Answered By: Sara Allan
Last Updated: Aug 10, 2017     Views: 7171

Some e-book collections do not allow you to download the book permanently, they only allow "borrowing", which are time-limited downloads. Unfortunately, if this is the case, you may not be able to save a copy to your computer, however, there are a few thing you can check. 

  • Does McGill own copies of the e-book in several collections?

You can check this by opening the detailed catalogue record of the book you are looking for and seeing if there are multiple links, as explained in the Finding e-books page. It's possible that one collection will not allow you to download, and the other might.

  • Does McGill own a print copy?

You can also check this in the detailed catalog record, by clicking on the link called "View all editions and formats". If McGill owns a print copy, it should be in that list.

  • Can you download the chapters you need, even if you can't get the entire book?

Many collections allow you to permanently save individual chapters, but not the entire book. You can see the download options for many of our e-book collections on the e-books page on Downloading: Options by collection.

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