Getting to Know Taiwan’s Academic E-Book Alliance,’ was led by Yuan Hongshine from the library information team. The lecture covered, among others, funds allocation and procurement principles. It also analyzed the relationships between the publisher, the content creator, and the users in the e-book market.

The second session was ‘Types, Platforms, and Application Development Trends of E-Books’. Speaker Yuan Hongshine discussed the definition of e-book, starting with the first generation of digital content carriers of the 90s, and then focused on the evolution of the last 20 years with ever increasing knowledge and content service added. In the last part of his lecture, he brought up the issue “What Have These E-Book ‘Vehicles’ Or Information Product Upgrades Brought Us?” and used that theme as a discussion starting point for the attendees.

The final session was delivered by Huang Chigym of Airiti Corporation with the topic of ‘Construction, Integration and Application of Digital Contents’. It not only elaborated on the trend of digital publication and market analysis, but also showcased the company’s digital products. The instructor further provided 6 tablet PCs to attendees on the spot to personally experience e-book download operations.

The purpose of this activity was to let attendees thoroughly understand, master, and make good use of e-book resources. The e-book resources here included all e-books bought by the Preparatory Office, purchased from the Taiwan Academic d-Book Alliance, and selected and organized website resources. The attendees in this activity ranged from faculty of the Preparatory Office, scholars and students from the communication industry, to volunteers and senior citizens. After this training session, all attendees understood better how to master and make good use of the flood of information that is all around in this digital era, without being drowned by it at the same time.