Ebook Central ebooks are being enhanced in late January

Come late late January 2025, Ebook Central will be moving from using pdf to epub format ebooks. This will make these ebooks easier to read and navigate, display better on more devices, and allow publishers to build interactive audio and video into their devices. The more modern epub format is also more accessible and compatible with more assistive technologies than a pdf, allowing those with a visual impairment to enjoy the full ebook experience without having to switch to a stripped back ‘text-only mode’. 

Some ebooks will continue in pdf format, where the publisher has yet to supply an epub version. If you experience any difficulties accessing any of our electronic resources, especially if you have a visual or cognitive condition that makes reading text or from a screen more difficult, please get in touch with your Faculty Librarian straight away. We may be able to provide access to alternative, accessible formats.

What’s so much better about the epub format?

The epub file format was developed much more recently than the old pdf document. Epubs:

• adapt the display of responsively so they are easy and attractive to read on different devices, while pdfs simply scaled to fit the screen size, often making the text far too small to read;
• allow for a better navigation structure that makes it easier to find your way around ebooks and also provides screen readers with a greatly improved headings structure that makes them far more accessible – e.g. it allows you to toggle between sections;
• are more accessible and inclusive – they allow full ebooks to be experienced using screen magnifiers, display changers and screen readers.

Fun thought – implications for citing quotations

When you quote from a published source, you give the page number in the in-text citation. Only with epub ebooks, the page numbers now vary depending on the font and screen/window size you are using to view them. The same quote might appear on different pages depending on the device and device settings used to view it. That doesn’t matter unless you are asking your friend to look at something on a particular page and they can’t find it, or you are citing a quotation and trying to give a page number in the in-text citation.

For in-text citations with page numbers for epub ebooks (from any source), you should follow the guidance for ebooks without (static) page numbers.

Read more

Read more on the Ebook Central website’s helpful guide: “What are the differences between EPUB and PDF ebooks when reading online on Ebook Central?“