While there's nothing quite like holding a physical book in your hands, there is nothing like the speed of access that digital resources provide. During COVID, we have questioned the safety of passing physical items back and forth. Looking ahead, we are putting an increased focus on making collections more accessible for all users, so I've put together some digital resources to help you locate children's literature from wherever you are located!
Your professor may have posted the Wartburg specific username/password in my.wartburg for you. If you're having a hard time finding them, do not hesitate to reach out to your liaison librarian.
Iowa AEAs provide digital resources to Iowa students and educators at no cost to the school districts. Some of these resources require a username/password, which your professor or your librarian can provide to you. The 16 digital resources are located on their website and are all available for your use. The ones that provide access to digital books will be further explained below!
For your Children's Literature course this May Term, MackinVIA and BookFLIX will likely be your best bets for content.
epic! is a free resource for teachers and librarians. As pre-service teachers you can sign up for an account using your Wartburg College email address. While you will have to choose a grade level when you register, you are still able to browse the entire catalog once you're in your dashboard.
epic! has more than 40,000 eBooks, audiobooks, videos, and more!
Another option you have to access digital children's books is through your local library. If you already have a library card, check your community library's website to see if they subscribe to BRIDGES, Hoopla, Overdrive, Libby, Sora, etc. While many libraries are closed to the public during the pandemic, many are still available through email. Do not hesitate to reach out to your neighborhood librarian for assistance.
COVID-19 has creators and teachers alike trying to figure out the best way to get books out to kids. Follow #operationstorytime or #savewithstories on a variety of social media feeds and you will find tons of videos of authors and teachers and celebrities reading wonderful books.
NOTE: As you look ahead to your own teaching, much of the sharing that is happening right now is being granted through special permissions by publishers. It goes against copyright for someone to record themselves reading an entire book and publishing it on the open web. It will be interesting to see how the rush to remote learning/education impacts copyright practices in the years to come.
Vogel Library, Wartburg College | 100 Wartburg Blvd, Waverly, IA, 50677 | Phone: 319-352-8500 | Email: asklibrarian@wartburg.edu