LibAnswers

What is Ebook Central?

Ebook Central is an ebook platform that allows King’s to make a large range of ebooks available to our users, some by subscription, some purchased outright.  Currently, we have access to over 200,000 titles through the Ebook Central platform.

How to access Ebook Central 

Ebook Central can be accessed through the A-Z Databases by searching the databases for Ebook Central.  You will need to log in with your King’s username and password.

Individual books are also catalogued and can be found in Library Search or the Library catalogue.

In the meantime, if you require a title that is not available in the Library collection, we recommend you use the Library’s Interlending and Document Delivery Service.

Reading ebooks

Any device which has browser support can access Ebook Central and read ebooks online.

Downloading ebooks

You can download ebooks from Ebook Central to read on your computer or laptop and certain mobile devices; downloaded ebooks will work for 24 hours.  

• For devices running Windows or Macs you will require Adobe Digital Editions (ADE), which can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions/download.html. 
• For Android devices, iPads and iPhones you will need the Adobe Bluefire app which should be available  from the app store.  
• Some ebook readers support ADE and ebooks can be transferred to these.  A list of devices can be found here: http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/supported-devices  Please note that Kindles do not support ADE.

The Adobe help pages are the best place to find detailed information on using ADE www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/help/ Please note that there is a download capacity of 40 titles per user in a 30 day period.

Printing from ebooks

When you are reading the ebook, clicking on the blue Details tab will tell you how many pages you can print or copy; both actions require a loan to be triggered before they can be performed, and Ebook Central will prompt you to do so.  You can usually print up to 20% of the ebook.

Why have I been turned away?

Some ebooks only allow three people to access the ebook at the same time, this is a limit imposed by the publishers.  When Ebook Central turns you away from an ebook it will tell you when access will reopen, which is 24 hours after the first person “borrowed” the ebook. 

If you have been refused access to an ebook please try accessing the ebook again at the suggested time or check the Library Search to see if there are any print copies in the library. 

We monitor turn-aways from ebooks very closely and endeavour to make titles on Ebook Central as widely available as possible.  

More information

If you would like more information about Ebook Central or have any questions or problems, please email us at library@kcl.ac.uk