eBooks

GCS offers over 5000 eBooks for elementary students to read at school or at home. As long as students have access to an internet connection, they have access to books!

See below for instructions about accessing and reading eBooks.

Please contact the Erwin School Library if you have any questions about reading eBooks.

eBooks are linked in three locations on the Erwin webpage. You can find them under Quick Links on the school homepage, on the Student Links page, and on the Erwin School Library Information Center page.

From the home screen, find the Login button in the top right corner. You can also go to the main menu. Login is listed at the bottom.

Each student has a login for eBooks. The username is the students' lunch number. The password is the student's birthdate in MMDDYYYY format.

Example:

username = 1234567

password = 01012001

TIP: If the login information does not work, try closing the browser and starting over. The Try Again button rarely works.

The search box is at the top of the screen under the blue header. Type your search term in the box, then click on the down arrow. Select keyword, title, author or subject from the Type drop down menu. Then click on the magnifying glass.

Books that match your search will appear on a new screen.

CAREFUL! The search results will list ALL items available in the Erwin library on that topic. But you want EBOOKS, so you are looking for Digital items.

From the search results screen, click the Digital tab to see only eBooks.

Then you can filter your search by which books are available or other criteria such as reading level or genre.

When you have a list of just eBooks, you can open a book to read, put a hold on the book, or add it to your Favorites list.

In the Digital Search Results list, next to each available book is an Open button, a Checkout button, and a Favorite button.

Books that are currently checked out by another patron, will have a Hold button.

To read the book, click Open.

The book will open to the cover. To adjust how the book is shown on the screen, Click on the Aa in the top right.

This opens a box that allows you to determine if you want to view one or two pages of the book at a time. You can also adjust the height and width of the book so the image fits on the screen without scrolling.

After making the adjustments, click the X to close this window.

Use the arrows on the left and right of the screen to turn the pages of the book. At the bottom on the left you can see what page you are on, and on the right you can see how much of the book you have read.

Some of the books have a read-aloud option. If there is a Play button in the bottom left corner, you can listen to the book and read along.

When you are in the Digital Search Results List, you can click on the checkout button.

If you are reading the book and want to check it out to finish later, click on Book in the top right of the screen. Then click Check Out Title.

In the Book menu, you can also search the book for keywords and view the Table of Contents.

After you check the book out, you can click Back in the top left of the screen to go back to your search results.

From the search results screen or the Home screen, click on the "hamburger" next to Destiny Discover in the top left corner to open the menu.

From here, you can see what eBooks you have checked out, your Favorites list, and your Holds list.

To open a book you have checked out, click on Checkouts, then click on the eBook that you want to continue reading.

CAREFUL! The checkout list will show all school library items that are checked out. Only eBooks will have the OPEN button next to them.

Students can check out two eBooks at a time. The eBooks will be in the students Bookbag for two weeks unless they are returned early.

At the end of two weeks, eBooks will expire and will automatically be checked in.

To return an eBook early, open the Bookbag and click the Return button next to the book title.

Open the eBook. If there is information that you want to remember from the book, you can create a note.

Click on Notebook at the top right of the screen. Then click on the blue + sign on the right.

A text box will open. Here you can type in the information that you want to save from the book.

When you save your Note, it will show the page number and the book title that you got the information from.

Your notes will be available even after you return the book.

To go back to your saved notes, click on the "hamburger" to open the menu, then click on Notebook. All of your saved Notes will be listed. Scroll down to the book title you want to read Notes from and click on it.

You can print the notes you saved. You can also edit and delete them.

In the Favorites list you can save books that you are interested in reading at a later time.

To add a book to Favorites, click the Favorite button next to the book in the search list.

To view your Favorites list, click on the "hamburger" to open the menu and click Favorites. When you open your list, yo can read an available book on the list, place a Hold if a book you want to read is checked out, or remove the book from your Favorites.

If you are collecting books for a project, you can easily create a resources list using the Cite These Titles feature in the Favorites list.

Click on Cite These Titles at the top of the list. A box appears with citations for all of the books in the Favorites list in the MLA8 format. You may have to scroll down to see all of the books' citations. You can choose to change citations format by clicking on APA or Chicago.

You can copy the citations to paste into a Word document or export them to an Easybib account.

Non-eBooks can be added to the Favorites list from the main search screen by clicking on All. Any books, print or digital, in the Favorites list will be included in the citations.

This feature makes it easy to properly attribute sources that are used for school work or other projects.

There are apps available for various devices.

Navigate to eBooks on a device via the links on the Erwin school webpage. Open a book and click on Bookbag. There will be a choice listed as Download App. Click on that choice to open a new window.

Alternatively, go to this link to open the same window.

Options for reading eBooks on different device formats will be listed. Click on the link for your appropriate device and follow the instructions provided.

The Help button is always available in the main Destiny Discover menu. There is also a Help button available on the top right of the screen when you have an eBook open to read.

The online Help feature will guide you through the various aspects of finding and reading eBooks. There are videos available for some topics.

You can also see Ms. Cravey in the Erwin School Library for help using eBooks.

Email: craveyn@gcsnc.com
Website: www.erwinmontessori.com
Facebook: facebook.com/erwinmontessori
Twitter: @erwinmontessori