If an Ebook Central site is
enabled with anonymous access for certain IP addresses, patrons coming from those IPs can
browse without signing in, but
by default all patrons will be prompted to sign in to their personal Ebook Central account if they attempt to:
- Copy
- Print
- Chapter/page-range download
- Cause a trigger (for example, reading a book for more than 5 minutes when it will cause an NL loan, STL, or autopurchase)
- Full download
- Use bookshelf features such as highlight, create note, bookmark, or add a book to the bookshelf
However, librarians can choose to enable an Ebook Central site with a "Continue as Guest" option. If "Continue as Guest" is enabled,
Patrons can do the following activities without signing in to a personal Ebook Central account:
- Copy
- Print
- Chapter/page-range Download
- Cause a trigger (for example, reading a book for more than 5 minutes when it will cause an NL loan, STL, or purchase).
But patrons will still be required to sign in to their personal Ebook Central account to do the following:
- Full download
- Use bookshelf features such as highlight, create note, bookmark, or add a book to the bookshelf.
There are two levels of "Continue as Guest":
1. Offer patrons the "Continue As Guest" option when they would otherwise be required to sign in:
- All patrons will be prompted as shown above (if they are not already signed in) the first time they initiate a copy, print, chapter/page-range download, or cause a trigger.
- If the patron clicks "Continue as Guest" they can proceed without signing in.
- Note, patrons can still choose to sign in to their personal Ebook central account at any point by clicking the Sign In link (at top-right of Ebook Central screen).
2. Automatically sign patrons in as a Guest when they would otherwise be prompted:
- Patrons will *not* be prompted to sign in to copy, print, chapter/page-range download, or cause a trigger.
- Instead, the system will automatically sign them in as a guest without any notification
- Note, patrons can still choose to sign in to their personal Ebook central account at any point by clicking the Sign In link (at top-right of Ebook Central screen).
To request "Continue as Guest" for an Ebook Central site, librarians can contact the Technical Support Team by submitting a case through this
form. Typically we do not recommend this option unless the site only has subscriptions and/or unlimited-user perpetual titles, and is using 'Patron Login' authentication.
Important points:
- Full download is *only* allowed for patrons that are signed in - no guest access for full download.
- Allowances for copy and print or chapter/page-range download are more generous if signed in:
- If signed in to personal Ebook Central account: copy = 20%, chapter/page-range download = 40%.
- If not signed in (i.e., patron has continued as guest): copy = 15%, chapter/page-range download = 30%
- Note: the above percentages are the defaults - some publishers have set more restrictive limits. For more detailed information on copy and print limits, please see Ebook Central: Per User Per Day Copy, print, and download limits
- Continue as Guest patrons *can* trigger NL loans and STL, but those loans will only be accessible for the full length of the loan period if the guest user accesses it on the same device and using the same browser. Otherwise, the same user may trigger multiple loans for the same book. The system defaults to giving the lowest loan-length that the librarian has set as an option for the book.
- Also, for any mediated DDA requests, users will be able to click on the "request" button for a DDA title, but will then be prompted to sign into their personal Ebook Central account to complete the request.
