Ebook Central: Copy, Print, and Download

At the book details page, click on the “Read Online” button directly below the book image. The ebook reader will open with the front cover of the book displayed. Use the online reader icons in the top blue toolbar to interact with the book.

To view allowances for download, copying and printing, click on the book icon. Allowances vary depending on the publisher. These will reset after 24 hours, giving you the full number of pages to copy/print/download again.

At the book details page, use the icons at the bottom of the page to copy, print, or download for
offline access. Use the arrows to navigate page by page. Select the icon with the three dots at the top to open a menu with multiple navigation options
including the option to sign out.

This means that either the book has already been checked out, or the book is not available to be downloaded and must be read online.

The book is already checked out
If someone already has a book checked out, then the “Read Online” and “Download” buttons will not be clickable (as seen in the screenshot below) and the “Availability section” says: “All copies are currently in use. Please check back later, or search for another book.” If this happens, wait about an hour and try to access the book again. If you’re still having trouble, contact a librarian for assistance.

The book cannot be downloaded
Some books cannot be downloaded and can only be read online. Use the “Read Online” button to access books that cannot be downloaded.

• Go to Ebook Central and sign In (upper right corner)
• Search for a book and click on the title.
• Select the blue “Full Download” button
• The download screen should recognize the device you are using.

• On laptops and desktops, you will need to install Adobe Digital Editions. This is free software that is different than Adobe Reader (the software you might usually use to open PDF files).
• Choose the appropriate version for Windows or Mac and complete the steps to download the software.
• When you first download Adobe Digital Editions, you will get a screen asking to authorize your computer. Click the box “I want to authorize my computer without an ID”. You do not need to have a vendor login ID or vendor password.

On the “Authorize Your Computer” screen, you do not need to have a Vendor Login ID or Password. You can simply click the “I want to authorize my computer without an ID” checkbox then click the “Authorize” button.

After installation, return to EBook Central and proceed to the next step where you can choose your download period and your preferred download format if more than one is available.

Download the book to a computer or laptop

• You will be asked to authorize your computer with an Adobe ID. This is optional if you will be reading the book on your computer, but necessary if you want to transfer your book to another device.
• Note: For subsequent downloads, you will be brought directly to this “Download” step since you will have already installed Adobe Digital Editions.

Download the book to a tablet or phone

• To access an Ebook Central book on your mobile phone, the best way is to download the book for offline reading using Adobe Digital Editions on iOS or Android devices.
• Make sure you have the latest version of Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android) on your device.  Ebook Central does not work with Internet Explorer 8 or 9. Note: Gestures and accessibility are not supported on mobile devices.
• Select “Full Download” on the Book Details page.
• The download will recognize your iOS or Android device.
• An Adobe ID is required to read the book on a mobile device.
• Select the “epub” format if available so that you can resize the text if needed.

Printing or downloading creates a PDF that does not expire. The PDF can then be printed anytime or read offline. The PDF is also searchable.

• Download a chapter by going to the Book Detail page and selecting “Chapter Download”.
• You will be prompted to choose your citation format. You can change your citation preference under “Settings” at the top right of the screen.
• The full citation is automatically included at the bottom of each page.
• If the chapter is longer than the number of pages you have left to print/download, an error will be displayed. You will need to wait 24 hours to print or download anything further.
• To select by page range, click the “Print to PDF” icon.

For each book, there is a limit on the number of pages that can be copied, printed, or downloaded for each user. These limits are displayed on the book’s detail page and will reset every 24 hours. To see your current status on allowance limits while reading a book, select the book icon (book details) on the left sidebar.

Reading Online: Copy limits: 20% of a book’s total pages.

• Example: For a 200-page book, you can copy text from up to 40 pages every 24 hours.
• Multiple sections copied from the same page counts as just one copy.

Reading Online: Printed or page/chapter downloads: 40% of a book’s total pages

• Example: For a 200-page book, you can print or download up to 80 pages every 24 hours.
• Both “Print to PDF” and “Chapter Download” deduct against the same total.

Fully downloaded books:

• Copy limits: 20% of the book’s total pages from Adobe Digital Editions (for downloading and reading on desktops, laptops, or mobile devices).
• Print or download limits: 40% of the book’s total pages.
• Download allowances are separate from the allowances given for reading online.

• Check out Getting Started with Ebook Central
• Watch a video tutorial on using Ebook Central
• Ask a PCC Librarian for help!