The Five Minute Tour
A birds-eye view for Personal Account Holders
The Basics
The terms in bold are important to understanding how desLibris works.
desLibris is a “Platform” on which monographs from Canadian publishers and public document sources are presented in online form. Publisher copyright is protected on the platform with digital rights management (DRM) on individual books and user authentication
All content on the platform is presented to the public in preview form, which offers the first 10% of the book for reading, but then denies access unless an account is in place. Previews are also shown to library users where the title is not in the library's entitlement.
Two “account types” are available: Library/Corporate and Personal. Library/Corporate accounts support access for multiple users on the same account. "Authenticated" or "Password-based" access options are available for these accounts.. These accounts also provide a "Dashboard" for account Administrators where “tools” for customizing and configuring the platform may be found. Personal accounts are assigned to one individual only.
Access to all or partial segments of the content on the platform is granted in return for payment. The accessible segments are known as “Entitlements.”
The desLibris platform is designed to host monographs and monographs in series, but not journals, serials or periodicals. The monographs in desLibris are further classified into three categories. Books are monographs issued by publishers who have licensed desLibris as a library distributor. Documents are issued on the websites of governments and public or non-profit agencies to inform the public. Open Access titles are monographs which have been made available by their publishers under Creative Commons terms.
There are two broad Entitlement categories, which might also be described as “License models:” These are Subscriptions and Perpetual Access.
The Subscription model, requiring periodic payment, is offered for collections or groups of monographs. Subscription licenses are usually granted for unlimited use within the institution, but they may also be subject to a concurrent user limit (by title or by account, depending on the service.)
The Perpetual Access model is available for single titles or sets of titles like Standing Orders. These are one-time purchases which entitle the library or purchaser to permanent access. Perpetual licenses are available with two main usage controls: single-user or multiple simultaneous user. Permanent access is guaranteed by the Repository feature, which allows library purchasers to download watermarked PDF for local storage.
Where entitlements are granted to copyright materials, royalties are paid to copyright owners based on revenue from sales and usage.
Personal Account Features
The Online Reader
The online reader offers tables of contents, search inside, copying and printing. Personal account holders may add annotations and bookmarks to all titles.
The Bookshelf
Available to personal account holders, the Bookshelf is a place to keep "Favourites" for access on devices through the Reader app
Search Aids
Searchng is granular and specific with the many options offered in Advanced Search including search in fulltext. Save search and search histories provide further user assistance.
The Checklist View
While the "Thumbnail" view is the default, the "Checklist" view provides a convenient way to make an exportable list for personal use, getting quotes or purchasing.
Download to Read
The "Dita Reader" app gives personal account holders access to the contents of your Bookshelf on both Android and IOS tablets.
Stacking
Personal account holders may "stack" permissions to access any book in the entitlement of any institutional library or libraries of which they are members.
Buy Books
All books in desLibris are available for purchase under perpetual access licensing. Use the Checklist View to get quotes and place orders.
Suggest a Document
Anyone may "suggest a document" for inclusion in desLibris with a simple form submission.
The Content
Complete Collection
This is the full subscription package, currently containing over 18,000 Books and 60,000 Public Documents.
Irwin Law
The full catalogue of Canada's leading law publisher, provided with tools to promote research.
Ulysses Travel Guides
Spanning nearly 400 titles, this collection includes all titles issued by Ulysses to date, with new titles added as they appear.
Frontlist Standing Orders
House of Anansi Non-Fiction and Poetry
Subject Collections
To provide specialized libraries with the growing body of content being delivered by desLibris in subject fields, “Subject Collection” entitlements are now available. These are subscriptions which deliver new Public Document titles to subscriber accounts on a daily basis as the titles are harvested.