How To Use Ebook Central: Ebook Central Account

Create An Ebrary Account

You will need to have an ebrary account and be signed into it in order to download content, save ebooks to your Bookshelf and save your highlights and notes. 

1. Click Sign in in the far upper right corner.
2. Click Create an account.
3. Fill in your chosen username and password and contact information; click the checkboxes, and click Create New Account. You will receive an email when your account is created.
4. From then on, as soon as you access Ebrary, go to the Sign In link in the upper right corner and simply enter your username and password.

Want to know why you have to log in twice?

Once you're signed in with your Ebrary username and password, you can store books in your Bookshelf to make them easy to find. And in books that are stored in your Bookshelf, you can make highlights and notes that will be saved for the next time you log in. 

Adding An Ebook To Your Bookshelf

When you inside the ebook, all you have to do to add it to your bookshelf is click the little icon that looks like a book with a plus sign, which is located directly above the part of the screen where the book itself displays. When you do, you'll see a blue message that says "Successfully added to your bookshelf" and that icon will become a lighter shade of gray.

Adding Highlights

Once an ebook is in your bookshelf, notes and highlights that you create will be saved for you for the next time you log in. To create a highlight, click the highlighter icon over where the pages display. Then select the text you want to highlight. It will pop up a little menu to choose what color you want to use.

If you want to get rid of a highlight, double click it and then click the trash can icon that appears.

Adding Notes

Adding notes as you read can help you understand and remember the content better. It also lets you make comments on what you read, for instance, if you disagree with the author, have an idea how to connect what the author is saying to something else you read or thought of, or even if you just want to remember to use a particular quotation in your paper.

To add a note, just click the little button above the page display that looks like a square piece of paper with one corner folded up. Then type your note in the pop-up that appears, and click Save. 

Your note will now appear as a little yellow square sticky note with the corner folded up, in the upper left corner of the page. When you double-click on that, you will see what you've written, and you can add to it. 

Looking At Your Bookshelf

To access your Bookshelf, click the Bookshelf link at the top right of the book display page, or the top left of the ebrary homepage. 

In your Bookshelf, you will see all the books that you have saved. 

Underneath each book, you will see all the highlights and notes you have added. You can use the trashcan icon next to each one to get rid of it. 

If you do not want to read your ebook online, you will sometimes have two other options. You will need to be signed into your ebrary account to use either of them. 

Download the ebook (for 14 days)

To download the ebook, click the little down-arrow button, which is located over where the ebook pages display. 

1. A pop-up will appear and ask you some questions about the device you are using (computer, tablet, etc.)
2. Then it will ask you to install Adobe Digital Editions, which is free software. If you click the Get Adobe Digital Editions button, it will take you to a page where you select Windows or Macintosh. Once you do, it will download. Then you just have to open the file and run the installation program.
3. If you have already done that, click Done With This Step, and then click the Download Your Book button. 
4. To read your downloaded book, double-click the file that looks like 12345678.acsm. It will open up in Adobe Digital Editions. After two weeks, it will no longer be able to be opened.

Print part of the ebook (about one chapter)

To print part of the ebook, click the little button that looks like a printer, which is located above where the pages are displaying.

A dialogue box will pop up and you can choose to print the current page, a page range (less than 27 pages) or the current chapter. Important: Use the page numbers at the upper right of the page, even if they are different from the ones printed in the text! 

It will "print" to a PDF file, which you can download by clicking the Open PDF button that appears.

Once you've done that, you can open it with Adobe Reader (free software.) Then you can save it wherever you want, email it or print a paper copy.