Dallas College eBooks

Searching on EBook Central

About Ebook Central

Ebook Central's collection includes a variety of topics with some specialization in science, technology, and books in Spanish in all academic subjects.

Navigating to the Ebook Central Database

  1. Go to the Dallas College Library homepage and scroll down and click on the red Database box.
    • Screenshot of databases view with an arrow pointing to it
  2. Underneath the All Subjects drop down, click on the E to narrow the databases to the databases that start with an E
    • .Database alphabet with an arrow pointing to the letter E
  3. Click on the Ebook Central link.
    • ​​​​​​​Ebook Central link highlighted with database description

How to Search on Ebook Central

  1. The home page includes a basic search box, an advanced search option, and an ability to browse features.
    • Ebook Central search features
  2. On the top right, there is a navigation bar to search for items, your bookshelf, your profile, preferred reading language, help desk, and to sign in to your account. More information on this will be in the Ebook Central Navigation Bar box.
    • Ebook Central home page extra features
  3. Start your search by subject or by keyword and click search. As seen in the photo, you can filter by book status, year published, subject, and language to narrow down your search results if needed. The icons highlighted in the specific book description are full download, read online, table of contents, and add to bookshelf for that specific book. 
    • Result page
  4. Select a book by clicking on its title. On this page, you can see the book's shortcut links, availability, description, table of contents, details, reader reviews, and tags. More information on these book features will be below in Access Options. 
    • Ebook Central book description

Ebook Central Home Page

Shortcut Links

On the left side of the screen, there are short links for accessing and keeping track of the eBook. Links include read online, download book, add to bookshelf, share link to book, and cite book. More details on access options are in the Access Options section in the library guide.

Good to Know: 

Read Online - Read the book on your browser.

  • More details in the access options section

Download Book - Read the book on the Ebook Central Reader App

  • Must have ProQuest account to download/checkout the book 
  • Depending on the book, checkout duration could be up to 21 days
  • Checkout depends on the availability of the book (unlimited access or one copy downloaded at a time)
  • More details in the access options section

Add to Bookshelf - Add the book to the bookshelf to keep track of materials

  • Must have ProQuest account to add to the bookshelf
  • Add item to a folder that could represent projects or assignments
  • More details in the Ebook Central Navigation bar section

Share Link to Book - Copy link to share with others 

Cite Book - Create citation for particular eBook

  • Formats include APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, and Vancouver
  • Select the entire citation, press control + c to copy
  • Generated citation isn't always perfect so check the format before adding the citation to your assignment

Availability

This section is where you can find out what access Dallas College has for that particular eBook

Good to Know:

Read Online - Read the book on your browser.

  • More details in the access options section below 

Download Book - Read the book on Ebook Central Reader App

  • Must have ProQuest account to download/checkout the book 
  • Depending on the book, checkout duration could be up to 21 days
  • Checkout depends on the availability of the book (unlimited access or one copy downloaded at a time)
  • More details in the access options section

Download PDF Chapter - Get up to a certain number of pages in PDF format without an expiration date

Number of pages to copy - Number of pages that can be copied for that specific book

Number of pages for PDF print/chapter download - Number of pages that can be printed or downloaded as a PDF

Description

Includes a book summary which is helpful to read to see if the book is worth reading further

Table of Contents

Another way to see if the book is worth reading for your research

  • Explore different chapters within the book
  • Download PDF chapters
  • Read online to read the particular chapter in browser

Book Details

This section includes

  • Book title
  • If the book is part of the series
  • Edition number
  • Author
  • Publisher
  • Publication date
  • Language
  • How many pages
  • Subject headings

Reader Reviews

Not always included in the book homepage but can illuminate what other opinions of the book are

Tags

  • Contains other keywords or subjects to explore related to the book that you're interested in reading
  • Click Browse Tags to see beyond initial default tags

How to Access eBooks on Ebook Central

  • Read Online doesn't require a ProQuest account
  • Read materials via your preferred browser

Steps to Read Online

1. Underneath the availability section or underneath the book cover, click the purple read online link.

 

Helpful Tips for using Ebook Central

  • The top navigation bar includes the ability to download the book, chapter download, copy pages, print PDF pages, add to bookshelf, copy link to share the eBook, cite the book, highlight, add notes, bookmark, and zoom in and out
  • Full download, add to bookshelf, highlight, add notes, and bookmarks require a ProQuest account which is free to create
  • Access book details by using the book icon to see the book's author, publication date, publisher, online allowances of how many pages can be copied or printed, and how long the book can be downloaded for offline reading
  • Navigate to the list icon to browse the table of contents to find more relevant chapters in the book.
  • By clicking the star icon, you can keep track of bookmarks, notes, and highlights in the annotations section which requires a ProQuest account
  • Use the magnifying glass icon to search within the book for specific keywords

Video: Accessing Read Online

  • Download book feature requires a ProQuest account and the Ebook Central Reader app
  • The book download will expire after the loan length has been reached

Steps to Download eBook

  1. Click Download Book from the Book Details page or from the Availability view
  2. Here you can create a free ProQuest account or sign in with your ProQuest Ebook Central account information
  3. Once signed in, a pop-up window will show check out options (1, 7, 14, or 21 days). Choose the check-out length desired. Click the confirm button
  4. A register code for a device should appear. Click the copy link to the right of the code. Then, click the Download the App button
  5. Directions should appear in a new tab for how to download and install the Ebook Central App 
  6. Click the download or app store button for which device you will use
  7. Download and install the Ebook Central App
  8. After the app is downloaded, open the app and follow the instructions to register the Ebook Central account with the app by pasting the registration code
  9. The book should appear on the bookshelf. On the top right, there are features to view the books either as thumbnails or in a list format. Click the globe icon to change the app language
  10. To download, you can hover over a book cover and click download
  11. Once the book is downloaded, click read
    1. Use the underlined A icon to change the font size
    2. Use the book with a bookmark to open the Book Details pane to see the table of contents, bookmarks and annotations, and search for specific keywords
  12. To remove the book download, click on the three-dot icon and click Remove Download
  13. Once the loan has expired, you can click on the three-dot icon and click Delete Book to remove the book from the app

Video: Download Book with Ebook Central Reader App

  • Download PDF chapter access option is limited in the number of chapters that could be downloaded
  • Navigate to the availability section to see how many pages could be downloaded using the download PDF chapter access option
  • PDF chapter downloads do not expire 
  • There are two ways to download a PDF chapter

Steps to Download a PDF Chapter

From Home Page

  1. Scroll down to the Table of Contents section
  2. Choose the chapter that you want to download
  3. Click the Download PDF link
  4. After the download loads, click the purple download button
  5. The chapter download should appear in a downloads pop-up window, or the PDF file will be in the downloads folder in your files

From Read Online

  1. Click Read Online
  2. Click on the list icon to find the Table of Contents
  3. Choose the chapter that you want to download
  4. Once the chapter loads, navigate to the chapter navigation bar to click the PDF download button PDF download button icon
  5. Choose the citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago) and click the purple continue button
  6. Click Open PDF

  7. The chapter download should appear in a downloads pop-up window, or the PDF file will be in the downloads folder in your files

Video: How to Download a PDF Chapter

  • Home Page steps: start of the video to 00:33

  • Read Online steps: 00:33 to the end of the video

How to Create a ProQuest Account

  1. Click on the Sign In button at the top left of the navigation ribbon
    • Navigation ribbon with a red box around sign in
  2. Click the purple Create Account button
    • Sign in screen with Create Account button in a red square
  3. Type in:
    • Your first name
    • Your last name
    • Dallas College email or username
    • ProQuest password
      • Password must have at least 8 letters, numbers, or special characters
      • Does not need to be the same as your Dallas College eCampus credentials.
  4. Click the box agreeing to ProQuest's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
  5. Click Create Account
    • ​​​​​​​Create account screen with steps 3 thru 5 numbered​​​​​​​
  6. You'll receive an email letting you know that you have access to Ebook Central provided by Dallas College along with your username.
    • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Email acknowledging that account was created with a specific username

Ebook Central Navigation Bar

The navigation search screen includes

  1. Basic search box
  2. Advanced search - search using multiple search terms
  3. Browse subjects - Browse subjects including arts, business, education, general, health & medicine, history & political science, law, literature & language, religion & philosophy, social science, and science & technology
  4. Saved searches features - Look at history of searches in a particular session and track saved searches for later reference. More information below the general search image
  5. Research suggestions - Research tips like adding quotes around phrases, using Boolean search, and refining searches by filtering options
  6. Featured titles 

These feature numbers correspond with the number placement in the screenshot of the search screen

Search page with highlighted features

Advanced Search

Advanced search is a great choice when there are multiple search terms to search at once. Filters are on the right to update publication year range, language preference, download format, book status, number of copies, and collection.

Advanced search screen with a sample advanced searchSaved Searches

An Ebook Central account is required to save searches. 

Steps to save a search

  1. Type in your search term and click the magnifying glass
  2. Click Save this search on the right of the search box
    1. Search results with save this search highlighted
  3. Create a free ProQuest account or sign in with your account credentials
  4. Name the search, optionally add an alert to receive an email with new results, enter preferred email address, and how often to run the search. When finished, click the purple Save button
    1. Save search screenshot
  5. Look at previous saved searches by clicking the search button in the top right navigation bar.
  6. Underneath the saved search title, you can see how often the search runs in the database if previously set up, when the search was last run, re-run the search by clicking the arrow circle button, edit the search settings by clicking the pencil button, and see the recent results using the clock button.

Saved searches section highlighted

Bookshelf feature requires an Ebook Central account and includes

  • Downloads & Loans - Tracks book downland expiration dates and annotations
  • Holds - Based on book availability, users can place a hold request to download the book once it becomes available from a previous user
  • Recently Viewed - Look at books that were recently viewed
  • Annotated Books - View notes and highlights in specific books
  • Saved to Bookshelf - Create folders for specific projects to track research progress

Bookshelf view

Update profile here 

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Password - create new password. Confirm password if updated
  • Email - change to a different email address. Confirm email if updated.
  • Wait List Email - Used to send notifications about the availability of books that you have on hold. Can be different from account email address
  • Default Citation Style - APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian (Notes-Bibliography/Author-Date), Harvard, Vancouver
  • Accessibility Settings - Turn on Text Only Mode and/or OpenDyslexic typeface
  • Confirm agreement with privacy policies and terms of service

After any changes, click the purple save changes button

Profile screen

 

Select default language from 11 options

Language selection screen

Choose between different topics for help on Ebook Central

  • General - Describes what you can do in Ebook Central, change language, tips and other information, and accessibility information
  • Sign In - Here for help with signing in, creating an account, and password requirements
  • Search - Explanation of terms like Available on request and course reserve, results from searches, how to search specific parameters, and search history
  • Download - Support for issues with downloading a book, difference between chapter and book download, format differences, and explanation of eBook availability issues
  • Read Online - Support for searching in Read Online, taking notes, formatting page view, how to copy words, and using Read Online for different devices
  • Bookshelf - How to move books to different folders, sharing folder contents with others, exporting notes, and how to delete a folder

If there continues to be issues, navigate to the Ask Us tab on this LibGuide to contact a librarian.

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