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Ebooks: Using e-books

E-book glossary

Chapter in an edited book (Kirja-artikkeli) An edited book consists of book articles written by different people. The book has an entry Toimitettu (toim.), Edited (ed.), Herausgegeben (hrsg.), Redigerad (red.).

DOI (Digital Object Indentifier) Unique and permanent identifier of electronic publications, articles, books and book articles, as well as data, i.e. research data. With DOI the publication can be retrieved online, so it is worth leaving it or adding it to the list of sources (APA7 help). The DOI can be found on the publisher's, book's or magazine's website or, for example, here: Crossref Metadata Search. Long DOI can be shortened in  shortDOI service. ShortDOI is not usually found in databases, but with it the publication can be found online.

DRM (Digital rights management) Restricts e.g. storage and copying. With Adobe DRM use Adobe Digital Editions. With LCP DRM use Thorium Reader.

E-book, ebook (E-kirja, elektroninen kirja) A book that can be read online; an online book, an electronic book, a full-text book..

EPUB The file format of e-books, which may contain links to e.g. the book's bibliography and even the web, does not always include page numbers. Referencing electronic resources.

FinELib (Finnish National Electronic Library) FinELib is a consortium in Finland, which centrally acquires electronic materials for its member organisations and negotiates for the open access benefits with publishers.

Full-text (Kokoteksti) The content of a book or journal article in its entirety; most often a PDF or EPUB file.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number) Identifies books for public use. A separate ISBN is assigned to each book, each publication format, and each edition containing changes.

JUFO-portal (Julkaisufoorumi) A service you can use to help determine if a journal is scientific (peer-reviewed) or a book publisher is reliable.

Licensed material (Lisensoitu aineisto) Material for which access is available on the basis of a contract, e.g. e-journals, e-books and databases ordered to a Oulu university or Oamk. The material is usually licensed for a specific contract period, e.g. a year or two.

Off-campus access (Etäkäyttö) The use of e-resources remotely, e.g. from home, requires a VPN connection or login with a university/Oamk username (Haka Login).

Open access, OA (Avoin julkaiseminen) Free access to information and unrestricted use of electronic resources for everyone. More information on open publishing. | Open access books.

Peer review, referee (Vertaisarviointi) Way of evaluating and assuring the quality of research before it is published. It involves critical evaluation by independent experts (peers) usually anonymously.

Proxy (Proxy server) For remote access to e-resources requiring university/Oamk login; displayed at the beginning of e.g. database addresses (UniOulu: https://pc124152.oulu.fi:9443/login?url=; Oamk: https://ezp.oamk.fi:2047/login?url=).

Series (Julkaisusarja) Books published as a sequence having usually some similarity of subject, e.g. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirjaPuheen ja kielen tutkimuksen yhdistyksen julkaisujaDiscourse approaches to politics, society and culture.

General information about the e-books

E-books aren't forever. The e-book available now may no longer be available in a year, for example. If this happens, please contact the library kirjasto.kokoelmat@oulu.fi.

When you login with your University of Oulu user ID (Haka Login) or use the VPN connection you have access to the electronic resources also from outside the University of Oulu Network.

The library provides e-books on a wide variety of different platforms and from a wide variety of suppliers. Although each e-book platform will look slightly different, the functionality on offer is largely the same.

Almost all e-books can be read online in a browser without signing in to the supplier's database. Books read in the browser can also be listened to.

E-books are available in EPUB and PDF format:

  • EPUB may contain links to e.g. the book's bibliography and even the web, but not always including page numbers.
  • PDF does not contain links like this, but it usually contains page numbers.

Most of our e-books can be downloaded to your computer or device. E-book platforms often use Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes to restrict copying, printing and downloading. 

  • With Adobe DRM (.acsm) use Adobe Digital Editions (ADE).
  • With LCP DRM (.lcpl) use e.g. Thorium Reader or in mobile phone Cantook (only EPUBs).

Borrowing / downloading / offline reading requires not only a reader app but also a personal user ID to the e-book service in question.

E-book services have different terms of use for example with regard to the number of simultaneous users and loan period.

  • An e-book will automatically become inaccessible when the checkout period is exceeded. If you wish to continue reading the book you must download it again.
  • You can return the e-book before the end of the loan period, so that the prospective person in line can access the book faster. The book can also be returned in a reader app.
  • The loan period for the reserved e-book starts automatically as soon as the reserved e-book returns from the previous borrower.
  • Borrowed e-books do not appear in your own loans in Oula-Finna database.

From many databases, parts of e-books and even entire books, can be stored as PDFs and EPUBs without DRM protection. They too must be treated with respect to copyright, licensing agreements and terms of use. The conditions are stated on the pages of each database.

Some service providers have an mobile app for borrowing and reading e-books.

See the instructions for e-book services for more detailed information.

Adobe Digital Editions

E-books with Adobe DRM files (.acsm) use Adobe Digital Editions (ADE).

In more detail section includes

  1. Creating an Adobe account (Adobe ID).
  2. Installing Adobe Digital Editions
  3. Downloading an e-book into ADE
  4. Using ADE.

 

1. Creating an Adobe account (Adobe ID)

You should create your Adobe account using your personal email address, which is still in use after your university career. You can of course change your email address for the account if needed, and you can also set up a secondary email for the account.
 

2. Installing Adobe Digital Editions

Software that allows you to read and manage e-books and other digital publications. 
 

3. Downloading an e-book into ADE

An example of how to download a DRM-protected book from a computer to your own device:

  1. Create Adobe account (Adobe ID). 
  2. Install Adobe Digital Editions and authorize it by logging in with your Adobe ID.
  3. Download and install a reader application to your device. 
  4. Authorize the device by logging in with your Adobe ID.
  5. Look up a book for example in Oula-Finna and open it through the link in the e-book service. Some e-book service providers require that you create a user account before you can download files from their collections. In this case follow the instructions on the website, create an account and log in.
  6. Download the ebook into Adobe Digital Editions. 
  7. Connect the reading device with your computer (USB cable).
  8. Transfer the book to your reading device in Adobe Digital Editions by dragging and dropping the book icon onto the reading device icon in the sidebar.

 

4. Using Adobe Digital Editions

Reader view enables you to read and browse e-books as well as search for specific content. 

You can change the font size and use full screen. 

Printing and copying rights can be found at: File / Item Info or right mouse button / Item Info.

Book files can be found at My Digital Editions -directory on your pc. Bookmarks and other notes made in the e-book will disappear after the loan period is over, but you can transfer them to a new loan from the file saved to your computer. 

The e-book can also be retured in Adobe Digital Editions. 

Thorium Reader

With Thorium Reader you can

  • read LCP DRM protected e-books; e.g. Ellibs
  • read PDF files, e.g. articles and books
  • read and listen to EPUB files, e.g. open access books.

Using

  • Install Thorium Reader.
  • E-book or PDF files can be imported with Import publication.

     
  • The book loads into the Thorium Reader on the computer at hand.
  • EPUB books have a text-to-speech function.
  • There is no possibility to listen to PDF files.
  • With Thorium Reader you can read LCP DRM protected e-books (.lcpl), but not Adobe DRM protected.

Referencing electronic resources

When using works (e.g. journal article, e-book) obtained from academic research databases or platforms, APA style rules are:

  • do not include the database or platform name
  • do not include URLs
  • include a DOI if the work has one
  • if a work does not have a DOI, treat the work as a print version.

Material without page numbers

  • Provide a heading, section name, or paragraph number.
  • For ebook chapters without pagination, omit the page range from the reference.

Web citations require much of the same information as print sources, but also provide the location of an online source:

1. Permanent identifier, etc. DOI, URN, Handle, or permalink.
Search for DOI:

2. Reference to web archive, Internet Archive or Memento, either existing version or version archived by you.

3. Avoid using the URL.