eBooks Part V: Rittenhouse

The Rittenhouse R2 Digital Library contains over 250 health science eBooks from Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health collections. You can find the collections here, and follow the steps below as we walk you through the process of finding and viewing a Rittenhouse eBook.

Find an eBook

The Rittenhouse database immediately offers links to  “Browse” its Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health book collections or search the  “A-Z Index ”  shown on the homepage. From there you can then filter your search by practice area on the left sidebar or select from a complete list of titles in alphabetical order.

You can also utilize the Search bar at the top of the page or click “Advanced Options” for a drop-down menu of ways to narrow your search by Author Name, Book Title, Publisher, Editor, ISBN number or Publication Date range.

If you don’t need a whole book but you’re just looking for an image, you can also select “Images” from the left sidebar after you’ve completed a search. A list of titles that contain a figure or table with your search terms is then accessible. Scroll down the page until you find the image and you now have the option to either enlarge the picture or save it to a folder you create in Rittenhouse.

Accessing the eBook

Once you’ve found the right eBook for you and selected it, you’ll be able to view its contents on the screen. A selected title will bring you to a page with the book’s description and Table of Contents with links to navigate through the text. A selected chapter or section heading takes you directly to a specific part of the book that you may be searching for. You can also choose the  “Browse & Search Contents” drop down menu at the top of an eBook’s page to find the Table of Contents again or search for words within the selected title. To read the book, simply scroll down through the text or select  “Next” on the right to continue to the following section.

Unlike some eBooks, Rittenhouse eBooks will look more like web pages than traditional paper pages, but the content is just as comprehensive as a print book. Sometimes more so—certain words throughout Rittenhouse eBooks are highlighted as links you can click to automatically search the entire eBook collection for the highlighted term. Many of the books in the collection are also actually electronic versions of existing print books as well, including certain nursing textbooks used at CSN.

Rittenhouse eBooks can’t be viewed offline or downloaded to mobile devices, but their information is still fairly easy to save. The “Tools” drop down menu at the top of the page displays helpful options such as the ability to print the section you’re reading or e-mail it to yourself or a colleague. Any content can be printed—including tables, figures, and images—so long as you adhere to copyright regulations. Basically, under the terms of fair use, the content may be printed for personal use only—it cannot be sold or redistributed since it is still copyrighted by the publisher.

You’re also able to store your searches and bookmark useful eBook sections to view a little later on during your online session. The information you store, however, will be lost once you end that session (log out, sign off a computer, etc). To keep everything saved for the next time you log on, you’ll need to register for a free “MyR2” account first.

Signing up for Rittenhouse’s individual “MyR2” account allows you to personalize your entire experience. Just click the “Create User Profile” link at the top right of any page and fill out your name, e-mail address and “department” (basically your area of interest, such as Cardiology, Emergency Medical Services, Nursing, etc.). Then create a username, a password and set up your e-mail notification preferences. The information is not shared with any third party. But even without an account, you’ll still have access to the same health science eBooks every time you log into the Rittenhouse database from a CSN computer or from home.

If you’re not trying to save information from the eBooks but just reading chapters online, it’s important to know that your session will time out after 15 minutes of inactivity—so be sure to keep those pages turning. A session timeout window will appear as warning before Rittenhouse logs you out of the book. Once you’ve been timed out, the book is released to another user to access since only one user can read a Rittenhouse eBook at a time. However, if no one is waiting to read the eBook you’ve been looking at, simply close out of the database and click back into it to log in and find the book again.

Rittenhouse recently changed its interface for the Fall 2012 semester after listening to the feedback of users who wanted to see an expanded reading pane, browsing by discipline and more faceted search tools. The site is more visually appealing and easier to navigate than its previous version as well—which is definitely good news for students and faculty. If you can’t find a feature you remember from the old site or run into any difficulty figuring out the new site however, you can check out a video tutorial here or contact any CSN reference librarian for help in making the most of your eBook experience.