Čtení e-knih/en

Options for reading e-books

There are many e-books available at CU from different producers and on different platforms. You can find them in UKAŽ. The ways of reading e-books can sometimes be different on one platform. You will most often encounter the following options:

• On-line reading in the internet browser
• Off-line downloading of part/chapter/in some cases whole book (in different formats, mostly *.pdf)
• Off-line downloading in the app of the producer (for example, Bookport, Publi, EBSCOhost)
• Off-line loan (for a limited time, secure format or app)
  • DRM (Digital Right Management) - system for copyright protection of electronic documents. DRM protects the e-book from illegal distribution, either in the form of social DRM (watermark indicating who purchased the e-book and is possibly responsible for its illegal distribution) or so-called hard DRM, which also has limitations of a technical nature (e.g. ProQuest Ebook Central, EBSCOhost eBooks download links)

EBSCOhost platform
What are the options for reading e-books on the EBSCO platform and how to work with them can be found at this link. The manual is available in the Czech language.

ProQuest platform
A guide to reading e-books on the ProQuest platform can be found on this page. The page is only available in English. More information about this platform and ebooks on it in general can be found here.

1U and 3U mode

The e-book is currently being used.' What does this mean for me?
Some titles are made available to only one (1U) or three concurrent accessors (3U); availability information can be found either in the note in UKAŽ or in the selected e-book on the platform. Therefore, you may have to join a reservation queue (similar to printed books) or try to open the e-book later. You will not find a reservation system for all e-books that have been read, some platforms provide information until when the e-book is currently being used (when it will be freed for the next reader). Sometimes the e-book is available again within a few minutes, other times you have to wait for weeks (usual platform borrowing time x number of possible reservations).

DDA

When viewing e-books in UKAŽ, you may come across the abbreviation DDA - the book appears accessible, but after 5 minutes of reading you are prompted to request it from the library. This is a Demand Driven Acquisition service, where the book is made available for short reading so that you can familiarize yourself with the book. If you need such an ipotom title, you can give the library of your faculty a proposal for making the interface directly. The library then either accepts such a proposal and purchases the book from its own resources, or rejects it. The evaluation usually takes a few days and you will receive the result by e-mail, which may include a justification for possible rejection or advice on how to proceed in such a case. Not all faculties may be involved in the DDA service, and even in the faculties involved, the evaluation process may take place differently. You can always get more detailed information from the library of your faculty.

Ebook not available

In some cases, you don't need to access the e-book. Here are some reasons why this is the case and what you can do about it.

• Only for/Pouze pro - some e-books are only available for some faculties or parts of Charles University. In the central search engine, there will be a note with this information next to the link. You can try contacting the faculty in question to see if you can access the e-book, for example, via a computer in their study room.
• Univerzita Karlova nemá e-knihu vůbec dostupnou - co dělat v tomto případě se dozvíte na stránce Jak mohu získat dokument, který není ve fondu Univerzity Karlovy dostupný?/en