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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Using EBL

The Electronic Book Library (EBL) is a great way to obtain electronic copies of many books, but there are some limitations that I'd like to describe. 

Finding EBL books: When you search for resources on the UNO Library main page, you will likely be provided with a list of results that includes items for which "View Now" with a small white "e" in an orange circle is displayed.  Clicking here will provide a link which usually will open up the resource in the EBL (there are other electronic libraries, but I will stick with EBL for this entry).  I have found that approximately 10% of the hard copy books in the UNO library are available on EBL.  Over 75% of the EBL books are not available in hard copy from the UNO library.

Keeping them handy: You can place the book in one of your collections, which does not create a loan, but does create an easy way to reference the book later. 

Reviewing and creating a loan:  When you open the book in the EBL you will have about 15 minutes to browse through the book before you are asked if you want to create a loan.  The loan duration is variable.   Based on the contract that UNO has with EBL, there is a limit to the number of people who can create a loan with EBL at any given time.  If you are using the book for class, you may want to grab it early,  print out a few sections, and then return it.  Once the maximum number of users have the book out on a loan, EBL will state that the resource is currently unavailable.  To my experience, EBL provides no estimated time to availability, nor a means to recall the text, contrary to a physical library.

Printing:  You can print approximately 15% of the text, either by page number or chapter.   When you click on print it will display a PDF, of which you can save and email/review/print.  My experience has indicated that this 15% limit is a lifetime limit, therefore in order to print the whole book you will need to solicit the help of your classmates.

Chris
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