Downloadable e-books in EBSCO Academic Collection now with 30-Day checkout period!

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Gary Daught

In an earlier post, I walked you through the steps for downloading e-books from the Library’s EBSCOhost eBook Collections to your computer for offline reading. You will recall I pointed out that if the e-book is downloadable you would see this label in the title record:

At the time I first posted these instructions, the download or “checkout” period of all our EBSCOhost e-books was limited to seven (7) days. I am pleased to report that the checkout period for the downloadable titles in our EBSCOhost Academic eBooks Collection has been extended to 30 days–the same checkout period we provide for our physical lending books. This extended period reduces some of the inconvenience of having to re-download the title after only a week–especially nice if you have also taken the steps to transfer a downloaded e-book to your mobile device of e-reader.

If the e-book you have selected for downloading is available for this 30-day checkout period, you will see this dialog box during the download process:

Please note that this extended checkout applies only to the EBSCOhost Academic eBooks Collection. The Library’s older EBSCOhost eBooks Collection (what some of you may know as our NetLibrary Collection) is still limited to a 7-day checkout. Incidentally, unlike this older collection, the Academic eBooks Collection also supports unlimited simultaneous users. You should never encounter a turn-away for any title you would like to read from this collection.

Please feel free to contact the Library if you have any questions, or if you would like assistance with the download/checkout or transfer to mobile procedure.

Transferring e-books from EBSCO to your mobile device or e-reader

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Gary Daught

In my previous post, I described the procedure for downloading EBSCOhost e-books to your computer for offline reading. In this post I will describe how you can transfer a downloaded book to a mobile device–a smartphone, tablet computer, or dedicated e-book reader.

Before proceeding, make sure that you have successfully completed all the steps described in my previous post and listed here:

You have created an Adobe ID
You have downloaded and installed the Adobe Digital Editions application software on your computer
You have created a My EBSCOhost account, and
You have downloaded an EBSCOhost e-book into Adobe Digital Editions

Adobe Digital Editions negotiates copy protection for EBSCOhost e-books on your computer or your mobile device. In order to successfully transfer an EBSCOhost e-book to a mobile device that device must either natively communicate with Adobe Digital Editions when attached to your computer, or allow the installation of an application that can communicate with Adobe Digital Editions on its behalf. Dedicated e-book readers such as the Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, or Kobo eReader support Adobe Digital Editions natively. Unfortunately, Amazon E-Ink Kindles do not currently provide support for Adobe Digital Editions. Many smartphones and tablets, including Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) and Android devices (including Amazon Kindle Fire tablets with some special tweaking), work with Adobe Digital Editions through a third-party application that can be installed on the device. I will describe the transfer procedure on a Barnes & Noble Nook and an Apple iPod touch. The specific procedure for your device may differ from these, but the following instructions will give you a good idea for what is involved. Please contact a librarian if you would like assistance, or if you run into any difficulty.

Transferring an EBSCOhost e-book to a Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch e-reader

Step 1: Authorize the device in Adobe Digital Editions

Launch Adobe Digital Editions on your computer then attach your e-reader device to your computer with the supplied USB cable. Adobe Digital Editions should automatically detect a compatible e-reader. You will be prompted to authorize the use of the device with Adobe Digital Editions (which may include entering your Adobe ID). In this screenshot notice “NOOK” is detected under Devices in the left column:

Step 2: Drag an e-book to your device

To install an e-book to the device simply select the desired title from the Bookshelf in the right column and drag it onto the device icon as shown here:

Step 3: Open and read the book on your device

Adobe Digital Editions will notify you when the e-book installation is complete. Eject the device from your computer. Browse and launch the e-book from the device’s book Library. Start reading!

Step 4: Remove an expired e-book from your device

As with EBSCOhost e-books originally downloaded to your computer, when the checkout period expires you will no longer be able to open the book on your device. At this point, you may choose to delete the expired file from your device’s book Library. Re-attach the device to your computer, launch Adobe Digital Editions, highlight “NOOK” under Devices in the left column, select the expired title from the Bookshelf in the right column, Control-Click the book icon and select “Remove from Library” from the drop down menu.

Transferring an EBSCOhost e-book to an Apple iOS or Google Android device

Unlike the previous procedure where a compatible dedicated e-reader (like the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch) is immediately recognizable by Adobe Digital Editions when connected to your computer, transferring EBSCOhost e-books to a smartphone or tablet requires a separate application capable of communicating with Adobe Digital Editions and serving as a book reader. You also need a transfer method that the reader application can understand.

As with downloading EBSCOhost e-books to your computer, the procedure for preparing your mobile device for transferring e-books is a bit complicated. However, you shouldn’t have too much trouble if you follow these instructions closely. The first three steps only have to be done one time. Feel free to contact a librarian if you would like assistance, or if you run into any difficulty. (Note: Amazon’s Kindle Fire is an Android-based tablet. However, installation of applications on this device is a bit more complicated than most. Special instructions are at the bottom.)

Step 1: Create a Dropbox account

You need a fairly easy and straightforward way to transfer a downloaded EBSCOhost e-book in Adobe Digital Editions on your computer to your mobile device. Dropbox is a handy cloud storage service that can be used to facilitate this transfer. Go to http://www.dropbox.com to create a free account. (The free account comes with 2 gigabytes of storage–more than enough for routine e-book file transfers.) Write down your Dropbox email address and password.

You can use the Dropbox web interface on your computer to facilitate file uploads to your account, or you can download a dedicated desktop application (for Windows or Mac). However, it is strongly recommended that you download and install the mobile version of the Dropbox application to your mobile device (choose the appropriate version here). You only have to do this step once.

Step 2: Download and install Bluefire Reader to your device

The process for transferring EBSCOhost e-books to a compatible Apple iOS or Google Android device requires that you first download and install an application that can be authorized to communicate with Adobe Digital Editions and function as a book reader. Bluefire Reader is a free application that is excellent for these purposes. You can use Bluefire Reader to open PDF and EPUB files on your mobile device. Download and install the Apple iOS or Google Android version as appropriate. You only have to do this step once.

Step 3: Launch and authorize Bluefire Reader on your device

I am using Bluefire Reader on an Apple iPod touch here. Launch Bluefire Reader on your device and select “Info” from the application menu. Tap the “Authorize” button in the Enable Adobe eBooks box. This will bring up a screen for entering your Adobe ID account information. Tap “Authorize.”

Your device is now authorized to open and read e-books downloaded to Adobe Digital Editions on your computer. You only have to do this step once.

You now have everything in place to transfer and read EBSCOhost e-books on your mobile device. Let’s transfer an e-book now!

Step 4: Upload an EBSCOhost e-book to your Dropbox account

a) Go back to your computer. I downloaded a new e-book from EBSCOhost into Adobe Digital Editions following the instructions in Step 4 from my previous post. The process went much smoother the second time around!

b) Although the e-book loads into Adobe Digital Editions, the e-book file is actually stored in another folder on you computer. On a Windows PC browse to this folder is called “My Digital Editions,” which is located in your “My Documents” folder. Notice the e-book file titled “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin” (Note: Although the file is a PDF, it will not open as normal in Adobe Reader because it is copy-protected. Adobe Digital Editions registered with your Adobe ID enables you to open this copy-protected file.):

On an Apple Mac computer, the same file is found in the “Digital Editions” folder in your user “Documents” folder:

c) Sign into your Dropbox account. For this demonstration I am using the web interface at http://www.dropbox.com. When you sign in the first time you will see three folders.

d) For this demonstration I am going to upload the e-book file into the “Public” folder in my Dropbox. Double-click the “Public” folder to open it. Click on the “Upload” button (it is the document icon with the blue arrow pointing up to the far left of the “Search Dropbox” search box). This brings up the “Upload to ‘Public'” dialog box.

e) Click the blue “Choose files” button. Browse to the “My Digital Editions” (Windows) or “Digital Editions” (Mac) folder and locate the e-book file you would like to upload as described above. Highlight the file and click “Open”. (If the upload appears stalled, click the “basic uploader” link and try again.) The file is processed and uploaded into (in this case) your “Public” folder. When the upload is complete you will receive this message:

Clear the dialog box by clicking “Done”.

f) You should now see the uploaded file in your Dropbox “Public” folder.

Since Dropbox stores your uploaded documents to the “cloud,” you can access them on any computer or device with an internet connection. This is how you will now access this e-book file and transfer it onto your mobile device.

Step 5: Launch Dropbox on your mobile device and open the EBSCOhost e-book in Bluefire Reader

a) If you haven’t already done so, download the appropriate Dropbox application version for your mobile device (e.g., Apple iOS or Google Android).

b) Launch Dropbox and sign into your account. You must have an active connection to the internet in order to access your Dropbox.

c) Notice the same folders in your mobile Dropbox as in the desktop or browser-based version on your computer. Remember that you uploaded your e-book to the “Public” folder. Tap “Public” to open this folder. There is your e-book!

d) Tap on the e-book file to download it to your device. Notice that this is a PDF file.

e) The e-book file download to your device appears to be complete. But notice that you don’t see anything other than the title on the screen. This is because the file is copy-protected and can only be opened by an application authorized to view Adobe Digital Editions copy-protected files. This is where Bluefire Reader comes into play. Tap the download button on the lower right of the screen (the icon with an arrow pointing down into a tray). This brings up a dialog that includes an “Open In…” button. Tap this button. You are now presented with one or more applications that may be able to open this file. Tap the “Open in Bluefire” button.

f) Tapping the “Open in Bluefire” button launches the the Bluefire Reader application. Notice your e-book, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin in the Library list. Tap on this title to open the book. Start reading!

Step 6: Remove an expired e-book from your device

Special Note about installing Bluefire Reader and the Dropbox mobile app on an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet

I mentioned above that Amazon’s E-Ink Kindles currently do not support e-books copy-protected using Adobe Digital Editions. Consequently, it is not possible to read e-books downloaded from EBSCOhost on your E-Ink Kindle.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets run a version of the Google Android operating system. Consequently, it is possible to install Android versions of both the Bluefire Reader application and the Dropbox mobile app on your Kindle Fire. However, getting these applications on your device requires a little extra tweaking. Follow these steps to prepare your Kindle Fire (part of these steps come courtesy of the Bluefire Reader blog):

a) Tap “Settings” on your Kindle Fire (it’s the icon that looks like a gear)
b) Tap “More”
c) Scroll down until you see “Device”
d) In the Device tab, set “Allow installation of Applications” to ON, and tap OK when you see the Warning prompt
e) Using the web browser on your Kindle Fire, go to http://www.bluefirereader.com/files/ and tap on BluefireReader.apk to download the Bluefire Reader application. Tap on this file to install the application on your Kindle Fire.
f) Using the web browser on your Kindle Fire, go to http://www.dropbox.com/android and download the Dropbox Android application. This app should be labeled Dropbox.apk. Tap on this file to install the application on your Kindle Fire.
g) Return to the instructions to continue with the e-book transfer procedure.

Print to the Library’s HP printers from your smartphone or tablet!

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Gary Daught

ATTENTION: This post is obsolete. It is being kept on the blog for historical purposes only.

The Library recently responded to the increased use of web-enabled smartphones and tablet computers on campus by re-designing our website to optimize the viewing and use experience of our students and faculty. This is an exciting development, of which we are very proud.

The increased use of mobile devices on campus and in the Library has also resulted in requests from students such as: “I want to print a document from my iPad, but I can’t find the printer on the network. How do I go about doing this?”

Printing from a mobile device differs from printing from a laptop or desktop computer because there is no way to install printer drivers into the operating system on your mobile device. Printing has to be enabled through a separate mobile application (app) that you download and install onto your device. There are many printing apps available for various mobile operating systems (e.g., Apple’s iOS, Android, Blackberry, etc.). Some are paid, but many are free (more on this below). The app will typically support a list of compatible printers. You first configure the app to communicate with a compatible printer that is discoverable on your network via wi-fi from your device. You then link the app to an email account (to which you send documents you want to print as email attachments), or a web-accessed cloud storage service (e.g., Dropbox).

Because we use HP printers in the Library, I am going to tell you about a free printing app from HP that works remarkably well. I will walk you through the installation and printing process using an Apple iPod touch as my demonstration device (the steps may differ slightly on an Android or Blackberry device).

Step 1: Get the Free HP ePrint App

Go to HP’s Mobile Apps page and look for the HP ePrint app for your device’s operating system. For convenience, I have included links to the HP ePrint app download and use pages on HP’s site (right-click on the app icon to open in a new window or tab). Since I am demonstrating this process on my iPod touch, I searched for “HP ePrint” in the iTunes App Store on my device, and downloaded it directly.

Step 2: Launch the HP ePrint App

Once the app is installed on your device launch it. The first time you launch the app you will see a series of help screens. You can dismiss these if you’d like. The app home screen looks like this screenshot on my iPod. Notice the “No printer found: Tap here to select a print” message. Notice also the “Activate” button. It doesn’t matter which action you do first. However, you must be connected to the wireless network before you attempt either action.

Step 3: Locate and Add a Printer

I have chosen to find a printer first by tapping “select a printer.” Here is a screenshot showing a list of available and compatible HP printers on the Milligan College wireless network. Notice that available printers have a green light. If the printer is not available the light will be grayed-out. (Remember, this app only works with compatible HP printers. It will not support printers manufactured by other companies.)

Selecting a printer from this list is a little tricky. First, make sure you are viewing the list of printers under the “All” tab. The HP printers in the Library are LaserJet 4250s, and there is one on each floor. The app has identified several printers of this model. However, it doesn’t tell you where the printer is located. It only provides a printer code in [square brackets]. Further, on my iPod screen I can’t even see the entire code. However, once you know which printer is which it is fairly easy to select the right one because the codes are unique. Here is the list currently (Note: if/when any of these printers are replaced these codes will likely change. We will update information at that time):

Library First Floor is [D9E82C]
Library Second Floor is [DCD99E]
Library Basement Floor is [5E8812]

You can add one or all of these printers from the list. However, you can only add printers one at a time, and you have to have actually printed (Step 5) from each printer at least once before it is added to your “Preferred” list. To see all printers you have printed to tap on the “Preferred” tab. In the “Preferred” list the currently active printer is highlighted in blue. Change the printer you want by tapping on it.

For this demonstration I have selected the Library Basement printer [5E8812] by tapping on it. Once selected, the app returns to the home screen. Notice the light is green. But I cannot print to it until I Activate my ePrint account.

Step 4: Activate Your ePrint Account

Tap the blue “Activate” button. This will take you to a screen (right) where you will enter an email address. Enter an email address you routinely use and tap the “Activate” button. The ePrint app will move to another screen where you will enter an activation code. The HP ePrint Center will send this activation code to the email address you entered in the previous screen. Check your email for a message from hpeprint.com with the subject line “ePrint mobile registration.” Open this email and enter the 4 character PIN code provided in this email. You have successfully activated your HP ePrint app!

Step 5: Printing from Your Mobile Device Using the HP ePrint App

When you return to the home screen you will notice three options listed below the selected printer: Photos, Web, and Email. For routine printing in the Library you will select either Web or Email. The Web option is for printing documents you have previously uploaded to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox. The Email option is for printing documents you have previously attached to an email message. To print a document from a cloud service just browse to and login to that service from within the HP ePrint app (see Step 7). To print a document that you attached to an email message you will need to log into your email account from within the HP ePrint app (see Step 6).

Step 6: Printing a Document in HP ePrint Attached to an Email Message

The screenshot at left shows the HP ePrint home screen with the Library Basement printer selected. Notice the “Activate” button no longer displays. Tap Email. In order to print from an email you first need to login to an email account. The first time you select the Email option you will be presented with the screen (right) with several popular email service options, or select “Other.” This will take you to a screen where you fill-in email address and password, etc. You can add more than one account. Accounts will be remembered within HP ePrint.

Attach a document you want to print to an email message. HP ePrint supports Microsoft Office (Word), PDF, and text documents. Send this message to yourself. Launch the HP ePrint app, select your printer, and tap the Email icon. Select the email account you previously registered and browse to the message and open it. Notice the attachment at the bottom of the message. Tap on the attachment to open it. The document will open with a large “Print” button at the bottom. Tap “Print”. The screen will show a progress bar as the document is sent wirelessly to the printer. You will receive a “Success” screen when the document has been successfully printed. Tap “Done,” and retrieve the document from the printer.

Incidentally, you can also just print an email message without an attachment by opening the chosen email as before, and then tapping on the email preview to bring-up the “Print” dialog.

Step 7: Printing a Document in HP ePrint from a Cloud Storage Service

If you have an account with a cloud storage service, such as Dropbox, you can easily browse to the service from the built-in web browser in the HP ePrint app. From the app home screen, select your printer and tap the Web icon, type-in the URL to your cloud service and login. Browse to the folder where the document you want to print resides. Tap the document to launch it. Exactly as before, the document will open with a large “Print” button at the bottom. Tap “Print”. The screen will show a progress bar as the document is sent wirelessly to the printer. You will receive a “Success” screen when the document has been successfully printed. Tap “Done,” and retrieve the document from the printer.

This printer utility app adds remarkable functionality to your mobile device. It’s a great complement to the enhanced mobile experience we have provided with our mobile-ready website. We encourage you to give this app a try. Once you get used to using this app with the Library printers, you can use it on other compatible HP printers elsewhere on campus. Feel free to speak with a librarian if you need assistance.

Library website gets a ‘responsive’ new look

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Gary Daught

The P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library has released a design update to its website. The re-design features a crisp new look and improved navigation elements. But the most exciting new feature is the use of what is called “responsive website design.” With responsive web design a site automatically reformats (responds) for optimal viewing on a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen without significant loss of content. The screenshot to the left shows what the site looks like on an iPod touch (click the image to see an enlargement).

The newly designed site went live just after 10 p.m. on Thursday, September 6. The timing is significant. As library director Gary Daught notes, “I don’t know if this was entirely conscious, but it was exactly one year ago, on September 6, 2011, that we launched MCSearch, a remarkable tool that provides a compelling ‘Google-like’ search experience for our users. MCSearch makes the library’s high quality information resources as easy to access as any information search on the open web. Like MCSearch, the site re-design pushes the value of the library and its resources out to our users, whether you’re using a laptop computer, or a smartphone.”

As it happens, the product that drives MCSearch was also recently updated to support responsive display. Consequently, users can make productive use of MCSearch results from their tablet or smartphone.

The site re-design was a collaboration between Gary Daught and librarian assistant Jack Weinbender, with helpful feedback from other library staff. “Yes, we worked out the design elements together. But the coding–the magic that makes this site work–was all Jack’s doing. He did a wonderful job.”

MCSearch & Milligan College featured in EBSCO’s “Customer Success Story” marketing

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Gary Daught

By creating a strong library research platform with the speed and simplicity of a commercial Internet search engine, Milligan College makes its library holdings even more accessible to students and faculty.

Soon after Milligan College Library’s launch of MCSearch in early September 2011, we were contacted by the public relations folks at EBSCO Publishing to do a “Customer Success” story for their promotional/marketing materials.

MCSearch is our custom implementation/branding of EBSCO’s Discovery Service platform. MCSearch is best described as a search engine that provides a user experience not unlike Google, but its search capabilities focus on library-provided information resources instead of the open Web. In our own promotion, we have branded MCSearch with the tagline “One search box–for the good stuff” to underscore the ease of use search experience applied to accessing the quality information resources provided by the Library.

We recently learned that our story has been released. Here is a direct link to the five page piece (pdf) covering the launch. Links to the story appear in two locations on EBSCO’s website: On the EBSCO Customer Success Center (see http://www.ebscohost.com/customerSuccess/ > Colleges/Universities > Customer Success Stories), and on the EDS Support Center (see http://support.ebsco.com/eds > the Customer Success Stories section on the home page. Our story is the third item.) It’s a nice read that features both the Library and Milligan College. Check it out!

P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library & Emmanuel Christian Seminary Library

Category Archives: Electronic Resources