Databases, E-Journals, E-Books

Some e-journals can only be accessed after entering a user ID (password/username). We will provide you with the access data upon request at zeitschriften.ub@uni-bielefeld.de. Please send your request using your “@uni-bielefeld.de” email address.

The University Library has licensed or purchased e-books from various providers/publishers. Since no generally binding standards for e-books have been established, there is no uniform format and no uniform access options. This means that you can sometimes save e-books in their entirety on your computer, but in many cases only in parts, such as individual pages or chapters.

Special conditions apply to the use of paid electronic services such as electronic journals, databases, and e-books. Please note the copyright provisions and terms of use of the respective publisher or editor, which are usually available online on the publisher's servers. Access is subject to compliance with these provisions.

The following applies in general:

• Access to the full texts is restricted to members of Bielefeld University.
• The full texts of articles/chapters may only be printed or saved for personal use and for teaching and research purposes.
• Systematic downloading of articles, chapters, or search results, especially by robots, is prohibited. Failure to comply may result in the publisher's server being blocked for the entire campus!
• Articles/chapters may not be passed on to third parties, either electronically or in printed form.
• The commercial exploitation of research results is prohibited.

The Bielefeld University Library is constantly expanding its existing range of electronic media by purchasing and licensing e-books.

The following guidelines apply:

• Reading and working with e-books should be possible without additional special software and devices on every PC workstation in the library and university, as well as on every standard notebook.
• E-books should be available to all university members on the university network around the clock. This means that no e-books will be purchased whose use is restricted to certain workstations or, for example, through lending models. Publishing offers that use technical means to prevent the printing and copying of text passages will not be accepted, as they unreasonably hinder the use of e-books.
• The majority of purchases and licenses are for textbooks and reference works, as well as subject-related basic primary literature, with the aim of reducing the number of multiple copies of the corresponding print editions. To this end, the electronic edition of a book should be published as close as possible to the print edition.

Extended Guidelines on Purchasing / Licensing E-books for the Faculty of Economics

In consultation with the Faculty of Economics, the general guidelines have been expanded. Electronic books are available in numerous formats and license models. With these guidelines, Bielefeld University Library has set standards for the acquisition of electronic books.

• Only e-books that can be read without additional special software and devices on any PC workstation in the library and university and on any standard notebook/PC will be purchased.
• The e-books should be available to all university members in the university network around the clock. As a result, no e-books will be purchased whose use is restricted to certain workstations or through lending models. Publishing offers that use technical means to completely prevent the printing and copying of text passages are not accepted, as they unreasonably restrict the use of e-books.
• The following standard requirements apply to e-books:
  • PDF format
  • Free reading access for university members
  • Storage-capable download of individual sections/chapters possible
  • Registration only required for additional services
• The majority of purchases and licenses are for textbooks and reference works, as well as basic specialist primary literature, with the aim of reducing the number of multiple copies of the corresponding print editions. A prerequisite for this is that the e-book version is published at the same time as the print edition.
• The purchase of e-books is largely based on user needs. The decision whether the electronic or printed version is preferable is made according to financial possibilities, subject-specific criteria, and the extended guidelines mentioned here.
• A maximum of one printed copy is added to the collection if an e-book is already available in the collection.
• The library ensures that e-books are permanently available. Availability is regularly checked by the university library.
• Proof of all purchased e-books and links to the full texts are provided in Catalogue.plus.

The guidelines provide information and make the standards set transparent. You are also welcome to send us your suggestions for additional features you would like to see.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact:

Electronic documents or online publications (such as e-books, e-journals, or articles from electronic journals) for which the library has acquired a license may also be used for teaching purposes within learning platforms. However, the limitations of Section 60a of the German Copyright Act (UrhG) must be observed (see our information sheet on copyright law [in German only]). We recommend linking e-books and e-journals licensed by the library in the respective learning management system used, rather than storing them as files in the learning management system (see below for tips on how to do this).

The situation is different for electronic documents that are available via open access: these can be posted directly on a learning platform in compliance with the CC license.

Access from On-campus / Off-campus

All electronic documents licensed / purchased by the library can only be accessed by users if they access the electronic document from within the Bielefeld University campus. University members can access the documents off-campus via Shibboleth / VPN. Without authentication via Shibboleth or a VPN connection, however, accessing a licensed electronic document from off-campus will not work.

Open access documents are generally freely accessible worldwide.

Linking Full Texts from Catalogue.plus

In addition to printed works, Bielefeld University Library's Catalogue.plus also contains numerous e-books and e-journals from various providers that allow access to the electronic full text of the document. All licensed e-books and e-journals are freely accessible from the Bielefeld University campus.

Below are some practical tips for linking to full texts from Catalogue.plus, divided into three sections: (1) Library catalogue, (2) Articles and more, and (3) Web documents (BASE).

Library catalogue

In the library catalogue, you can limit your search directly to “online publications.” Electronic documents can be identified in the hit list by a corresponding note (e.g., “Electronic” or “E-book”). DVDs or similar physical materials may also have the entry “E-book.” However, for documents that are accessible online, you will usually find a link to the full text directly in the hit list.

Please call up the hit display for the corresponding title and copy the Internet address (URL) for the full text, which you will find under “Online access.” If several links appear there, please check which link leads to the full text (there may also be links to tables of contents or alternative access points to which we may not have access) and copy the URL of this link. If you see text that is linked instead of an Internet address, right-click on the link and select “Copy link address” (or a similar entry) from the context menu that appears. This saves the link to the clipboard and allows you to paste it into the learning platform. Once you have copied a link and pasted it into your learning materials, you should always check that the link actually works in the changed context.

If you want to link to an article from an electronic journal, proceed as follows: For electronic journals (articles from journals are generally not listed in the library catalogue), click on the appropriate link under “Online Access.” This will take you directly to the journal's homepage or to the journal's entry in the Electronic Journals Library (EZB), from which you can access the journal's homepage. Now search for the relevant article on the journal's website. Open the article and copy the Internet address from the address bar of your browser. Check whether the article has a DOI or another persistent (stable) Internet address. If so, copy this address and do not use the Internet address from the address bar of your browser.

Articles and more

In the “Articles and more” section, you will find over 500 million journal articles and book chapters from many different databases. Please note that not all entries are accessible electronically. To link to an entry in the learning platform, call up the title as you would in the library catalogue. Here you will usually find a direct link to the full text (PDF) or to the provider (publisher).

You will then be redirected to the website of the article provider, where you will ideally find a link to the full text of the article (e.g., a DOI) that you can use directly for the link in the learning platform. However, access to the full text is not possible for all articles; often you will only find the title data and possibly an abstract of the article.

Open the article and copy the Internet address from the address bar of your browser. Check whether the article has a DOI or another persistent (stable) Internet address. If so, copy this address and do not use the Internet address from the address bar of your browser.

If there is no link on the document's description page, you also have the option of using the link to the full text in HTML or PDF format. To do this, you do not necessarily have to open the full text. You can also right-click on the link to the PDF and select “Copy link address” (or a similar entry) from the context menu that appears. This saves the link to the clipboard and allows you to paste it into the learning platform. Once you have copied a link and pasted it into your learning materials, you should always check whether the link actually works in the changed context.

BASE

For web documents found via the BASE search engine, you will find the note “Full text / reference” in the hit list for each hit. Here you can copy the link as described above using the right mouse button. Additional links (alternative access points) may be displayed in the title display. Pay attention to the “URL” and “Further links” fields. These fields display the URL, which you can copy and paste into your learning platform. Here, too, it is better to use a link provided by the provider itself than to take the link from the browser's address bar.

Results marked as “Open Access” are freely available documents that can also be posted on the learning platform as full text, subject to the CC license.

How do I Specify a DOI or URN as a Clickable Link?

Electronic documents very often contain what is known as a persistent identifier. Put simply, this is a permanent, location-independent identifier for a resource. This can be a DOI or a URN, for example.
If a DOI or URN is available, these identifiers cannot be used to generate an executable link directly. A DOI or URN can only be executed directly as a link if it is specified in full length with the domain of the resolving service. If you find a DOI or URN that is not clickable because only the DOI/URN itself is specified, but not the full address with the domain for resolution, the resolver domain must be added for resolution.

DOI

The DOI specified in the full text:

10.4119/unibi/2993325

must be prefixed with the domain

https://doi.org/.

This creates a link that can be clicked on directly:

https://doi.org/10.4119/unibi/2993325

URN

The URN specified in the full text:

urn:nbn:de:0070-pub -29933256

must be prefixed with the domain

https://nbn-resolving.org/

at the beginning.
Only then will a link be created that can be clicked on directly:

https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29933256