- About licensing single eBooks
- Unavailable eBooks
- Search
- My basket
- Placing an order
- About my order
- Invoicing
About licensing single eBooks
You can search for titles and license single eBooks quickly and easily in the Springer Nature Librarian Portal.
Anyone representing an organisation is welcome to license eBooks in the Librarian Portal. One exception is consortia, who cannot licence single eBooks via the Librarian Portal, and must instead discuss their needs with one of our licensing managers.
When you are logged into the Librarian Portal, your search results will indicate which eBooks you've already licensed via us. We cannot show any licensing you’ve done via vendors.
If you are logged in, your shopping basket is shared with the other Librarian Portal users in your organisation. If your colleagues need to review your order before it is submitted, you can share the basket URL with them.
If you accept the product terms and conditions while checking out, a license will be created automatically and eBooks are usually available to access within 2 business days.
You will find out when your eBooks are available and receive a link to get MARC records and a copy of the license by email.
If you choose to agree to the license terms later, a sales representative will contact you and inform you about the progress of your order.
A minimum order value might apply to your order. If one applies, then it is visible in your basket.
Unavailable eBooks
While most of our titles are available for single eBook licensing, some are not. These exceptions are usually due to one of the following:
- We license the eBook only as part of SpringerMaterials or SpringerProtocols
- The title is in Dutch and thus mostly licensed via our colleagues at BSL
- The book is not yet published – we do not accept pre-orders for institutional single eBook licensing
- The book is Open Access or Free to read
- We have the right to license the eBook, but only as part of a collection
- There is a problem with our metadata for the book
Search
We offer three ways to search for eBooks: free text search, advanced search, and formula search.
Free text search
Type of paste any combination of eBook titles, subtitles, authors, or electronic ISBNs. Right now only the first 4 terms (words) in the free text field are used for the search, plus any ISBNs. We will, as soon as we can, fix this so that free text of any length can be entered.
Advanced search
In the advanced search interface you can search across taxonomies. The ISBN section is also more convenient than free text search if you are searching with many ISBNs.
Formula search
For advanced use cases, our formula search can be useful.
When you make a search in the advanced search interface, you will notice that on the search result page the search field is filled with structured text, such as “CRY:2023,2024; rna” which will display books from 2023 and 2024 with “rna” in the title, subtitle, or as an author. A similar “formula” can be created by you if you want to (if you do not want to use the advanced search interface).
The formula contains one or more taxonomies of the format “TAXONOMY_KEY:value1,value2,...,valueN;”. The parts are:
TAXONOMY_KEY, one of
CRY (copyright year)
ISBN (electronic ISBN, with or without dashes)
EBOP (eBook collection or reference module ID)*
Series (eBook series ID)*
SNT (SN-Taxonomy ID)*
A colon (:)
A list of 1 or more values, separated by commas.
A semicolon and space (; )
Any text that does not follow the taxonomy format will be interpreted as free text.
We search within the list of values with OR. So, if for example several copyright years are included in the CRY: values, then all books from any of those copyright years will be included in the search results.
We search across the taxonomies and free text of a formula with AND logic. So, if for example both CRYs and Series’ have been added, only books that have any of the CRYs AND any of the Series’ values will be included in the search result.
*EBOPs can be found by going, from the “Bibliographic Information” of a book on Springer Nature Link, to a collection search page, such as https://link.springer.com/search?facet-content-type=%22Book%22&package=43713&facet-start-year=2016&facet-end-year=2016 and looking in the URL for the ID after package=. In this example the ID is 43713.
Series ID can be found by going, from the “Bibliographic Information” of a book on Springer Nature Link, to a book series page on Springer Nature Link, such as https://www.springer.com/series/15464 and looking at the address of the page. The last part – in this case 15464 – is the Series ID.
SNT can not be found in any public interface right now. However, you can use our advanced search interface to find the SNT IDs you want to use, and save them for future use.
My basket
How long is my basket saved for?
Your items stay in your basket until you remove them or complete your order.
Is my basket personal or for my organisation?
If you are logged in, then all Librarian Portal users in your organisation share one basket. Any changes to the basket will be visible to all users in your organisation.
Using Access & Select vouchers
To use Access & Select vouchers to license eBooks, please contact your licensing manager.
What does 'Licence check incomplete' mean?
In search results, we show you which eBooks you've already licensed.
On rare occasions, we may not be able to check if you already have licensed an eBook. In these cases, we suggest that you check the licence status of the title before you add it to your basket.
The quickest way to check is to use the title link in the search results. If you are able to download the eBook on SpringerLink, you already have a licence.
You can also check the status by checking your holdings report in the Librarian Portal.
Finally, you may contact onlineservice@springernature.com and they can check it for you.
Placing an order
How can I avoid buying an eBook I've already licensed?
We run checks on all searches to ensure you won't place an order for a title you have already licensed. If you have already licensed an eBook, it will be labelled accordingly in search results and you will not see the option to add the eBook to your basket.
Minimum order value
For some customers, to complete your order, you must either select a minimum number of eBooks, or eBooks with a minimum combined value. If a minimum applies, then it will be visible in your basket.
Accepting the licensing terms
The fastest way to get your eBooks is to accept the licensing terms and conditions on the 'Licensing' page, when you place your eBook order in the Librarian Portal. If you select this option, you should get access to your eBooks within 2 business days of ordering. If you do not have authorisation to accept the licensing terms and conditions, you can choose the option to 'agree later'. When you select this option, our team will email you to agree licensing terms and conditions after you place your order. You will get access to your eBooks after your licence is agreed.
Can an agent order on behalf of a customer?
At the moment, licensing single eBooks via the Librarian Portal is only available as direct sales - so agents cannot order on behalf of customers.
About my order
When will I get my licence after ordering?
If you accepted the product terms and conditions when you placed your order, we aim to process the order within 2 business days.
If you are waiting longer than expected, please contact onlineservice@springernature.com, stating your order number, the name of your organisation, and your organisation's BPID (if known).
Cancelling an order
To cancel your order, contact onlineservice@springernature.com, within 7 days of placing the order. State your order number, the name of your organisation, and your organisation's BPID (if known).
Changing an order
To make changes to an order, contact onlineservice@springernature.com within 7 days of placing the order. State your order number, the name of your organisation, and your organisation's BPID (if known), as well as the changes you want to make.
Accessing eBooks
We will email you when you are granted access to the eBooks you have licensed. This usually happens within 2 business days of submitting your order. If you've requested to sign the licence after submitting your order, getting access will take longer. If you have received an access confirmation email and you still can't access your eBooks, please contact onlineservice@springernature.com.
Invoicing
When will I receive my invoice?
You will receive your invoice once your order has been processed.
How will I receive my invoice?
We will send your licence to the email address you provided when you made your order.