Ebook FAQ for VCU Libraries

Licensing Overview

• Oxford Art Online
  • User licenses: 3-concurrent users.
  • Perpetual Access: No. Subscription access only.
• Oxford Clinical Psychology 
  • User licenses: Unlimited (due to its migration to the Oxford Academic platform in 2022).
  • Perpetual Access: Yes, VCU Libraries currently only has titles with perpetual access in this collection.
• Oxford Handbooks Online
  • User licenses: Unlimited (due to its migration to the Oxford Academic platform in 2022).
  • Perpetual Access: Yes, VCU Libraries currently only has titles with perpetual access in this collection.
• Oxford Medicine
  • User licenses: Unlimited (due to its migration to the Oxford Academic platform in 2022).
  • Perpetual Access: Yes.
• Oxford Music Online
  • User licenses: 3-concurrent users.
  • Perpetual Access: No, this resource is subscription-only.
• Oxford Reference Online
  • User licenses: Unlimited.
  • Perpetual Access: No, this resource is subscription-only. 
• VIVA Oxford Scholarship Online
  • User licenses: Unlimited
  • Perpetual Access: Yes.
• VIVA Oxford University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO)
  • User licenses: Unlimited
  • Perpetual Access: Yes. Note that VIVA cancelled this package for public institutions, effective 2/1/21.

List of all Ebook Titles in the Collection + How Often Titles are Added/Removed

• Oxford Art Online
  • Title list: None available. This collection includes reference works that should not change often.
• Oxford Clinical Psychology
  • Title list: There is no complete list because titles are purchased individually on a regular basis.
  • Titles are added whenever a Collections librarian purchases a title.
  • Titles are not removed because access is perpetual.
• Oxford Handbooks Online
  • Title list: https://academic.oup.com/pages/what-we-publish/book-title-lists
  • It is unknown how often titles are added or removed.
• Oxford Medicine
  • Title list: There is no complete list because titles are purchased individually on a regular basis.
  • Titles are added whenever a Collections librarian purchases a title.
  • Titles are not removed because access is perpetual.
• Oxford Music Online
  • Title list: None available. This collection includes reference works that should not change often.
• Oxford Reference Online
  • Title list: See a list of the ebooks available to VCU on Oxford's website. This collection includes reference works that should not change often.
• VIVA Oxford Scholarship Online
  • Title list: https://academic.oup.com/pages/what-we-publish/book-title-lists
  • Titles are added/released monthly except for February and July, although there may be a delay with those titles appearing in Primo/Alma.
  • Titles are not removed from this perpetual collection.
• VIVA Oxford University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO)
  • Title list: https://academic.oup.com/pages/what-we-publish/book-title-lists
  • VIVA is no longer purchasing titles for this collection as of 2021, so titles are no longer being added.
  • Titles are not removed from this perpetual collection.

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

• Scroll down to the "Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)" section for a link to the VPAT: https://academic.oup.com/pages/about-oxford-academic/accessibility

MAYBE. The best ebooks for required classroom use are those that are perpetually owned by VCU Libraries with unlimited licensing. See the box above (General Information: Oxford) to determine whether your ebook is part of a collection that is perpetually owned and unlimited.

We do not recommend that ebooks with limited user licenses be used for course content due to the inability to guarantee access to all in the class. 

Ebooks that are part of our "Oxford Reference Online" collection may be used for required course materials -- these ebooks have unlimited licenses -- but please be aware that titles can come and go on this platform since we may not permanently own a title. Instructors should check that the ebook still exists at the beginning of every semester and contact the library if it has disappeared, to see if the library is able to purchase it (which may be unlikely at that point).

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

Entire Ebook Download: Forthcoming.

Chapter Downloads: Forthcoming.

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.

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.

• Updates to Primo for the VIVA Oxford Scholarship Online may be delayed by a few months, so we may have access to titles but they just may not be appearing in Primo yet (10/11/23 KG).