Privacy Alert for Adobe Digital Editions 4.0

Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is a free software program used to download and purchase digital content, read content online or offline, organize a custom library, make page annotations in content, and transfer DRM-protected content to other devices.

You are required to create an account with Adobe in order to use ADE. Please note that you do not have to install ADE to use and view UFV ebooks: online viewers in the various ebook platforms will allow you to read ebooks, and print or copy certain percentages of content all without creating an account.

This software is only necessary if you want to download UFV Library ebooks onto personal devices or a home computer. ADE will automatically set "due dates" based on UFV licensing agreements, and your downloaded ebooks will be de-activated after the loan period. These loan periods are not the same as the ones for the UFV Library print collection.

While it is necessary for some data to be communicated from individual ADE installations to Adobe servers in order to authenticate user access and set loan periods for borrowed DRM-protected ebooks, recently it has been discovered that the new ADE 4.0 software scans the hard drives of personal computers and sends an extensive amount of ebook usage data back to Adobe servers. Initially, the data was sent unencrypted, but now the data is encrypted before transmission. This is a serious privacy concern, and the matter has yet to be adequately addressed by Adobe.

For maximum privacy, it is recommended that you only download  Adobe Digital Editions 3.0.

ADE 3.0 does not appear to scan and transmit data other than that necessary to authenticate access to borrowed DRM-protected ebooks. Other ebook reader software is available, but will not necessarily work with the ebooks available through the UFV Library.

For more information on UFV's ebook collections and how to use them, please see our Ebook Collections libguide.

Posted by Martin
October 29, 2014

Fixed database: National Film Board Campus

The technical problems with the National Film Board database have finally been resolved. UFV faculty, students, and staff can now sign into NFB.ca to view the subscription "Campus" titles using their UFV credentials.

This database provides access to hundreds of English and French language animated films and documentaries online in streaming video. The UFV Library has a license for classroom exhibition of these films, including both publicly accessible films and the Campus titles.

For more information, see the National Film Board database information page.

Posted by Martin
October 23, 2014

BBLearn Now Available 2:37pm Sunday October 19

BBLearn needed to be updated and the process took longer than anticipated. However the service should now be up and running.

Diane

BBLearn Availability Sunday Oct 19th, 2014

The upgrade to BBLearn did not complete as expected and is still continuing. At the moment BBLearn is unavailable. We will notify you when the system is back up and running.

Diane

Films On Demand Update

 

A new home page design and new features now available:

• New home page design: from the home page you can have quick access to the most popular titles, recently added titles, featured titles, featured producers.
• Navigation improvements: browse subjects from the Collections drop down menu, create playlists, custom segments and interactive transcripts.  More detail on these features is here.
• New video player: a new HTML5 version of the video player provides a quick preview feature that lets users "scrub" through the video and see images from different parts of the title.

Posted by Mary-Anne
Oct.7, 2014

Library Hours for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just about here. Please note the library hours for the long weekend.

Chilliwack Library:
Saturday, October 11: 10-4
Sunday and Monday, October 12-13: CLOSED

Abbotsford Library:
Saturday, October 11: 10-6
Sunday, October 12: noon-6
Monday, October 13: CLOSED