Unfortunately a book being available online does not always mean it is immediately available to read.
The number of people who can access a specific eBook at any one time will vary. Several factors are involved, including whether the item is on a reading list (as essential reading) and the access rules set by the publisher of the book. Some will allow unlimited users to read the same book at the same time; others restrict access to just one or two people at any one time. If the book says it is in use then you may be able to join a waitlist to be notified when it is available for you to read, or try again later.
This is the same principle where the Library may only have one print copy of a specific title and it is already on loan to another student - i.e. you would request the book and have to wait for it to be returned before you can borrow it.
The Library has access to eBooks on several different platforms. If there is restricted access there will be information about that for each title on its page in the database.
If you would like to read more about this, scroll down this page for specific examples from the VLe and ProQuest Ebook Central platforms.
VLe books
1. When you click to view a specific title from the LibrarySearch catalogue or your Reading List menu in Canvas, you should see a page like this:
2. Scroll down to see the access and availability options. For example, there is only one copy of Introducing sociology using the stuff of everyday life but multiple copies of Disaster, conflict and society in crises:
3. IF the book is already being read by someone else, you will only find out when you click on either the Read Online or Download option. It will give you the option to Reserve it and tell you how many people are in the queue already:
4. When you click in the Email address box it should auto-complete your University Outlook email address. Click on the green Reserve button to confirm. You will then receive an email notification from VLEbooks as soon as the title is available to you; the email will specify a time by which you need to "collect your reservation", if you do not access it by that time the book will be released to the next person in the queue. The Library cannot guarantee how long the wait time will be, but should be no more than 24 hours for each person in the reservation queue.
5. You can check on the status of your Reserved items at any time in the My Account area within the VLe site:
Use the Reservations tab to see the items you are waiting for:
6. If you see the message "
7. If you see the Preview option instead of the Read Online/Download ones it means you have found a book that has not been "activated" yet.
Please click the Preview link and start reading the book - after a short time the book should automatically turn into the full version. The next time you look at the book details page the preview box should have been replaced by the read online and download options.
Ebook Central
1. When you click to view a specific title from the LibrarySearch catalogue or your Reading List menu in Canvas, you should see a page like this:
2. Under the Availability heading it says how many copies there are. The above image shows 1 copy but it could also be multiple or 'unlimited':
3. If there is 1 copy and it is available for you to read now, the screen will show a blue Read Online box and a grey Download Book box. The download option is deliberately disabled when there is only one copy of a title to keep it in circulation. It will not be possible for anyone to download the whole book, but check in the details section to see if you can download/print and keep a single chapter or a certain percentage of the book.
4. If there is 1 copy or a limited number and they are all in use, both the Read Online and Download book options will be greyed out. Unfortunately there is no waitlist function on EBC, so please try to access the book at a later time.
5. If there is more than 1 copy or unlimited access both the Read Online and Download Book boxes will be blue.
