Ebook FAQ for VCU Libraries

Licensing Overview

• User Licenses: It depends. 
  • Most titles in the VIVA collection are DRM-free and allow for unlimited concurrent usage. For these titles, both "Download" and "Read Online" buttons are available.
    • Titles in the VIVA collection can be lent in their entirety.
  • DRM-restricted titles through VIVA are unlimited. If a DRM-restricted title was purchased perpetually through VCU, it may be limited to 1 user at a time. For these titles, only a "Read Online" button is available since they cannot be downloaded.
• Subscription or Permanent Access? Varies.
  • The "VIVA Taylor & Francis Evidence-Based Ebooks" collection represents items we have access to through VIVA. VIVA will maintain access to all backlist content for as long as the contract is renewed.
    • If a Taylor & Francis book is not appearing in Primo that you think should be in there, you can check if it should eventually be part of our collection by...
      • searching the Taylor & Francis website (https://proxy.library.vcu.edu/login?url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com) to see if you can download it, or
      • search VIVA's Worldcat holdings to see if the ebook is a part of VIVA's subscription.
  • There is also a smaller Taylor and Francis collection, "Taylor and Francis VCU Perpetual Evidence-Based Ebooks", which represents titles for which VCU or VIVA has purchased perpetual access.
• DRM-free? Most titles are DRM-free, but not all. Per the Taylor and Francis website:
  • DRM-protected titles have 1-user licenses and can only be read online.
    • They may not be downloaded as a PDF to read offline.

    • Each user can only copy/paste/print up to 20% of a title. An error message will display when the limit is reached.

List of all Ebook Titles in This Collection

A list of titles available through the "VIVA Taylor & Francis Evidence-Based Ebooks" collection can be viewed on VIVA's website.

• The Taylor & Francis Entitlement Reconciliation lists include titles that may no longer be available through VIVA after Dec. 31, 2026, but can still be purchased perpetually. This list includes DRM-restricted titles (i.e., online access only for 1-user at a time). 

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

A VPAT for Taylor & Francis is available online. 

Information forthcoming.

More information on this topic is available at our Library Ebooks as Course Materials research guide.

Entire Ebook Download: 

Many Taylor & Francis ebooks can be downloaded but DRM-protected titles -- which include textbooks and some other ebooks due to contracts with the author -- will only have a Read Online option.

See the screenshots below on how to download a Taylor & Francis ebook or its chapters, when that option is available.

Chapter Downloads: 
 

The best ebook link to provide library users is the Primo (library website) permalink. Finding a permalink that includes "alma" (rather than "cdi") in the last part of the URL is your best bet, since those records are more likely to be stable.

If you require a direct link to the ebook, however, you can follow either of the instructions below to provide library users with links that should work on and off campus. Please be aware that if the publisher changes their ebook URLs that the links you generate below may stop working.

On campus
If you are creating this link on campus, use the following instructions to generate a URL that will allow your on- and off-campus users to access this ebook.

1. Copy the book or book chapter's URL directly from the browser's address bar
2. Add VCU Libraries's proxy address to the front ( http://proxy.library.vcu.edu/login?url= ).
   • Sample URL: http://proxy.library.vcu.edu/login?url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351064705

Off campus
If you are creating this link off campus, use the following instructions to generate a URL that will allow your on- and off-campus users to access this ebook.

• Follow the on-campus instructions above.

• As with other community zone collections, there may be a delay before we receive records for titles to which we have access.
• If searching on Taylor & Francis site.ebook site, filter by “Show content I have access to:” Titles can usually be read both online and downloaded as pdfs to be read later or offline. Ebooks with PDF's 200MB or larger are not available for download. However they are available to read online with no restrictions.
• DRM-restricted titles have a 30-minute timeout period due to inactivity.
• Using an eBook: Overview, citations, download PDF or read online