Your digital books will be hosted on the Square platform. It is possible to perform full-text searches on the online publications, which are streamed to the browser efficiently. Consequently, the application is fast and also limits the load on the network connections.
Square's e-book platform is a full-service solution. Publishers can deliver new publications directly to Square. Square will then make them available in your online library. We can also supply you the bibliographic descriptions of new books, so they can be integrated in your existing library catalog.
The platform offers the possibility to bring the use of a publication in line with agreements that you have made with the publisher. By specifying the number of simultaneous users of an e-book, also referred to as virtual borrowers, your online library functions exactly the way you are used to. Additional licenses (virtual copies) can be acquired for books that are used frequently
If you are using Square's library system BIBIS, the license agreements can be viewed in the catalog. The link with the lending module provides information about the number of available licenses and the current users (borrowers) of the publications.
The platform is completely independent. Books in PDF or EPUB format from any national or international publisher can be included. These can be new publications or, for example, scanned historic materials. The platform offers the possibility to create links to publishers' web services for the purpose of making content available and managing licenses.
At present, the platform includes more than 12,000 legal publications and agreements are in place with publishers Wolters Kluwer and Bju in the Netherlands to the effect that new content is made available directly on the platform.
Square's e-book platform can be used in combination with your existing systems.
The reader can be linked to any library solution. A reference to the online platform enables users to open the books in EASY Reader. It speaks for itself that the platform can be fully integrated with Square's BIBIS Library Management System.
By means of the available web services, the search functionality of Square's e-book platform can be integrated with your existing content integration system.
Square's e-book solution has been developed in collaboration with Van Doorne, a law firm in Amsterdam. Under the supervision of Wolters Kluwer, Van Doorne's entire library has been digitized. Books that publishers could not make available in digital format, were scanned. Since then, other law firms have also started to use the reader. The experience of these firms is being used to make further improvements to the product.
The costs of the solution include a one-time investment and an annual subscription fee. The size of the annual fee depends on the size of your digital library and is set by selecting the price scale that corresponds to the number of publications that you wish to make available on the platform. In the event of future growth of your library, you can easily switch to a higher price scale.