If you are used to the EBSCO eBook Collection, you will note that the screen looks very different. At the top of the screen we have the title of the book with the author underneath it. Under the title in the center of the page we have information about the availability of the book. There is a link where we can read the book online, which is also available as a button on the left hand side of the page under the picture of the cover of the book. There is also a link so you can download the book. If you have already downloaded the book, it lists how long you will be able to read your download. The download link is also available as a button on the left hand side of the page. The availability section also tells you how many pages of the book you can copy and print.
On the left hand side of the screen there is a picture of the cover of the book. Under the cover there are buttons where you can read the book online, and download the book. Under the Download Book button there is a link that says Add ot Bookshelf. If you click on this link, you will be able to save the book to a bookshelf that you can refer to whenever you are in ProQuest Central. The bookshelf can be organized by categories that you create, so if you are doing research on a topic you can save all the eBooks that you use for that topic in the same category. There is also a Share Link to Book link that you can use to get a url that you can email to others to refer them to the book. It needs to be noted that the link will refer them to the page that you are on when you click this link. There is also a Cite Book option that will show you how to cite the book in a variety of formats. Inside the Cite Book popup box there is also a link that will let you export the citation information to Refworks.
On the right had side of the screen there are book details about the book that includes most of the information that you would need to produce a citation for the book.
At the bottom of the screen is the table of contents for the book. By the side of each chapter is a link to download the chapter as a PDF, and a link to read online. If you click on the chapter title itself, you will be taken to the first page of that chapter.
When you start reading the book, the screen changes so that there is a static tool bar at the top of the screen and two panes on the bottom of the screen. The pane on the right contains the text of the book, and the pane on the left contains book information, a search within book box, and the table of contents.
The toolbar at the top of the screen which is grouped into four sections has the following tools:
Full Download gives you the option to download the entire book.
Chapter Download lets you download a pdf version of the chapter
Copy will let you copy portions of the book that you select by highlighting passages with your cursor. You can up to the limit set by the publisher
Print to PDF lets you print the current page, or a page range that you select (as long as it isn't more than the publisher will let you print), or the current chapter
Add to Bookshelf lets you place the book on a shelf that you can refer to whenever you are using ProQuest Ebook Central
Share link produces a url that you can use share with others to link to the book. The url produced will link to the page that you were reading when you produced the url.
Get citation causes a pop up box to appear showing how to cite the book in various citation styles. There is a link in the box that will let you export the citation information to Refworks
Highlight allows you to highlight text you select with the cursor. This option is also available by right clicking on your mouse. If you use your mouse you can select the highlight color. Highlights are viewed when you look at your annotations.
Add note lets you take a note on the page that you are reading. Notes are viewed when you look at your annotations.
Add Bookmark creates a virtual bookmark that notes the page you were on when chose this option. You can view your bookmarks when you look at your annotations.
Zoom out makes the text smaller so you can see more of it on the screen
Zoom in makes the text larger
Zoom lets you change the text so that it fits the width of the window you are reading in, or the fits the entire page in the window you are reading in
Go to page lets you enter a page number that you want to read, and takes you to that page
Previous goes to the previous page
Next goes to the next page
The controls in the left pane control the book as a whole.
When we start reading the book, the default tool in this pain looks like bullet points with lines next to them. This is the table of contents icon. It shows the cover of the book, and lists the table of contents for the book. The table of contents is hyperlinked, so if you select one of the chapters, you will go to the first page of that chapter. There is also a search within book search box that will search the entire book for the terms that you type into box.
If you search using this box, it will take you to the search pane and display your results by chapter. The chapters are listed with a bar next to each chapter. If there is blue in the bar next to the chapter, this means that the term was mentioned in the chapter, the bigger the blue bar, the more times that the term was mentioned. If you select the drop down menu next to the left of the chapter name (the black triangle) each occurrance of the word in that chapter is listed along with the text around the word so you can have some context of how it was used. If you click on a search result, it will take you to that page.
The Book icon takes you to the book details pane. This shows you details of the book you are reading, and gives you options to download the book, share a link to the book, and show how to cite the book. This pane also shows how many pages you can print, and how many pages you can copy.
The Star icon takes you to the annotations pane. This shows you all of the highlights, bookmarks, and notes that you have taken. These are sorted by chapter with a dropdown menu that will show you all of the various annotations that you have made in that chapter.
The magnifying glass takes you to the search pane.