Ebooks - Top Tips

Ebooks - we all know what they are but do you know how to make the most of them? How to annotate online, when to download and how much you can print? The Library buys hundreds of ebooks each year and you can find them all via our Library catalogue StarPlus but they don’t all come from the same supplier. As a result there can be different rules governing how you can use them. Here is a quick guide to three of our main suppliers and some top tips on how to make the most of your e-reading experience...

Dawsonera:

Dawsonera allows you two options with ebooks. You can either read online or you can download the book onto a memory stick or your computer drive where it will last as a pdf format for 48 hours. This is great if you know you’ve only got a short internet connection.

But if you choose the ‘read online’ option there’s lots more you can do. You can annotate the text by clicking on the Notes tab. The reader portal recognises who you are each time you log in and your notes will be saved for your next session.

If you want a hard copy of the text Dawsonera allows you to print up to 5% of any ebook per user. You can print any notes you’ve made separately and this doesn’t count towards the 5% quota.

MyiLibrary:

You can generally download or print 10 pages of a MyiLibrary ebook, although this may differ slightly as the publisher sets the limits.  The MyiLibrary software works best if you use the chapter navigation on the left-hand side to navigate the book.

VLeBooks:

If you’re reading the ebook online you can annotate the text and share text snippets via social media. You can also use the Colour Wheel to add an overlay tint colour to your pages to make reading easier.  VLeBooks can be downloaded for 48 hours to a computer, tablet or smartphone - you may need to install Adobe Digital Editions on your device first. You can generally print 10% of a book, but limits are set by publishers so may vary from title to title.