The Libraries' subscription to Safari Tech Books Online allows you to view 200 technical, programming, and office productivity application books online.

Up to two people can be using Safari Tech Books Online at any given time—these instructions explain how to access the service, browse books, and request additions to the collection. View the complete list of available books.

Lafayette's Safari Tech Books Online administrator is Ken Newquist (newquisk@lafayette.edu, 610.330.5759).

Accessing the Service

The service can be accessed from on- or off-campus at:

• http://0-proquestcombo.safaribooksonline.com.libcat.lafayette.edu/?uicode=lafcolpa

On-campus Access

• When accessing the site from on-campus, you are immediately taken to the Safari Tech Books Online home page:
  
• Lafayette's subscription is limited to two concurrent users; if access is attempted when two people are already using the resource a "Session Disabled" page will appear in place of the normal Safari home page. If this happens, try visiting again in a few minutes.
  

Off-campus Access

• When accessing the site from off-campus, you will be prompted to login via the Library's proxy server. To do so, enter your last name and the barcode number from the back of your Lafayette ID:
  
• After authenticating, you will be taken to the Safari Tech Books Online home page. The same rules for concurrent users apply to off-campus access, so if more than two people try to use the service at the same time a "Session Disabled" warning will appear.
• Additional information about off-campus access to subscription resources can be found on the Library Web site.

Logging Out

Please log out of Safari Tech Books Online when you're done. Logging out tells the service that you're finished, which frees up a license for the next user.

1. To log out, click the "Log Out" link located in the upper-right hand corner.
   
2. To log in again, ignore the "Subscriber Login" fields and instead look for the text that says "To connect to Safari as part of an academic license..." and click the included link.
   
3. You only need to do this if you are attempting access immediately after logging out; otherwise Safari Tech Books Online will log you in automatically.

Browsing Books

Exploring Safari Tech Books Online

Once logged in to Safari Tech Books Online, there are several ways to start exploring its contents:

1. Bookshelf: Clicking the "Bookshelf" link in the horizontal yellow bar along the top of the browser window brings up an alphabetical listing of all the books available to Lafayette users. ("Bookshelf" is Safari-speak for the collection of subscribed-to titles.)
2. Search: You can search the collection via the search dialogue box in the upper left hand corner. You can choose to search "My Books" (the 200 books in Lafayette's Bookshelf collection) or "All Books" (which includes the thousands of books in Safari Tech Books Online's collection, as well as Lafayette's 200-book subcollection).
3. Browse by Category: Browse by categories such as "Databases", "Desktop Applications", and "Programming". When you browse by category, you are looking at all of the available books within Safari Tech Books Online, including those that are not part of Lafayette's subscription.
   

Another option is the Desktop, but it is recommended that you avoid this feature—it's designed for use by a single person, and while it will let users bookmark pages, the bookmarks are shared by everyone accessing the resource via Lafayette's subscription and are not unique to individual users.

Understanding What's Available

One of the challenges with Safari Tech Books Online is knowing when the full text of a book is available.

1. When searching Safari Tech Books Online, the search results include a column called "Bookshelf". If the full-text of a book is available, this column will contain the text "On Bookshelf". If not, it will be blank.
   
2. When browsing Safari Tech Books Online, it's more difficult to determine what's available. The introductory page for a book does not indicate whether or not it is on the Bookshelf. However, when you click through to any individual page within a book, you'll see some text followed by a yellow block with the words "This is only a preview". If you see that text, then you know that the book is not on the Lafayette Bookshelf; the preview warning does not appear on any book to which we have access.
   

Requesting an Addition to the Bookshelf

Lafayette maintains a 200-slot collection on Safari Tech Books Online, but a few slots typically remain open so new books can be added. If you have a book that you would like to see added, please verify that it is available within Safari and then contact Ken Newquist (newquisk@lafayette.edu, 610.330.5759) with the following information:

• Book title
• Publisher
• ISBN

Adding and removing books from Safari Tech Books Online can usually be done in less than 24 hours.