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E-Books - FAQ
E-Books in general
E-Books licensed by the University Library are electronic books, which may be used by remote access. Their advantages in comparison to printed media consist i.a. in their significantly accelerated provision and in the searchability of the electronic texts. In addition, E-Books may be used at any time and independently from the opening hours of the University Library. The majority of the E-Books licensed by the University Library are provided in PDF-format. This assures their scientific citability by a constantly uniform page layout and structure. Solely in the case of a few online-encyclopaedias, HTML-format is given.
In the case of an End User License, private individuals acquire an E-Book and download it on their own device. No other person is permitted to access an E-Book acquired by a purchase of that kind, which is generally being assured by the Digital Rights Management (e.g. Adobe-ID). In the case of a Campus License in contrary, a larger number of users determined by certain criteria (e.g. IP-address) is entitled for accessing an E-Book being located on a server. Licenses of that kind are varying according to the respective provider. There are e.g. 1-user-licenses permitting the access of only one user to the E-Book at the same time. By 3-user-licenses up to 3 users are entitled for access to the E-Book simultaneously. However, there are also unlimited licenses allowing an unlimited number of users to access the E-Book at the same time.
Digital Rights Management/DRM determines the administration of rights regarding digital contents by various legal and technical regulations. In the context of the usage of E-Books, the regulations concerning access and usage are of crucial relevance. The regulation of access is generally being implemented by the matching of the IP-address. This means that the access to E-Books of the University Library is exclusively possible within the network of the university and that, as a result, only a determined circle of users is entitled for access. The regulation of usage determines the ways on how E-Books are permitted to be used, which means e.g. if printing or copying is granted.
Access and Research
Members of Chemnitz University of Technology are entitled for access
- from all computers in the university
- from all devices within the eduroam WIFI Network of Chemnitz University of Technology
- from beyond by accessing the campus network via the VPN-Service of the University Computer Center
to licensed E-Books.
External users with a valid library user card are entitled for access to licensed E-Books from all computers within spaces of the University Library.
E-Books licensed by the University Library are displayed in addition to all other types of media in the list of results of an online-research. The matches may be limited to E-Books by using the categories “Media type: Book, E-Books” and “Access: Online Resources” as well as “Access: Open Access”.
In addition, it is possible to search for E-Books in a targeted way i.a. on websites of publishers. Normally, it is possible to search there according to subject areas or content-related aspects. On the websites of the library, an overview according to subject areas and an overview according to publishers/ providers is given permitting to get to the websites of the publishers via the respective links.
E-Books are marked by the determination “E-Book” and the symbol of a globe with a book in dark-grey color
within the list of results of a research.
In the display of the title, E-Books may be determined by the line “format: E-Book”.
In the display of the title within the online-catalog, you find under the tab Holdings a link (or several) leading you to the complete text.
In the case that none of the links works, there rests still the opportunity to search for the E-Book directly on the website of the publisher. In the case that the E-Book is still not accessible, please inform the University Library by using the following email-address: e-medien@….
The ways permitted to use an E-Book strongly depend on the respective provider so that they cannot be defined in general for all E-Books acquired by the University Library. Furthermore, the University Library has no influence on these conditions for use.
By our list of providers we give an overview of the different providers and have summarized the kinds of usage permitted by them.
Access Challenges
This may be due to several reasons:
Technical challenges on the part of the user: Are you connected to the university network?
Please check at first whether you are connected to the eduroam-network of Chemnitz University of Technology or whether you have established a connection via the VPN-Service. In case of challenges related to that, please address to the University Computer Center..
Technical challenges on the part of the provider/ publisher
In case it is not possible to get access to a licensed E-Book, please contact us by using the following email-address: e-medien@….
The E-Book has already been accessed by another user
Several providers permit access to their E-Books only to a limited number of users at the same time. Normally, you will get a notice when this number of simultaneous users had been exceeded informing you that for this reason no additional user will get access to that E-Book. In this case, please retry later.
The E-Book was not licensed by the University Library.
You are welcome to send us a proposition for acquisition to e-medien@… in the case that you are missing an E-Book within the existing stock. We will then check whether an acquisition is possible.
It might happen that the access to certain E-Books is limited to a determined period of time. This is e.g. the case if the access to an entire portfolio of a publisher is granted for testing from which the University Library, after expiry of the testing period, is selecting the E-Books for permanent acquisition based on usage statistics.
