Depending on the terms and conditions set by the publisher, you should be able to choose between reading online and downloading the e-book for a limited period of time to your own device. You can also search within individual e-books, add notes and print/copy a limited number of pages from most e-books.

Downloading an e-book allows you to read it when you are not connected to the internet, and in most cases, you can either download the whole book or a percentage of the book, depending on limits set by the publisher. 

The download period for e-books, where you can only download a portion of the e-book, is 24 hours. Publishers only allow these e-books to be downloaded for a short amount of time, and by setting the download period to one day the Library is ensuring access to the e-book for as many users as possible. When the downloaded eBook expire you can usually download it again.​

E-books where the publisher has restricted access to one user at a time have not been enabled for download, so we can preserve access for other users. Please use the ‘read online’ option in these instances.

Platforms where the e-book can only be downloaded for a temporary period, include:

• Ebook Central
• EBSCOHost
• VLeBooks

To download e-books using these platforms, you will need to:

1. Create a free Adobe ID from the attached link (click on ‘Create an account’)
2. Install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) – this is free software.

Please note that ADE is unavailable on cluster PCs on campus:

• ADE is a Digital Rights Management software that suppliers use to prevent breach of copyright on the digital content.
• Once you have installed ADE click the download option for the e-book.
• You will then be prompted to open your e-book, which will open automatically in ADE.

There are detailed instructions on how to download e-books on each of the help pages for these e-book platforms:

• Ebook Central
• EBSCOHost

VLeBooks (to access the help pages below, click on the link and then click on the ‘Shibboleth’ button. Search for and select ‘Newcastle University’ in the search bar that appears, and then enter your campus ID and password when prompted):

• PC or Mac
• Android devices
• iOS devices