ebrary Knowledgebase for Librarians

I work in the IT department at our institution and we would like to know what we need to do to prepare our computers for using the new ebrary Unity Reader™.

First, make sure you are aware of the system requirements:

Windows XP or Vista; or Linux/UNIX (Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE, RedHat, BSD, etc)
Java 1.6 or newer
Minimum of 512MB RAM.

You will notice there is no mention of Macintosh above, and this is because Apple only provides Java 1.6 for Leopard (10.5.x) and only for 64bit Intel (Core2) processors. This is outside of ebrary's control.

Next, make sure you have Java 1.6 installed on all computers that will use the ebrary Unity Reader. If you cannot upgrade your machines to Java 1.6 for a particular reason, please refer to this document.

Java 1.6 is the only component of the ebrary Unity Reader that requires administrative rights. Unlike the previous ebrary Reader, users will not be required to have administrative rights to install and use it provided the proper Java is installed. The ebrary Unity Reader will store it's files and information in the user's home directory (C:\Documents and Settings\user in Windows), specifically a ".ebrary" folder with several items inside to allow the client to run.

You can try a demo of the ebrary Reader Java Client here:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/librarycenter2

No authentication is required for the site. When searching, click the "ebrary Reader" button to open the document in the ebrary Reader Java Client. Click the book cover or search link to use QuickView™ If you open a document in QuickView, and wish to use the ebrary Reader Java Client, click the "ebrary Reader" button near the top of the window.

If you have any difficulties with installation or use of the ebrary Unity Reader, please refer to this troubleshooting document.

Checklist:

Question	Notes
Do your user computers have Java 1.6 installed?	Java Reader absolutely requires Java 1.6
Do your user computers have any account, application or network restrictions? If so, describe them.	Sites that use account profiles, 3rd party applications to prevent application use, and stringent firewalls may encounter issues with full installation.
Do you image your machines? How often?	An "image" is a copy of the operating system and applications approved for use in the facility. All computers are set up with this same image so they are all identical. If you use images, you will need to ensure it includes Java 1.6.
Do you impose any limitations on browser functions, Javascript and Java specifically? Are there any limitations on the ability to accept web site certificates or add sites to the "allow" list in the browser?	The new ebrary Reader is not a plug-in like the "old" ones are. It uses Java to interact directly with the browser, like an applet does. A good test for Java is to simply go to http://www.java.com and click the "Test my java" link. During installation, sometimes users are prompted to accept the site certificate or allow pop-ups for a site, so a regular end user needs this permission.
Do you restrict use of or redirect the contents of the user's folder in Documents and Settings?	This is where the .ebrary folder gets stored. Normally a user has permission to place anything in their own user directory, but Windows domains can hide and redirect the contents of that folder, which could cause issues for end-users trying to utilize the product.
Do you use a proxy server for remote access?	The Java Reader does not currently support proxy servers except in Single-Sign-On configuration (available for EZproxy, BlackBoard, and some other systems).
Do you use any internal or network wide proxy servers?	The Java Reader does not currently support proxy servers, and will only function correctly with a direct internet connection to ebrary.
After installation, what is the output from our Java diagnostic?	This is a new tool ebrary created to assist in Java reader issues.