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Getting Started with NetLibrary

What are eBooks?
What Is NetLibrary?
Requirements
Accessing the eBook Collection
How do I create an Account?
Logging In After You Have an Account
Searching for an eBook
Checking out an eBook
Can I print an eBook?
Access NetLibrary from Home

What are eBooks?
eBooks are electronic versions of print books. Like print books, the text found in eBooks is often enriched with photos, illustrations, graphs and tables. In eBooks, users can navigate through the text (e.g. easily search for specific passages) in ways not possible in print.

What Is NetLibrary?
NetLibrary is a commercial provider of online books (ebooks) in full-text. NetLibrary offers libraries access to a wide range of research, reference and reading materials online.
  
Requirements
To access NetLibrary you need internet access and a web browser. You must remain connected to the internet while you read a book. NetLibrary requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and above, Netscape Navigator 6.2 and above, Mozilla 1.1, Firebird .06 and above, Opera 7.x  or Camino 0.7 and above. 

Accessing the eBook Collection
In order to checkout NetLibrary books or access NetLibrary from home, you must set up a personal NetLibrary account. This is a one-time process and is similar to signing up for a library card to establish borrowing privileges with a specific library. You must go to your home library to set up your personal account, so that NetLibrary will recognize you as a patron of that library. After you set up your account at your library, you will be able to access it from anywhere, and NetLibrary will give you access to your library's NetLibrary books. We recommend that you create your personal NetLibrary account before you begin searching for a book to checkout.

How do I create an Account?
  1. First you will need to ask the librarian to help you access NetLibrary.
  2. On the NetLibrary website click on the "Create a Free Account" link located at the top right-hand side of the screen.
  3. Fill out the account information.
  4. Click on "Create Account.".
  5. If the username you entered is unavailable you will be asked to select a difference username.
  6. When your account is set up successfully it will return you to the Basic Search screen and display the message: "Your account has been successfully created".
  7. From now on use this username and password when you log on to NetLibrary.

Logging In After You Have an Account
Each time you wish to view or check out an eBook you must first log in. (If you are creating a new account, you will be logged into your library's eBook collection automatically.)

How to log in:

  1. Go to http://www.netlibrary.com and enter your user name and password.
  2. Click the red Log In button.
  3. You now have access to all eBooks available in your library or organization's collection.

Searching for an eBook
Use the Basic Search on the Home screen to find a title.

Use the Advanced Search tab to perform a more advanced search, fill in any of all of the fields including title, author, subject, keyword, full text, publisher, year and ISBN.

To do a phrase search, submit your search in quotes - for example, "small business".

To add an eBook to your My List and Notes page, click on the Add to My List link.  This feature allows you to add titles to a list so you can easily access them at a later time without executing another search.  Click on My List and Notes to see your list of titles.  You must be logged on in order to use My List and Notes.

Checking out an eBook
To check out an eBook, you must first log in. Checking out an eBook gives you exclusive use of the eBook for four hours. The eBook is automatically returned when the checkout period expires.

How to check out an eBook:

  1. Search for an eBook.
  2. Select the eBook title from your search results and click on Show Details.
  3. Select the Check out for 4 Hours link.  This automatically checks out the title and places it on your My Checked Out eBooks.  (To access your My Checked Out eBooks, you must be logged in. Select the My Checked Out eBooks link at the top right side of the screen.)
 
Can I print an eBook?
You can print single pages of an eBook, much like you can print a single page of a print book on a photocopy machine. Sections of pages, within limitations, can also be copied and pasted into reports and presentations.

Access NetLibrary from Home
To access NetLibrary from home, go to http://www.netlibrary.com and login using the user name and password you selected when you created your personal NetLibrary account. Once logged in, you should see your library's name on the screen, and you should have access to all the same features you had access to when you used NetLibrary at your library.

For more information, contact Christa Burns.