Printing parts of e-books and copying/pasting text from e-books is generally possible, but like with downloading options, each collection permits different things.
Even when you can't download the book, some collections allow you to copy text or print individual pages. You can usually use the print screen option on your computer, too.
Not all collections let you read the text online. Some do not have in-browser text viewers, so you must download the chapter or section in order to use it in any way
Some of our e-books are subject to license agreements with e-book publishers. These licenses restrict how an e-book can be used. For example, in many cases you are allowed to print a single chapter an e-book. Sometimes you are only copy/paste or print a certain percentage of the book. You are not allowed to print an entire e-book, however. If you need more information about usage rights, please contact collections.library@mcgill.ca
This is a small selection of McGill’s e-books collections. To browse or search a list of all collections by name, please see the A to Z list.
| Name of collection | Can I print? | Can I copy/paste text? | Do I need a personal account? | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACLS Humanities E-Book | Yes. After choosing the “PDF” page view option for any given title, ten pages may be viewed and printed at a time. | Yes, individual pages may be copied, up to ten. | No | When downloading PDF excerpts, you must change the page in the image or text version of the page, and than click on the PDF version, otherwise it continually shows the same 10-page excerpt. |
| Books24X7 | No, there is no way to print using the page viewer, although you could print one page using your browser's print function. | You can copy and paste sections, but only one page is visible at a time. | No, although you do have to log in with Shibboleth. | |
| BrillOnline | Yes, individual entries, pages or entire books, depending on the content is. | Yes | No | |
| Cambridge Core | Yes, by chapter | Yes, by sections | No | |
| Clinical Key | Yes, by chapter/entry | Yes | Maybe (see notes) | If you want to download book sections as PDFs for printing, you will need to create a login and password. |
| CRCnetBASE | Yes, by chapter | Yes, by chapter or section | No | If you want to print or copy/paste text, you must download the chapter(s) you want to use first. |
| de Gruyter (Harvard University Press) | Yes, by chapter | Yes, by chapter | No | If you want to print or copy/paste text, you must download the chapter(s) you want to use first. The "print" link on the top right only prints what is on the screen |
| desLibris | Yes, up to 10% of a work can be printed. Public documents can be printed without restriction. | Yes, unlimited | No | Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + C for copying and Ctrl + for paste) must be used to copy/paste text from a e-book |
| Duke University Press (e-Duke) | Yes, by chapter | Yes by page (in-browser viewer) or by chapter (PDF) | No | Copying text from the PDF works much better than from the in-browser viewer |
| Ebook Central (formerly EBL and ebrary) | It depends on the title. Each books has a specific number of pages that can be printed. After you have opened the book, you can see how many pages you have left to print by checking the "Book Details" section on the right. | It depends on the title. Each books has a specific number of pages that can be copied. | No, you do not need an account to print or copy | |
| EBSCO eBook Collection | It depends on the title. Some books allow a certain number of pages to be saved in PDF, and some books may be "borrowed" for a certain number of days, but not all content is available this way. To see what is allowed for a particular book, look at "Publisher Permissions" in the book's detailed record. | Some titles do not allow copy/paste, others allow a certain number of pages to be copied. | No, you do not need an account to print or copy | |
| HathiTrust | You can print pages from the downloaded file, but you need to download the book first. | Copying and pasting text is possible, but due to the way the pages are formatted (as PDFs), there can be many mistakes in the copied text | You must be logged in as a McGill user to print via download. The login should be prompted after you click a download link. | |
| HeinOnline | Yes, but printing is limited to a maximum of 200 pages per book. | Copying and pasting text is possible, but due to the way the pages are formatted (as PDFs), there can be many mistakes in the copied text | No | |
| IEEE Electronic Library Online (IEEEXplore) | Yes, as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must print from the downloaded PDF file. | Yes, but there is no way to view the text in your browser, so you must copy/paste from the PDF file. | No | |
| JSTOR ebooks | Yes, although you must print from the downloaded PDF file, as the "Read Online" version of the text does not allow you to print | Yes, but you must copy/paste from the downloaded PDF file, as you cannot do so from the "Read Online" version of the text. | No | |
| Knovel | Yes, by chapter. You can print a chapter by opening it in the online viewer and than clicking on the "options" button on the bottom of the right vertical menu, which should show you a "print section" option. | Yes, by chapter | No | |
| Knowledged Unlatched | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must print from the downloaded PDF file. | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must copy/paste from the PDF file. | No | |
| MyiLibrary | Yes, generally you can print up to 10% of a title. | Yes, you can copy/paste from the in-browser text viewer a page at a time. | No | |
| OverDrive | No | No | Yes, you must login with your McGill username and password | |
| Oxford/UPSO | Yes, individual chapters can be printed. You can print from the PDF, or from the browser by selecting the button in the shape of a printer located at the top left, under the top menu. | Yes, by chapter. | No | |
| Project MUSE | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must print from the downloaded PDF file. | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must copy/paste from the PDF file. | No | |
| Safari Tech Books Online | Yes, individual pages, one at a time. | Yes, by page. | No | This collection can only be used online. |
| Science Direct | Yes | Yes, by chapter | No | You must download the PDFs to print, as there is no in-browser viewer print button. |
| STAT!Ref Electronic Medical Library | Yes, but there are limits on how much you can print at a time. Whole chapters may not print entirely. You can print selections of text by highlighting the text you want and choosing "Selection" instead of "All" when you select a print range. | Yes, by chapter or section | No | |
| Taylor and Francis eBooks |
Yes, most books have unlimited printing. A few books have digital rights management applied. They are marked with a "DRM" icon. They have different options than the other titles, such as:
|
Yes, most books have unlimited copy/paste options, but a few books have digital rights management applied. They are marked with a "DRM" icon. They have different options than the other titles, such as:
|
No | |
| Wageningen Academic Publishers | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must print from the downloaded PDF file. | Yes, but as there is no way to view the text in your browser, you must copy/paste from the PDF file. | No | |
| Wiley Online Library | Yes | Yes, but it must be done from the PDF file, as there is no in-browser text viewer | No | You must download the PDFs to print, as there is no in-browser viewer print button |
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