Greco: the UCLM platform for lending electronic books
The University Library together with the Publications Service, provides a new library service for lending electronic books to its users.
Greco is a platform created so that all UCLM users may consult, borrow, return, reserve, etc the electronic books the library has brought or has a subscription to. Also, a large part of the publishing collections of the university publications services are available which are in the Xebook project. These universities are: The University of Santiago de Compostela, the UNED, the University of Cádiz, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the University of Murcia, the University of Burgos, the University of León, the University of Salamanca and the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Soon, the universities of Jaén, Alicante, Gerona and Málaga will join the project..
From the Greco website, information about the electronic books available is provided and it is possible to read these online and take them out, provided the user has shown identification. The system for loaning electronic books is similar to that there is for printed books at the library. For this reason, titles are provided from a specific platform, the Greco website. By means of the different search options, the electronic books available can be located and they can be read on this platform and loaned to be read for a determined period.
Previous requirements for reading books
The catalogue of electronic books is public, but if users wish to take out a book and read a work, they must be members of the university community and show identification previously with their UCLM credentials. There are various search categories: author, title, topical categories, publishers, etc. Reading is responsive and can be done from any type of computer, tablet, and smart phone and screen devices with Internet access. All that is needed is to have the programmes or applications the user prefers to read the documents in the formats available: PDF and EPUB. Reading may be done online or offline, both from computers and mobile devices.
Loaning digital books
A previous requirement for consulting a book is to borrow a book personally. To do this, identification with UCLM credentials must be shown: National Identification Number of student, institution email account (example: Juan.Electron@uclm.es)+password for Services and Administration Staff and Teaching and Research Staff. In this tutorial there will be an explanation on how to borrow an electronic book.
Consultation of borrowed books
Once we have taken out the book, we can consult it. Consultation or reading can be done in two ways: online and offline.
Online reading (online or streaming)
To be able to read online, you must show identification on Greco as commented previously. Once identified, the book we wish to read is located and a loan is made electronically. Next, choose the “Copies borrowed” option from the “Your account” menu and you click on “Read EPUB” or “Read PDF”. The book will open on the browser to be read online.
Reading by downloading the book ( offline)
Digital loans offline enable the user to read all works without any Internet connection, although the first download at least must be done online. Moreover, the first time an electronic book is read offline it is necessary to follow the following steps to install Adobe Digital Editions and in this way books can be read with Adobe DRM. DRM is the system editors use to protect their works from unauthorized copying. In this tutorial how to download Adobe Digital Editions is shown.
Below, how to download books borrowed on different devices is explained:
Loan conditions
Just as with physical libraries, loaning a title implies this copy is a loan and cannot be consulted by other users until the loan period has finished. Loaning and reading conditions for any type of user (periods, copies, renewals, reservations( are as follows:
- Maximum days for loan: 7 days
- Maximum number of e-books that can be loaned. 3 e-books
- Maximum number of renewals: 1 renewal every 7 days
- Maximum number of reservations: 3 reservations
Access
Access to Greco