New digital platform improves experience of reading RSC eBooks

The Royal Society of Chemistry has unveiled a new publishing platform for eBooks that will enhance users' digital experience.

The new platform, created by Silverchair, is the result of months of collaboration and testing, and can be accessed at books.rsc.org. Possessing several improvements upon its predecessor, this service will change the way researchers interact with our eBooks.

The benefits of this upgrade include:

• A more intuitive format and improved discoverability make it easier for readers to find the books they need.
• An improved digital reading experience with better functionality for users while researchers will have more ways to interact with content.
• Enabling individuals to buy digital books directly from the Royal Society of Chemistry for the first time.
• Being able to publish digital versions of all our books on our own platform, including textbooks and popular science texts.

This new platform has been tailored to meet the needs of Royal Society of Chemistry members, with all existing content still available. It will also be integrated with the PSI IP Registry, which checks and verifies IP addresses and ensures access is seamless for users. 

The Royal Society of Chemistry has partnered with Silverchair, the leading independent platform partner for scholarly and professional publishers, on this project. Silverchair will implement further improvements as needed as we collect more feedback. A new portal will also go live for librarians in February.

All current book and chapter URLs will redirect to the relevant content on the new platform. Royal Society of Chemistry URL lists have been updated, while MARC and KBART files are unaffected.

For librarians and science library users, a list of FAQs is available to guide you through this change and explain what it means for you. If your questions are not addressed on the Librarian hub, please contact the books team using the form on the left of this page.

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