Library Databases

Sample EBSCO eBook, highlighting the eBook tools menu

The most important functions are:

• Full eBook Download: Located in the top right menu bar, this button will allow you to borrow the entire book for a few days. A MyEBSCO account and a DRM-capable eBook reader like Adobe Digital Editions are required to use this feature. The loan period may vary but is usually between one and seven days. When you click the button, you will be prompted to make a MyEBSCO account, which is completely free. Adobe Digital Editions can be downloaded here.
• Print Document: Located in the top right menu bar, in the middle, this button will allow you to create a PDF of a limited number of pages. While you cannot print or download the whole book, the limit is usually enough to get a complete chapter as a PDF file and you do not have to return it. You also do not need a MyEBSCO account or any additional programs to use this feature.
• Navigation Menu: Located on the right of the page, this menu lists all the sections of the book, allowing you to quickly skip to a section without having to scroll. If you’re viewing the book as a PDF, you can freely scroll through the entire text. If if you are viewing the text in ePUB format, you must use the Navigation Menu to move between sections.

There are also options to save a book to your MyEBSCO account, which will allow you to find it easily later. You can also download a citation for the book in a large variety of referencing styles.

The search button (top right) allows you to find specific terms or phrases in the text. You can also zoom in or out or set the viewer to full screen using the buttons in the bottom right corner.

Sample archival page, showing the table of contents on the left, page view in the centre, and user tools on the right margin

The most important functions are:

• Print Document: Located in the thin menu on the right, second from the top, this tool will allow you to download the full text freely as a PDF. To download the entire text, click the Print Document button then select the Print Selected Pages option and enter the number of the first page followed by a hyphen then the number of the last page. Make sure the number you enter exactly matches the page numbers as presented in the text, which you can find in the middle of the bar at the bottom of the page.
• Search: Located at the top of the menu on the left, this button will allow you to search the entire text. Even though these are scans, they are fully searchable.
• Navigation Menu: Located on the left of the viewer, the navigator works the same as the regular EBSCO text viewer.
• Bookmark and Annotate: Located in the thin menu on the right, third from the top, this tool allows you to bookmark specific pages of a text as being of interest and make notes. If you are logged in to MyEBSCO, these notes will be saved so you can return to the sections you found interesting. The whole text can also be saved to MyEBSCO by clicking Folder in the top right corner.

This viewer has an extensive Help menu located in the top right of the viewer. The document viewer overlaying the text also has several tools to sort through the pages of a document quickly, showing the location of illustrations or limiting the clickable pages to the current chapter being viewed.

This viewer has options for navigating the document, including zoom features, in the bottom left. It can manipulate the view of the current page far more than the regular EBSCO viewer. In the bottom right there are page rotation and highlight options as well as a map of where on a given page you are so that not only text, but also images, can be explored in detail.

Sample ProQuest eBook page, showing the cover in the main pane, and the table of contents on the left

Many of the same features are available as in the EBSCO viewer, but are organised differently:

• Full Text Download: Located in the icons at the top right, on the left of the row, this feature allows you to borrow the book digitally for a few days. When clicking this button, you will be prompted to choose what sort of computer you are using. Once you have made a selection, you will be prompted to download Adobe Digital Editions (and given a link to do so) if you haven’t already installed the program. Then you can download the book, no account required.
• Print Chapter: There are two ways of downloading a PDF of a section of a book. You can download the chapter you are currently viewing with the Chapter Download button on the top right menu. You can access other download options with the Print to PDF button. You will be prompted to check out the eBook when you click on either of these buttons. This is just for online access and does not require any programs.
• Navigation Menu: A Table of Contents appears on the left, which can be used for navigation. For more precise navigation, click the arrow on the left of the chapter title for subheadings within that chapter.

Like the other viewers, you can search and annotate the text. The buttons for this are located in the vertical menu on the left. The star is for annotations, the magnifying glass for searches. There are also annotation tools in the top right, in the middle section of the row of icons. All annotations will be remembered by ProQuest; when you log in to access the book, you also log in to your ProQuest account.

Zoom and page navigation, along with other useful functions, are located in the top right row of icons. You can generate a citation by clicking the button that looks like a speech bubble with quotation marks.

Sample JSTOR eBook page, showing a page in the main pane, chapter view on the left, citation information top-left, and user tools top right

There are some useful links on the left side of the page, but the most important button is Download in the top right. This will give you a PDF of the article or chapter you are currently viewing. Download links are also available on a book’s summary page under the links to each individual chapter, as shown in the guide on Accessing Resources. Citations are available in many different styles in the top right, as are basic navigation tools, including zoom and full screen options.

Similarly to JSTOR, the Combined Search provides access to journal articles, and gives the ability to download:

Sample journal article view through the Combined search. The article PDF view appears on the main pane, with user tools top-right