Ebook Collections: Proquest Ebook Central

This guide highlights a range of ebook collections, giving details on the content of the collections, and how to use them

About Proquest Ebook Central

Logo

Proquest Ebook Central is an E-book platform, providing access to E-books from a range of publishers, and covering a wide range of subjects.  Books formally held on the EBL platform are now available through Proquest Ebook Central.

Finding a book on Proquest Ebook Central

  • All titles we have full-text access can be found by Searching the Library.  in the results click the green ebook icon to access the ebook.
  • If you use the Proquest Ebook Central platform to search for books, you need to login with your University of St Andrews username and password, and then you can choose to Search or Browse by subject.
  • You will only see titles which the University has access to on the Proquest Ebook Central platform, so anything you find should be available as full-text.

Read Online

The Read Online Picture of Read Online button feature of Proquest Ebook Central opens up the e-reader platform - this allows you to read the book online without having to download it.  The E-reader allows you to:

  • Add bookmarks to pages
  • Add annotations
  • Highlight sections
  • Create a citation in a number of different reference styles

The options below are also available - you will be prompted to "Check out book" to use these features

  • Print / Copy pages within the allocation permitted for the title
  • Download chapters
  • Download the book for a loan period of 24 hours

 

Proquest Ebook Central Read Online option allows you to view most titles for 5 minutes without checking the book out, after that time the screen below may appear:

Picture - Please select a loan length to continue

Click Picture - Check Out Ebook buttonto continue reading.

Why do I have to checkout the ebook to keep reading?

Some Proquest Central Ebooks are supplied on a credit model - the University buys a number of credits, and checking out the book uses one of these credits.  A grace period of 5-minutes is given to allow you to determine if the book is something you want to use without using up a credit.  You are not restricted in terms of the number of credits you use, and other people will also be able to use the ebook when you check it out.

Printing or Downloading and Annotations

Within any book on Proquest Ebook Central you will see how many pages you can print/download and how many you can copy.  When you print or copy, the remaining allowance will be reduced.

Picture of remaining Ebook allowance

The amount you can print or copy is dependent on the publisher, but in general you can:

  • Print or Download and keep up to 40% of the content
  • Copy up to 20% of the content

All the print options are available within the Proquest Ebook Central Ereader - click the Picture of Read Online button button.

From the book record on Proquest Ebook Central click the Read Online  button to open the Ereader.

  • Navigate to the page you need using the previous and next arrows  or enter the page number you want in the page search box  both located at the top right of the Ereader.
  • Having selected the page you want to print select the printer icon located in the toolbar along the top of the Ereader 
  • A print to PDF box will open with the option to Print current page selected:

  • Click continue to create a PDF of the page

  • Click Open PDF, and the PDF will open, you can choose to print or download the page:

From the book record on Proquest Ebook Central click the Read Online  button to open the Ereader.

  • Navigate to the first page of the range you want to print using the previous and next arrows  or enter the first page number you want in the page search box  both located at the top right of the Ereader.
  • Having selected the first page you want to print select the printer icon located in the toolbar along the top of the Ereader 
  • A print to PDF box will open with the option to Print current page selected, change this to Pages From and To, enter the page range you want to print, then click continue:

  • Click continue to create a PDF of the pages

  • Click Open PDF, and the PDF will open, you can choose to print or download the pages:

From the book record on Proquest Ebook Central click the Read Online  button to open the Ereader.

  • Select the chapter you want to print or download using the Table of Contents on the left of the page:

  • With the chapter selected click the Chapter Download option  on the Ereader toolbar at the top of the page 
  • The chapter download box will open with Current chapter selected, click Continue to download the chapter
  • NB - you will be able to download a full chapter if the pages in the chapter don't exceed the download limit for the title.

  • Click Open PDF to view the downloaded chapter:

  • You can choose to print or save the chapter PDF

Proquest Ebook Central allows you to highlight sections of books, add your own notes, and add bookmarks to pages you want to refer to.

These features are only available in the Read Online version.  

If you want to highlight text or add a note which related to a section of text, highlight with your mouse.  

Highlighting:

  • Select the colour you want to highlight the text.

Annotate / Add a note

  • Add a note by highlighting a section with your mouse and selecting the note option

  • A note box appears where you enter your note, once you've added your note, click Save

Bookmarking

  • You can bookmark a page by using the bookmark icon  on the toolbar along the top of the Ereader 

Viewing Bookmarks, Notes and Highlighted sections

  • To view any of your annotations, select the starred icon on the left hand pane of the screen
  • Click the annotation to go to it within the ebook

Downloading an Ebook from Proquest Ebook Central

You can download the whole Ebook from Proquest Ebook Central for 24 hours, as long as a copy is available.  You will not be able to print from or annotate a downloaded ebook, use the read online option if you want to do this.  We recommend you use the Read Online facility if you have internet access, and the download option only if you want to read the ebook off-line.

Before you download a Proquest Ebook Central title you will need to have installed software to allow the ebook to download.

  • For a PC/Laptop you will need to install Adobe Digital Editions - this is different from Adobe Reader.  
  • For a iOS or Android device you will need to install the BlueFire Reader app, available through the Apple Store and Google Play, to install the BlueFire App you will need to register for an Adobe ID

There are three main steps to downloading a full ebook:

  • Selecting your device to download to
  • Installing the required software and authorising your device for downloading the ebook
  • Downloading and opening the ebook.

If you experience any problems with download options please ask in the Library for help.

Step 1: Select your device - use your own device if you want to be able to read offline.

As books are downloaded for offline use, you should ensure you are using your own PC, Laptop or mobile device.

Step 2: Ensure you have the correct software installed

  • Have you got the right software installed?  You need to have Abode Digital Editions installed on a PC or Laptop, or the Bluefire App for a mobile device.  Click to install Adobe Digital Editions.  

  • For a mobile device you will be asked to install the Bluefire reader app and a link will be supplied.
  • Once installed you will need to authorise your device to allow ebooks to download.  For a PC or Mac from within Adobe Digital Editions click Help, then choose Authorise this PC
  • In order to authorise your device you will need an Adobe ID, if you don't have one chose the option to create an Adobe ID and fill in the form.  You Adobe ID will be the email you choose to register with and your password.  Once you've completed the form and submitted it, go back to Adobe Digital Editions and enter your Adobe ID and password.

If you already have Adobe Digital Editions / Bluefire reader installed on your device you can just click "Done with this step" to move to the download page.

Download the ebook.

Once you have ensured you have installed the correct software or app, and have authorised your device, choose to download the ebook:

The Ebook will open in Adobe Digital Editions if you are using a PC / Laptop / Mac.  It can take a while to open, but once it does....

You can use the table of contents to navigate, or enter a page number you want to view in the box at the top right of the page, or use the forward and back arrows.

You won't be able to print or copy from a downloaded ebook.

You'll be able to read the ebook offline for 24 hours.  If you need it after this time you'll need to go back to Proquest Ebooks Central and download it from your bookshelf.

On iOS and Android devices, you need to install the Bluefire Reader, which is free from the Apple Store or Google play.  In order to install the app you will also need a free Adobe ID.  

The downloaded ebook using the BlueFire app will look like this:

If you receive an error when you try to download a Proquest Ebook Central title:

  • check to ensure you have installed Adobe Digital Editions or the Bluefire reader on the device you are using, see the tabs above for instructions.
  • Check you have authorised your device to download ebooks through the Adobe Digital Editions software, or the Bluefire reader.
  • If you get an error from within Adobe Digital Editions when you try to open an ebook this may be caused by an older version of Adobe Digital Editions being installed, see the tabs above to install the current edition of the software.
  • It can be worthwhile closing Adobe Digital Editions and reopening it to allow you to open your downloaded ebook.
  • Help is available online on the Adobe website

If you continue to have problems, contact the Library and we'll help you resolve it.  Please provide as much information as you can, and a screenshot of the problem if possible.

Examples of Proquest Ebook Central Ebooks

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