Ebooks at Unitec Library

Using ProQuest Ebook Central E-books at Unitec Library

The majority of our e-books at Unitec are available through ProQuest Ebook Central.

1.  In the library catalogue record, look for the View Online section and click on the link beside 'Full-Text available at:'

2. Log-in with your Unitec user-name and password. NOTE: Your user-name here is your short user name (e.g. bloggj01 (students) or jbloggs (staff)).

3. The e-book should open. 

Click on 'Read Online'

OR

To go straight to a chapter, scroll down and click on the relevant chapter heading on the right-hand side. (Note: It is sometimes necessary to click on 'Show Subsections to see the chapter headings)

NOTE:  After reading an e-book for 5 minutes, you will likely be asked to borrow the e-book.  This is normal and at no cost to you.  You should accept.

4. To read through the book, use the arrows at the bottom right of the e-book. You can also click on the first number to go straight to a page number.

5. At the top right of the e-book, there are a range of buttons. The most useful ones are:

 Open the e-book details. There is also an option to Switch to a PDF version of this e-book and Download the book (for a short period of time under this link. Switching to PDF can be easier for reading. 

 See the Table of Contents of the e-book (including the sub-sections). 

 Search for keywords within the e-book

 Change the font size

 See the AI Research assistant notes

6. At the bottom right of the e-book, there are further useful buttons. 

 Print a short part of the e-book (the page you are on, a page range or the whole chapter). Note: There are limits as to how much you can print.

 Download the whole e-book for a short period of time. Note: Requires Adobe Digital Editions software - see the 'Downloading Ebooks' page on this guide for more information.

 Get help with referencing/citing the e-book. Note: the reference may not be 100% correct.

For more information on using ProQuest Ebook videos, watch this video. Note: This video is based on an earlier version of the ProQuest Ebook Central reader.

Downloading from a ProQuest Ebook Central e-book

Downloading a whole e-book

There are two possible ways to download a ProQuest Ebook Central e-book.

Option 1: Using Adobe Digital Editions

Downloading to a Laptop/Computer

For downloading to computers and laptops, you need the free software Adobe Digital Editions.

Note: Ebooks are only able to be downloaded for limited periods (the time period differs per e-book).

Downloading to a Mobile Device

For downloading to devices that have apps (for example phones, tablets, Kindle Fire), you need the Adobe Digital Editions app. 

Note: Ebooks are only able to be downloaded for limited periods (the time period differs per e-book).

Option 2: No extra software required

A few ProQuest Ebook Central e-books don't require you to use Adobe Digital Editions to download the e-book. In these cases, you should be able to download the e-book directly to PDF format.

Downloading a Chapter of a ProQuest Ebook Central e-book to PDF

It is often possible to download a whole chapter of an e-book.  Here are the steps.

1. From the home page of the e-book, look for this link which tells you how many pages you are allowed to download to PDF: The allowed number of pages differ for each e-book. Please note that you are logged-in when using e-books so the software keeps track of the number of pages you have copied or downloaded.

2. Scroll down that page and go and find the chapter or subsection or chapter that you want to download (click on "Show Subsections" to see the subsections'. Beside the section of the e-book you want, click on .

4. On the next screen, hit 

The chapter you are in should now download to PDF format. 

Printing & Copying parts of Proquest Ebook Central e-books

For print books, you can photocopy the pages you like the look of. For e-books, the alternative is to print copy the parts of the e-books that you need.

Each ProQuest Ebook Central e-book has a limit as to how many pages you can print or copy. Look for these limits on the front page of an e-book under Availability - for example:

The allowed number of pages differ for each e-book. Please note that you are logged-in when using e-books so the software keeps track of the number of pages you have copied or downloaded to PDF over time.

Printing

When the actual e-book is open, click on the  icon at the bottom right of the screen. On the next screen, select the pages you want to print. Change the Citation style to APA (or Chicago/Turabian Author-Date if you are an Architecture student). Don't forget that there are likely limits on how much you can print. Downloading a chapter or subsection of the book is another option.See the instructions under 'Downloading a Chapter of a ProQuest Ebook Central e-book to PDF' (in the box in the middle column of this page). 

Copying

When the actual e-book is open, highlight the part of the text you want to copy with your mouse or finger. A pop-up box should appear. Click on the  icon. The copied section will come up. Click on . Go to your Clipboard to find the copyh. 

Accessibility Options for ProQuest Ebook Central E-books

The majority of our e-books at Unitec are available through the ProQuest Ebook Central Platform.

If you need them, the following options are available:

* Having e-books read out in Accessibility Mode

* Increasing the font size in Accessibility Mode

* Compatibility with screen readers using JAWS (for Internet Explorer) and VoiceOver (for Safari) software

* Choice to turn on the OpenDyslexic typeface.

For more information about these options, go here: Accessibility Statement: Ebook Central. You are also welcome to contact your Subject Librarian.