About Ebook Collections
(eBooks.com does not sell ebooks directly to libraries. But we do offer a technology platform, Ebook Collections, which enables book publishers to sell collections of their own titles to libraries.)
Thank you for choosing Ebook Collections, an ebook delivery service provided by eBooks.com. The system enables any book publisher to provide collections of ebooks to libraries directly, without having to go through traditional aggregators.
Overview
System Requirements
To use the websites, your (and your patrons’) systems must comply with the following minimum requirements.
Operating Systems
Windows
- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or Windows Vista or later
- Both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported
- 500Mhz or faster Intel Pentium processor
- 128MB of RAM
Macintosh Power PC
- Mac OS X version 10.3.9 (or higher) or 10.4.8 (or higher)
- 500Mhz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor
- 128MB of RAM
Linux
- 2.4.37 or later
- 500Mhz or faster processor
- 128MB of RAM
Note: If using Linux, you will not be able to download ebooks. This is because Adobe Digital Editions, the program we use to enable downloads, does not support Linux OS. You will, however, still be able to read ebooks online using your web browser.
Other Software
- Adobe Flash Player
- Adobe Digital Editions 1.7.1 or later
Monitor
Monitor with at least 800×600 screen resolution
Browsers
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6+ (Windows)
- Safari 3+ (Mac Windows)
- Firefox 2+ (Windows Mac Linux)
- Netscape 7.1+ (Windows Mac Linux)
- Google Chrome (Windows)
Main Components
Ebook Collections comprises four discrete applications: a website for you to use, another site for your users, an online ebook reading application and Adobe’s dedicated ebook reader program, called Adobe Digital Editions (“ADE”).
Librarian Resources Portal
This is the site you will mostly be concerned with. Your resources portal enables you to obtain usage reports, view your collections of ebooks, set up administrator accounts, create login credentials for users, and view new and forthcoming ebook offerings from selected publishers.
User’s Portal
The User’s Portal is the interface used by your library patrons to browse, search and discover ebooks.
eb20 Online Reader
The eb20 Online Reader is a web-based online ebook app that lets you read ebooks on any computer, anywhere, any-time. This reader combines the ease of using a simple web page with all the features you’d expect from a downloaded-and- installed computer program. Your users will use eb20 Online Reader to browse and read ebooks.
Adobe Digital Editions
Adobe Digital Editions (“ADE”) is an ebook reader program provided free of charge by Adobe Systems, built using Adobe Flash. It is used for acquiring, managing and reading eBooks, digital newspapers, and other digital publications. ADE is the most popular proprietary ebook reading app.
Your Resources Portal
Here you can browse the ebooks in your collections, view all ebook offerings, obtain usage reports, modify your profile, and manage administrator and user access to the system.
Log in to your account, using the credentials supplied to you. If you do not have a username or password, please ask the book publisher, who will be glad to provide them for you.
- View all the publisher’s ebooks
- View the publisher’s ebooks your library owns
- Check usage with COUNTER-compliant reports
- Manage your profile, change your password, email address, etc
- Create administartor and user accounts for your colleagues and users
- See special offers from the publisher
- Search the ebooks in your collections
- List of the collections owned by your library
Collections
Clicking the publisher’s Collections tab displays all the collections available from that publisher. You can browse these collections at your leisure.
- Those collections that are already owned by your library are flagged with a corner band.
- The titles displayed are the most popular (most read) books in each collection. Click on a book’s cover to see more detail, or…
- Click on See all books to see a complete list of all the titles in this collection.
Owned Collections
Clicking on the Owned Collections tab displays a list of the collections owned by your library and accessible to your users.
Obtaining MARC Records
To obtain MARC records for any collection:
- Go to the Marc Records tab
- Choose which collection you want to obtain the Marc Records for, or enter an ISBN for a single title.
- Then choose your output format: MARC format or CSV.
- Click on the button that says, Export MARC records for this collection … and follow the on-screen prompts.
Usage Reports
- You can retrieve detailed usage reports in our standard format.
- Click on COUNTER-Compliant Reports to choose from three industry-standard usage report formats, which are designed specifically for ebooks.
- Geography Reports will show you which countries your users are in.
Profile: Library Profile
- Library Name. Edit the name of your library. This is the name that appears on the web pages accessed by your users.
- Primary Contact. Enter the name of the person who should receive communications from the publisher.
- Library Logo. Click on Upload Logo to change the logo that your users will see when they log in to Ebook Collections
- Organisation Name. If your library is a part of a larger organisation, enter the name of the larger organisation here.
- Reply-to email address. Enter here the email address that should receive notices and reports from Ebook Collections
Profile: IP Addresses
These are the IP addresses of your library. It is necessary for us to record these IP addresses for security purposes, to ensure that authenticated patrons of your library will be able to access Ebook Collections.
If you need to add new IP addresses, or ranges of IP addresses, please advise the publisher, and they will be glad to amend these settings for you.
Administrator & User Access
- Administrators. An administrator is a person, usually an employee of your library, who is authorised to manage access and collections within this Librarian Resources Portal. If you are the Primary Administrator, then you can add new Secondary Administrators by clicking the “Create New Administrator Login” link at the left.
- Active and Inactive Administrators.
An active administrator is one who is able to access the Librarian
Resources Portal. An administrator is marked as inactive if:
- their access privileges have expired or been cancelled by the Primary Administrator, or
- they have not yet validated their account by clicking on a link emailed to them by the Primary Administrator.
- Primary Administrator. The Primary User has complete access credentials and is able to use all the functions in the Librarian Resources Portal.
- Passwords and Status Control. Use these links to re-set an administrator’s password, or to disable or reinstate an administrator’s access.
- Manage or Modify Admin Accounts. Click on an Administrator’s name to edit their details.
- Create New Administrator. Click here to establish an account for a new administrator.
Creating a new Administrator
This Librarian Resources Portal has two types of user, called Administrators. The Primary Administrator has full access privileges, and is able to create, modify and disable Administrator and user accounts. Secondary Users have reduced privileges, as stipulated by the Primary Administrator.
To create a new Administrator:
- Go to Administrator & User Access and click on Create New Administrator Login, and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Once you have created the Administrator be sure to then activate the account.
Creating a New User (Patron) Account
Your users will mostly access Ebook Collections directly, without the need to type in a username and password. This is done by means of IP authentication.
In some cases, however, you might need to create a special username and password for a user who is unable to access Ebook Collections via the IP proxy system at your library. To create such a user account:
- go to Administrator & User Access and click on Create New User Login, and
- follow the on-screen prompts
