Highland County District Library and the State Library of Ohio ahve announced the Ohio Digital Library now includes a collection of eBooks and videos about deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL).
The Highland County District Library is a member of the Ohio Digital Library consortium and access to this collection is available on the HCDL website (www.highlandco.org).
The new collection includes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults and covers many aspects of deaf culture and ASL including language, history, education and instruction. The deaf culture and ASL collection was developed by an overdrive account analyst with a B.S. in American Sign Language Interpretation. With nearly 200 titles, the collection provides a beneficial resource to help increase awareness with the goal of bridging the gap between hearing cultures and deaf cultures in today’s society.
“This collection of eBooks and videos about deaf culture and ASL serves as a wonderful complement to the print collection already available at the State Library of Ohio,” said State Librarian Beverly Cain. “We recognize that many fine books about deaf culture and ASL are not currently available in digital format, but we are dedicated to updating the collection as frequently as possible to keep it both robust and relevant. Many thanks to our account specialists at Overdrive for their assistance in developing this collection.”
The State Library of Ohio and Highland County District Library purchase audiobooks and eBooks through the Ohio Digital Library to provide digital resources for our patrons and Ohio Digital Library member libraries’ patrons. Audiobooks and eBooks selected for the Ohio Digital Library reflect a broad spectrum of viewpoints and reader interests including fiction, children’s literature, skills improvement, lifelong learning, health and wellness, literature and more.
The Ohio Digital Library is a consortium of 176 Ohio public libraries. The libraries share a collection of digital media that includes eBooks, audiobooks, magazines (periodicals) and video. Started in 2005 as the Ohio eBook Project, it is funded in part by LSTA funds awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the State Library of Ohio.
This statewide project helps public libraries provide these services at a considerable savings. The State Library of Ohio acts as project manager and contracts with OverDrive, Inc. to make this project a reality. The holdings include over 303,000 copies of eBooks, audiobooks, and videos and more than 143,000 individual titles. To view the collection visit: OhioDigitalLibrary.com
Submitted by Sarah Allen, Highland County District.
