**UPDATE** The time is nigh! We’ve had some disappear already. The Catalogue should be updated early April.

On the heels of University of Toronto Press pulling ebooks from the Canadian Publishers Collection on ebrary, three other university presses are pulling their ebooks:

1. McGill-Queen’s University Press
2. Wilfred Laurie University Press
3. University of British Columbia Press

The above publishers’ titles will be pulled in mid-March. The Catalogue and Summon will be updated then, but there may be some lag time with access lost before records are pulled.

The Canadian Publishers Collection is a “subscribed” collection, meaning we have not purchased the titles –only arranged for access. Any ebooks that we have purchased on ebrary will remain on ebrary.

But how can you tell a “Purchased” title from a “Subscribed” title on the ebrary site:

1. on the ebrary site, go to the Advanced search screen
2. set the first search box to  Search in Title   and add a known ebrary ebook title
3. add a second search box to  Search in Collection   and pick  “purchased titles” from the drop-down
4. click the “Search ebrary” button

If you get the result “Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any results. Please try a new search above”, we have not purchased the title. If in step #3 above you change “purchased titles” to “subscribed titles” and search again, you should now get a result showing.

A cumbersome process, we know, but we hope it will become more streamlined and easier to identify purchased/subscribed titles down the road. Contact us if you have any questions.

A bit confused by ebrary’s Download functionality? Please read this how-to guide for our Canadian Publishers, Canadian Public Policy and Canadian Health Research Collections.

[NOTE: UBC's "sign in" for the ebrary Bookshelf is in the upper right of the ebrary website  and not exactly as shown in the guide below. At this time, the Library cannot guarantee support for the apps of various devices.]

Currently, on the EBSCO eBook platform you can download ebooks off-line. Unfortunately, as the majority are single-user ebooks, this means no one else can access the ebook for 7 days. In order to make accessing fairer to all, we will be temporarily suspending off-line downloading on the EBSCO eBook platform later this week.

This move also brings EBSCO ebooks more into line with ebrary ebooks: single-user ebrary ebooks cannot be downloaded off-line either (multi-user ebooks on ebrary can).

The ability to download, email or print .pdf pages or sections (in most cases up to 60 pages) on EBSCO eBooks platform should not be affected.

This information was posted earlier, but a bit buried.

Now that ebrary has the ability to download ebooks, the University of Toronto Pres has decided to pull its ebooks from all subscription collections.

What does this mean? Where we have purchased a copy of a U of T ebook, we retain access. Where we only subscribe to a collection that has a U of T ebook in it, we lose access to the ebook. This covers over 570 and it will take a while for the UBC Catalogue and Summon. So, please be patient, but do keep reporting any ebooks you can’t access.

*UPDATE 1* (see below)

New year, new problems.

There are several problems with our ebrary eBook access at the moment. We are aware and working on the problems. Please stay tuned!

UPDATE 1

One problem leaves town…

Authentication (Access) problem  and Bookshelf problem should be resolved. Please try the following to ensure your Access & Bookshelf are working:

1. Clear browser cache & cookies
2. If you are on campus -or- connecting via myVPN, you should have no problem accessing the ebook (except in two cases — see “Two problems…” below)
3. When on the ebrary site, (as long as you have not logged into EZproxy yet) you will see in the upper right “Sign in”. This signs you in via EZproxy to your Bookshelf. If you have already passed through EZproxy, you are automatically signed in to your Bookshelf.

Two problems come to town:

1. Almost all of our Single-User titles on ebrary have a 2 billion (yes, billion) person wait list. This should be corrected before the end of the day.
2. The University of Toronto has suddenly pulled their titles from the “Canadian Publisher’s Collection.” This means that the U of T titles in this collection are listed in the UBC Catalogue, but are not accessible on ebrary. The Catalogue will be updated by the end of the month.

Due to technical complications, the ebooks in the Irwin Law Collection are a bit tricky to find at the moment. The records in the Catalogue have old links and will be replaced soon.

For now, use this URL and then either browse or search for titles. Titles found in Summon are unfortunately a mix of good and bad links right now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Just a reminder: If you see this “Release This Title” button when looking at an ebrary ebook, PLEASE do click on it when you are done.

eBooks with this button are Single Use titles. This means that no one else can look at it until you release it (or a certain amount of inactive time passes after you leave the site –a drag for those waiting).

So, as it used to be “Be kind, rewind” when done with video tapes, think “Bring peace, release.” Well, you get the idea.

*UPDATE* – EZproxy update a success. All should be working better than before.

You saw the banner on the Library Home page that reads:

EZproxy Unavailable – Thursday, Feb 4th, 2:00PM – 6:00PM

But what does that mean to you?

If you are trying to connect to a subscribed eresource from off campus, Proxy will not be an option for the 4 hours. Please use myVPN.

Books 24×7 will have connection issues till possibly Friday morning. The “old” login (for anyone familiar with the blue screen) will work if you have a pre-existing account. The new will not. See the Library Information Page for your login options. Only “Alternate online access: Click here for the electronic version.” links will work in the catalog during this time.

ebrary will be unavailable from off campus unless you go through myVPN possibly till Friday morning. Personal bookshelves will be unavailable for the same period, whether on or off campus.

China Data Online will be unavailable till Friday morning or possibly later.

Global Market Information Database (GMID) will be unavailable till possibly Friday morning.

Passwords that are hidden behind links that require your UBCcard Barcode and PIN will be unavailable for the 4 hours.

We apologize for all this (and possibly more) disruptions, but the end result will be a better Proxy service. If you encounter any problems or have questions, please contact us.

Mostly, yes. If you want the full browser story from ebrary, visit here.

• you must use Java 1.6 or higher
• you must have browser cookies enabled and you may need to turn off pop-up blockers for ebrary.com
• use Internet Explorer 5.x or newer ( if running under Windows you need only go view a book)
• use Firefox 1.0.4 or newer (if running under Windows Firefox should handle the installation automatically. If you need to actively install the reader, you should read Installation - PC Firefox )
• Use Safari 1.1 or newer (but you have to install. To install ebrary Reader for Mac OS X read Installation - Mac OS X. For Mac OS 9 read Installation - Mac OS 9.
• Opera, iCab, NeoPlanet, Linux/Unix and WebTV are not supported at this time.

So, there you have it. I’ve viewed ebrary ebooks in Firefox, I.E. and Safari, and the reader worked fine. Yes, the first time can be annoying if a browser needs set up (*NOTE: on UBC Library Public stations users will have to load the reader each time they log in). But the full features of the reader –printing, copying, adding notes, etc– are worth it.

CAUTION: the reader can be damn slow to load… and there is often no little hourglass or spinning wheel or wiggling whatevers as it loads. Be patient. Remember, reading is possible in the Quick View mode, you just don’t get the fancy add-ons of the reader (i.e. no printing).

Try ebrary at e-Duke or Canadian Publisher’s Collection.