Ebook Library (EBL) FAQ

-->**You must be a current Drake student, staff, or Faculty member to access EBL books!**

What is Ebook Library (EBL)?
Ebook Library (EBL) is an online product delivering 25,000 + ebooks in all disciplines in a collection that grows by 1-2,000 new titles each month.  Drake University is providing access to many of these titles for their relevance to our libraries and is making these available via our catalog; to read more, visit:  http://www.drake.eblib.com/EBLWeb/patron

Usage note:

While EBL works with either Internet Explorer or Firefox on a Windows machine, some feature do NOT work for Firefox on a Mac.  For that reason, we recommend that you use the Safari browser if you are accessing EBL from a Mac.

How do I access EBL?

1.  Go to our catalog:  ils.lib.drake.edu

2.  Pull down the Location bar and choose E-book:  Ebook Library (EBL) (see example below)

3.  Once you've entered a term or an author/title/subject (or don't enter anything to browse the entire collection), click on Search.

4.  When you've found a book you might be interested in, click on Details.  If the book looks like it might be of interest, click on URL (see below).

5.  Whether you are or on- or off-campus, you will be taken to the Database login page.  Enter your Drake ID no. and password (see below)

6.  You will now be in the Ebook Library Web site.  If you want to read the book, click on "EBL Read Online" (see below). (For download instructions, please refer to Step 11 at the bottom of this page)

7.  You will now be "browsing" the book online.  When your browsing time ends, a pop-up message will ask whether you would like to continue reading the ebook.  Simply click “Yes” to continue reading the ebook and initiate a one-day loan.

8.  To Print / Copy some of the text, click on the "Copy" or "Print" buttons at the top of the screen.

You will then be able to print or copy selected pages.  Click on "Image" at the top of the page to return to browsing.  (NOTE!  This feature does NOT work for Firefox on a Mac.  For that reason, we recommend that you use the Safari browser if you are accessing EBL from a Mac.)

9.  Searching an EBL ebook.

Inside the Online Reader, select the “Search” tab at left to full-text search within any ebook.
If you would like to return to a previous search result, the breadcrumb trail appearing in the upper-left hand side of the page shows your prior steps. 

10.  Navigating within an EBL book.
EBL ebooks load as a continuous image in the Online Reader screen.  You can scroll through the whole ebook.
You may: navigate between pages using the toolbar’s advance and reverse arrows; enter a specific page number you would like to go to; or navigate by chapter headings to the left of the Reader screen. 
Tip: Your can use the “Notes” tab in the left-hand frame to add your own notes and save them for future visits, export them in a .txt file, or print them along with the page.

11. Download an eBook to my computer.

CAVEAT:  In general, those of us who have worked with EBL at Cowles have not been impressed with the "download" capabilities of EBL; the same functionality is available in the online version.  The only reason to use the "download" feature is if the computer you are using (which must, of course, be connected to the Internet to "download" in the first place) is not going to be connected to the Internet when you want to read/browse the book. 

If you wish to download the book, you will almost certainly have to install software first, and that is, the Adobe Digital Editions component of Adobe Reader (only available for Mac and Windows.  Almost all computers will have a version of Adobe Reader that will allow online reading without further software install).  To download the Adobe Digital Editions, visit this URL:  http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

Questions?
Select “Help” at the top right of any page to access the online user guide OR select “Support/Feedback” to complete an inquiry form that will be sent directly to Ebook Library for reply.