Instructor Help and FAQs
Examination Copies
I am interested in adopting one of these textbooks for a class and need an examination copy. How can I get one?
You can request a print or digital examination copy by browsing to the title’s landing page by searching for the book or browsing via the relevant subject page.
Once you have arrived at the book’s page you can select the 'Request Examination Copy' button on the right-hand side. From there you can fill out the examination copy form, including your preference for digital or physical format. The status of your examination copy request can be followed in the My Account area.
Digital
When your request is approved, you will have access to your digital examination copy for 6 months, starting from the day that you first open the textbook through Cambridge Spiral. Having access to the book through Cambridge Spiral means you will be able to both explore the functionality that the eReader offers, and review the quality content of our textbooks. You will be able to read the textbook through your web browser, or download the Cambridge Spiral app to download and read offline.
To ensure secure delivery, we prefer to send print copies to faculty addresses, and we always ask you for your institutional address. However, in certain circumstances, we can agree to send print copies to non-institutional addresses. In such cases, please enter the second address after your institutional address. Once the request is processed, you will receive a notification that the book is on its way to you, if approved.
I’m an instructor 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 direct requests from an instructor if the library is not involved.
I would like an examination copy of a title, but there is no option to request it. How can I get one?
If there is no 'Request Examination copy' link on the page, then the book probably does not fall in into our standard textbook programme. If you are considering adopting a title such as this, or if you are having any other problems when requesting an examination copy, please contact our sales team. In order to process your request they will need the name of the course, its course code, the estimated number of students and when you expect to next teach the course.
Access to Resources
I noticed that the textbook I am reviewing has online resources for instructors, but they are locked. How can I access them?
Many of our resources are locked to ensure that only instructors have access to them, such as solutions manuals or test banks. To request access to resources for a specific textbook, select 'Unlock Instructor Resources' when on the online resources area. The request will usually be processed within 48 hours.
You will be able to check the status of your request in the My Account Dashboard area under 'Instructor resource requests'. Once access is granted, you have the option to download individual resources or download all.
Please note that you will only be granted access to resources for the specific textbook you have requested. You will not have access to resources for all textbooks on the Higher Education website.
If you have any technical trouble when using or accessing digital supplementary materials, please e-mail lecturers@cambridge.org . If you are in The Americas please contact collegesales@cambridge.org .
Institutional Access - Setting Up
Can I integrate eTextbooks into my Learning Management System?
Yes. We offer LMS integration for eTextbooks delivered through Cambridge Spiral. We have extensive technical guides on setting up the integration within your learning management system. We recommend contacting your LMS or course administrators to help set this up.
Your institution does not need to have subscribed to any of our textbooks in order to set up LMS integration.
How long is the lease period?
Annual access is provided on either a title-by-title basis or by collection.
How many students can access the textbooks at one time?
For institutional subscriptions, we don’t offer any limit on the number of concurrent users who can access a title at any one time. Once your institution has access to a textbook, this is available for your whole institution/faculty.
Can my institution lease/subscribe to individual titles?
Yes, your institution can lease individual or collections of titles. For further information please see our access options page or you can contact our sales department for further information.
Can my students download a PDF of the textbook?
No, textbooks are supplied digitally via our Cambridge Spiral eReader which includes functionality such as bookmarking and annotations as well as being able to be read on different devices and offline.
Can my institution 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 my course enrolment changes 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 give precise enrolment numbers when inquiring about institutional access?
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.
Will you be adding further textbooks to the set that is available now? I think there are some missing.
There is an up-to-date title list available to download which is automatically updated as new titles are added.
What if we already have print copies of a textbook are we entitled to a discount on the eTextbook?
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.
How flexible can you be on the start and end date of my annual lease 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 with a minimum of 15 days.
Institutional Access - Using Content
How do I get to textbook content on the HE website if my library says I have access?
If your institution has provided you access to our digital textbooks via your library, you can access them in two ways. You may decide to read books online using our read-only eReader. This will give you the ability to read the book, but not access features such as annotations, bookmarking or offline reading via a mobile or desktop computer.
If you wish to use the advanced eReader which includes additional functionality such as annotations, bookmarking and offline reading you will need to login in two stages:
Your institution will still need to have access to our textbook content in order for you to read them. You should contact your library or library services for more information.
If you are unable to access specific content, make sure that your institution is subscribed to the title and then contact our technical support team via our Technical Support Diagnostic Form .
You can learn all about the two different versions of the eReader by viewing our Cambridge Spiral experience comparison .
Do I need to re-authenticate my details on the HE website every time I want to read?
For the Stage 1 access, explained above, your institutional affiliation should be detected automatically, if facilitated by IP range authentication. If you are logging in via Shibboleth, the user can optionally retain authentication for a week, but otherwise must re-authenticate on each new browser session.
For the Stage 2 access, also explained above, your individual username/password can be stored for up to 30 days if you select the ‘Remember me’ option.
Can I add specific content to my syllabus?
We offer the functionality for instructors to place chapter-level deep links (or permalinks) into their syllabi or reading lists. These links appear next to each chapter in the table of contents tab on the textbook overview page. To see our deep links on on the table of contents for any given textbook, you must be registered as an instructor. Instructor status can be set on registration, or updated in a user's account settings .
Once approved as an instructor, deep links will become visible on the table of contents listings of a book. We offer two ways for you to gather the links for use.
For more information on using deep links, head to our deep link FAQ page .
Purchasing eTextbooks
Can I buy print books from your Higher Education website?
Yes. We currently only offer print purchase via the Higher Education website in the UK and Europe (excluding Russia and the Ukraine). We expect to have print purchase options available for the rest of the world in due course. Until then, you will see the 'Add to Cart' button if print purchase is available. If you are based outside of the UK and Europe and wish to purchase the print format, you can still select 'Buy the print book' on the textbook page, and you will be redirected to our Academic catalogue.
Can I buy online access to a textbook for myself without going through an institution?
Yes. Online access to our textbooks is available via our Cambridge Spiral eReader. From the title's page select 'Add to cart' underneath the digital price on the left-hand side. If your institution has access, you can access digital prices via the 'Purchase digital edition' button.
What format is my eTextbook delivered in?
Your eTextbook will be delivered to your account. To read the book return to the book page on the Higher Education from Cambridge University Press website and select ‘Read online’ button to open in our web reader. You can also download our Cambridge Spiral reader for IOS, Android, Mac Desktop and Windows Desktop. More information is available from our Cambridge Spiral page.
How long will I have access to the book for?
If you purchase a digital textbook individually, your access is perpetual. Further information can be found in our purchase terms and conditions .
Do my students need to buy the textbook if my institution already has access to the textbook?
No, but your students may wish to purchase their own copy for access after they leave your institution. This will also enable students to preserve their bookmarks, annotations, and other customisations they have made during their access via your institution.
What if I have any questions about my order, billing or payment?
Contact information or our customer services can be found via our Cambridge.org website .
What do I do if I am unsure how to access my textbook or am encountering a problem?
You can consult our User Guide and Videos . You can also consult the Contact & Help area which has FAQs and contact information for our technical support team who can assist you further.
Cambridge Spiral
How do I use the eReader and what functionality does it have?
You can learn how to use Cambridge Spiral by consulting our online guide. There is an FAQ dedicated to Cambridge Spiral as well to help answer common questions.
How do I access content offline or on a mobile device?
You can find out about our desktop, mobile and offline options via our application and offline information page .
Can I read my eTextbook without registering for a Higher Education account?
If your institution has provided you access to our eTextbooks, we do have a read-only experience which does not require a personal user account. As a result you will not be able to take advantage of features such as bookmarking, annotating and printing.
The full experience contains the ability to use these enhanced study tools, but because of the personalisation offered by these features, you will need to be logged in to a personal user account in order to use them. Please log in or register for a user account to access these features.
Other Questions
Will my Cambridge.org Instructor account work on the Higher Education from Cambridge University Press site?
Many accounts were migrated across from the old Cambridge.org instructor accounts. You can reset your password by going to our reset password page. If you don't have an account, then you will need to register for a new account by selecting the register button at the top
right-hand corner of the HE site.
When using an offline reading app (for PC, Mac, iOS or Android) to access titles offline, only the individual username/password is required, and this should only be required at the first login.
If you have a Cambridge Core account, you do not need to register for a Higher Education account. Your Core account details will work across both websites.