Description

Ebook Central provides access to a vast collection of academic ebooks across all subject areas, supporting Arden University students in any discipline. It offers a user‑friendly platform where you can search within books, download sections for offline reading, and easily navigate consistent features across all titles. You can also make use of built‑in tools such as highlighting and note‑taking to enhance your study and research experience.

Why use Ebook Central?

  • Wide subject coverage: Includes ebooks from a broad range of publishers, supporting learning and research across all academic disciplines.
  • Easy to use: A consistent, intuitive interface helps students quickly learn how to navigate and engage with content.
  • Flexible access: Search for keywords within a book and download sections for offline reading, making it easy to find and and use information efficiently.
  • Built‑in study tools: Highlighting and note‑taking features help you organise your research and keep track of important ideas.
Getting Started
Database Content
eBooks
Included in the Library Search?
Yes
AI Tools included?
Yes
AI Tools
Further information on AI tools available in this resource

Accessibility Features

Book formats

Ebook Central provides books in two formats, PDF and EPUB – the provided formats vary based on the preferences of individual publishers. 

  • ePub is an HTML-based format that supports reflowable text. When users resize their browser or access the book on a smaller device like mobile devices or tablets, the text will automatically reflow to adjust to your screen size. 
  • PDF is an image-based format that keeps the look and feel of a printed book. The book has a set number of pages with a fixed width. These books may not display as well on smaller devices and may require additional zooming.

Read aloud

Ebook Central does not have an integrated text to speech function but will work with the Edge browser (built in function) and other plug-ins including JAWS and VoiceOver. 

Ebook Central recommends the following: 

  • Desktop: Chrome + JAWS 
  • Desktop: Microsoft Edge + JAWS
  • Desktop: Firefox + NVDA 
  • Desktop: Safari + VoiceOver
  • Mobile Apple devices: Safari + VoiceOver 
  • Mobile Android devices: Chrome + TalkBack 

When reading online in the PDF Reader, Text Only Mode can be enabled to allow PDF book content to be read using a screen reader: 

When you are signed in with your Arden credentials you can go to Profile and then Accessibility Settings. Here you can Enable Text Only Mode.

Change text size 

Use browser Zoom function to enlarge text up to 200% without text spilling off the screen. Most browsers will allow you to change the font size. Guidance on making text size larger can be found on Abilitynet.

Change text font 

There is no option to change the font. Downloading books in EPUB format allows for changing text with third party tools. 

Change background colour 

This is not an inbuilt option on eBook Central, but the platform is set up to work effectively with inbuilt browser functionality or extensions that change the colour and contrast. Recommendations for the most common browsers are below: 

  • Chrome: Midnight Lizard 
  • Firefox: Go to Settings > General > Language and Appearance and set Website Appearance to "Dark".
  • Microsoft Edge: Go to Settings – Accessibility – Page Colours to change the background colour.

Keyboard navigation 

Ebook Central is navigable with your keyboard – using the tab, enter, and arrow keys. 

The primary product navigation links should appear in the same place, in the same order, on every page of the Ebook Central site. 

Read offline 

Chapters can be downloaded as PDFs. If you choose to download a chapter or section of the book, these can be accessed through Adobe Reader or Microsoft Edge. Both of these platforms have read aloud functionality. 

You are permitted to download a limited number of pages as PDFs; this limit is based on copyright restrictions and is set by the publisher. 

If you choose to download a full book, you will need to install Adobe Digital Editions. 

Adobe Digital Editions can be used with Voiceover, NVDA, and JAWS, and it offers other accessibility features such as high contrast mode and full keyboard support. At the end of the download period, the file will automatically delete from your device. 

For additional guidance see the Ebook Central accessibility statement. Or contact LSHaccess@arden.ac.uk

Accessibility statement
Accessibility statement