General FAQs- Accessing textbooks on Cambridge Core 

Can I pick and choose individual titles?
Yes, all of our textbooks on Core are available to purchase title-by-title by institutions. We understand that our institutional customers want to pick and choose their titles, whether these are books for research or textbooks, and so we are committed to offering this flexibility for all ebooks. 

I am interested in adopting one of these books for class and need an examination copy.  How can I get one? 
Your Cambridge Higher Education Representative will be happy to help you. They will need to collect some basic course information—Course title, course number and anticipated enrollment—as well as your contact information.  Then the HE rep can send you either a print copy or an ereview.

How many users can access the textbooks at one time?
We don’t offer any limit on the number of concurrent users who can access a title at any one time. Once you have access to a textbook, this is available for your whole institution, as feedback we’ve received confirms our users want access to our content, without restriction. 

Why only annual lease?
We believe that an annual-lease model is the best way to ensure that our textbook programme is sustainable for the long term, and offers flexibility for institutions at an affordable price point. We also understand that course needs can change from year to year, so the annual lease model reflects this need for flexibility. 

Why no printing or downloading?
Textbooks on Cambridge Core are available without any limits on concurrent use, so all readers at your institution will be able to access the textbooks that you source from us. Textbooks take considerable time and resource to create and publish. To make our textbook publishing sustainable into the future, so that we can continue to publish the high quality books that our customers expect of us, we have chosen to place restrictions on printing and downloading. 

How can titles be accessed when offline?
Our online textbooks can only be accessed via Cambridge Core, so no offline access is available, however if the user disconnects from the internet, the browser page/tab will remain open and the user can continue reading that section offline. 

Can we choose to take a new edition or does it automatically update?
If a new version of a textbook is published within the term of your lease, you will have the option to upgrade to the new version either immediately or before the next academic term. 

What if a course enrolment changes either during the year, or the following year?
If it emerges, midway through a semester, that the cohort of students is much larger than expected, we will not immediately charge more or withdraw access. If in the subsequent year you decide to renew your annual lease for the textbook, we will discuss the price based on the new enrolment estimate. 

What if I can’t offer precise enrolment numbers?
We understand that enrolment numbers can be difficult to confirm with 100% accuracy, so we trust our customers to offer their best estimate. If it turns out that the cohort of students is much larger than expected we will not immediately withdraw access or apply an additional charge. We will always discuss the situation with you first and where necessary readjust the pricing for subsequent years.

What new digital resources can we expect to see in the future?
The Higher Education market is changing, and we aim to stay at the forefront of this change and develop digital resources that meet the needs of today’s lecturers and students, but we are also aware that content is key. Ultimately we aim to have adaptable question banks, and other visual and interactive resources for students and lecturers, and we will continue to conduct customer research to help identify how users can make the most of our textbooks. 

Will you be adding further titles to the set that is available for launch? I think there are some missing.
We are launching an initial tranche of titles in June, with additional titles being added throughout the coming months (July- September 2018). If there are specific titles you are interested in but do not appear to be available, please speak to your sales contact or alternatively visit the 'contact us' page.  

What if we already have print copies of a textbook are we entitled to a discount on the e-version?
If you contact your existing sales representative with details of your current print adoption, we’re happy to discuss the option of converting this to e-version, or for a discount for the e-version to use alongside the print version. 

What are the differences between textbooks on Cambridge Core and other ebooks on the platform?
Cambridge Core includes over 34,000 ebooks which are available in a fixed pricing category, and consists of books for research and some smaller less adopted textbooks and coursebooks. Our new textbooks on Cambridge Core are available under a different pricing model and with different functionality to ensure these complement print adoptions of the book.  

I’m a lecturer but electronic textbooks at my institution are processed through the library, how should I express an interest in a title?
If electronic textbook provision is handled by your librarian we’d suggest passing on details of the title needed to your librarian who will organise payment and set access up for your institution. Your librarian may have an existing relationship and account with Cambridge University Press so the process should be relatively straightforward, but we can process requests direct from lecturers if the library is not involved. 

How flexible can you be on the start and end date of my annual lease time period?
We understand that semester times differ from institution to institution, so we can turn your access on when this is required. We do ask that you can give as much notice as possible to set up your access, but a minimum of 15 days. 

FAQ Authors

Why is my textbook not on Cambridge Core?
We are in the process of converting many of our textbooks to HTML and so not all are available currently. We expect to have more titles available in the coming months, subject to online licensing rights and market restrictions. Please contact your usual Editorial representative for more details. 

What effect will having my textbooks on Cambridge Core have on adoptions?
We are making textbooks available on Cambridge Core in response to changing market needs for institutional ebook access, and to maximize readership of our textbooks. Textbooks on Cambridge Core are not available for downloading and printing, to reduce the risk of illegal sharing of contents, and we anticipate there will still be demand for existing print and digital versions.