Netlibrary
The Netlibrary collection consists of thousands of scholarly, reference, and professional full-text books in electronic format from the world's leading university presses and commercial publishers. Users can search for individual Netlibrary titles, or perform full-text searches of one or across multiple netLibrary titles. Currently more than 30,000 titles in all subject areas are available online to Centre College faculty, students, and staff.
Getting started
You can search for Netlibrary e-books in two ways, through the library's online catalog or by going to Netlibrary directly. Once you have found a book, you can view it for a short amount of time or check it out for an extended period. To check out a book you first need to create a Netlibrary account.
Library Online Catalog
All of the Netlibrary books that the Centre College Library owns are listed in our online catalog and are searchable along with the regular collection. You can search by author, title, or subject. Netlibrary also offers several thousand free titles in their public e-book collection, which includes many out-of-copyright and older classic works. These titles are not listed in the library's online catalog, but can be searched on the Netlibrary web site.
NetLibrary
By going directly to Netlibrary, you can search by author, title, subject, keyword, etc. The main difference is you can search every word in every book by selecting the full-text search option.
Creating an Account
In order to check out a netLibrary book, you must first create an account. There is no charge for this, but it must be done from a computer on campus. From then on, no matter if you're on campus or off, Netlibrary recognizes you as a Centre College user.
How to create an account:
- Click Create a Free Account in the upper right hand corner of Netlibrary's home page.
- Enter your identifying information (user name, password, email address).
- Select the Submit button.
- You now have an account and can access the Centre College Netlibrary collection off-campus. Don't forget your username and password!
Browsing an e-book
You may browse an e-book without logging in to your account. Browsing an e-book is the equivalent of taking a book off the shelf and looking through it. While you are actively using it, no other user will have access to it. If 15 minutes elapses without active use, the book is "put back on the shelf" and another user will have access.
How to browse an e-book:
- Perform a search for e-books.
- From the result list, select the View this e-book link under the title of the book you want to see.
- The e-book is displayed.
Checking out a Netlibrary e-book
To check out an e-book, you must first log in to your account. Checking out an e-book gives you exclusive use of the e-book for the checkout period of 4 hours. The e-book is automatically returned when the checkout period expires.
How to check out an e-book:
- Perform a search for e-books.
- From the result list, select the Show Details link under the title of the book you want to see.
- Select Check out for 4 Hours. The book will check itself back in after 4 hours--so use it right away.
Viewing vs. checking out a title?
Viewing lets you access a title in 15-minute increments. As long as you are active (turning pages, doing full-text searches, etc.), you continue to have access to the title. When you become inactive, it is returned for someone else to use. Checking out a title to your account gives you exclusive access to a title for the entire checkout period.
Already in use?
When an e-book is checked out, the system displays a message indicating that all copies are in use, and that you should try again later.
Printing from Netlibrary
When reading an e-book online you may print or copy one page at a time by using your browser's Print or Copy functions.
Although you can print parts of an e-book, printing an entire e-book violates copyright laws. NetLibrary takes precautions to protect copyright laws; if a suspicious usage pattern indicative of excessive printing or copying is detected, netLibrary logs the activity and sends the user a copyright warning.
What if I need the book for longer than the checkout period?
Once your checkout period expires, you can go back and check out the e-book again, if you need to. There is currently no limit to the number of times a user can check out the same book.
Last updated July 18, 2007