Reading EBL books
When you visit EBL you should be asked to enter your UC username and password so that you are logged into your own EBL account with your personalised bookshelf and your past loans. If you are not prompted to log in, you may be accessing the generic UC Library account. If this happens, try closing your browser and starting a new browser session. |
EBL books can be read online in two different ways.
- Read Online is the easiest method and recommended by the Library
- Download is useful if you have a personal computer or portable device
Read Online 
- To read online you need to have Adobe Reader installed (but this may not be required on a Mac). The Library recommends Adobe Acrobat 9 or higher.
- You are first given 10 minutes to browse within it.
- After this time, or if you want to print or copy any section, you are prompted to create a loan.
- When you create a loan, the book continues to be available to you for 24 hours, and appears on your bookshelf which is available from the EBL homepage. The bookshelf continues to display books you have read, even after the 24 hour period has expired, and you can access them for another 24 hour period at any time.
Read Online is the best option to choose unless you need to read the book when you are not connected to the internet, or if you want to use it on a portable device. Read Online is the only recommended option if you are using a shared computer (such as a UC student computer), or any computer you do not have permanent access to. |
Download
Downloading a book gives you access to it later when you are no longer online, or if you want to load it onto a hand held device. You choose how long you wish to access the book - either 2 or 4 days in most cases, though for some books the Library allows 10 or 21 day access. After this period the book will remain on your computer or device, but you will need to return to EBL to borrow the book again to be able to read it.
To download a book, you must have a copy of Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. If you want to access your eBooks on more than one computer, you will need to have a registered Adobe ID, and activate Adobe Digital Editions before downloading your books. See Adobe Digital Editions help for more detailed instructions.
The download option is available from within the Read Online screen, from the Download tab to the right of the book table of contents.
Note:
- Adobe Digital Editions is not available in Linux operating systems.
- If you are using Mac OS X and having trouble vewing ebooks online in PDF mode, please install the pdf-plugin.
- EBL eBooks can be downloaded to the iPad, iPhone, Sony eReader or any portable ebook reader that supports Adobe Digital Editions (ADE).
- There's a list of these compatible devices on the ADE website. All portable devices with browser support can access EBL and Read Online via the web.
Do not use the Download option if you do not have permanent access to the computer, as you will not be able to access your downloaded book on another computer unless you have authorised Adobe Digital Editions with your Adobe ID. See the Adobe Digital Editions help page for more information |
Printing and Copying
- Copyright restrictions limit the amount of the book you can print and copy. The software will tell you how much you are allowed and how much of your allowance has already been used.
- Be careful when you choose to print something - once you have clicked the Print button from the Print Pages screen, the number of pages you have chosen will be deducted from your allowance, even if you choose to cancel the print job at the printer dialog box.
- EBL printing problems are usually related to Adobe Reader preferences and/or browser settings. You need to have Javascript enabled (for both Adobe and your browser) and your internet preferences set to "Open PDF in Browser".
- It is advisable to use Safari as your browser when accessing EBL on a Mac (printing may not work with Firefox)
- EBL won't stop you from reprinting pages you have already tried to print. Even though pages may have been subtracted from your print quota, as long as you select any of the same pages to reprint, you should be able to print them again.
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