How do I use Proquest E-book Central?
Answer
Individual e-books in this resource are listed and searchable in Scholar OneSearch, Northeastern's library catalog.
What is available in Proquest E-book Central?
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Content: thousands of e-books from academic and commercial publishers (view a list of participating publishers).
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Subjects: a wide range of subjects, generally nonfiction
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Tools: highlighting, lists, suggested citations, text-only mode for screen reader accessibility
How to read:
In addition to reading online in a web browser, you may use free Adobe Digital Editions software (desktop computers) or the ADE app (handheld devices).
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When you click to download a ProQuest Central title, you will be prompted to sign in with your Northeastern login and password.
- DRM ("digital rights management") books will download as ACSM files. You will not be able to read an entire DRM-protected book on a Kindle device, but you may be able to on other handhelds using the Adobe Digital Editions app.
- Stable links to books and book chapters are available. Leganto Reading List software is the easiest way for instructors to manage library course readings in Canvas.
How to listen:
Proquest does not offer a built-in read-aloud or text-to-speech function. Your options in proquest are:
Download the book in Adobe Reader (if a PDF) or Adobe Digital Editions. Then use your computer's text-to-speech software.
Use a browser plugin like Natural Reader to read online.
Tip: turn on text-only mode in order to get your text-to-speech app to work. To do this, once you have found your book in Proquest, go to "settings-->profile" and "turn on text-only mode". A video explaining this is available on YouTube here.
Downloads
Download to the Amazon Kindle is only available for PDFs of individual chapters, excerpts, or open standard image-PDF format where available.
PDF Downloads:
A limited number of pages (usually up to 60 pages) or a chapter may be downloaded as a PDF with no restrictions or digital rights management. This limit resets every 24 hours, so you can download a chapter or similar number of pages per day for personal use, until you've accumulated the entire book. While cumbersome, this allows unlimited accumulation, in a way that is intended to prevent piracy.
Authorizing Adobe Digital Editions access:
When prompted for authorization, you have two options:
Option 1: You can create an Adobe ID and password. This is required if you want to read the ebook on multiple devices. In that case, install and authorize Adobe Digital Editions software on each device.
Option 2 (quicker): You can choose the ‘I want to authorize my computer without an ID’ checkbox and read the book on one device only.
See Adobe Digital Editions authorization information for troubleshooting assistance.
Borrowing:
Books are available for a borrowing period of 7-21 days, depending on agreements with the publisher or copyright holder.
Some books are available online only and cannot be downloaded. This is always the case with titles that have a single copy.
Some books have 3-user limits. In this case, 2 users may download the book at a time, and the third copy will remain available for online use only. It can be used by one person at a time, but it cannot be "borrowed" for multiple days at a time. This allows for maximum sharing and availability.
Some books have unlimited availability.
For Instructors
If you are assigning Proquest E-books for course materials, please contact library Course Reserves for advice on formats and a suggested number of copies for your class.
Support
Connect to Proquest support (link below) for in-depth assistance.