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Education Team: Taught Programmes: Kortext info for academic staff

Welcome to Kortext

An eTextbook is a digital version of your module core textbook.You can read them online and download them onto multiple devices through the Kortext platform. eTextbooks are interactive, meaning you and your students can make notes, highlight text, search for keywords, favourite your most used books and use accessibility features such as Text to Speech. The best bit? You have instant, unlimited access to your texts, so you can study whenever and wherever you are.  

How to access Kortext eTextbooks

You can access Kortext eTextbooks in a number of ways:

  • via module reading lists where Kortext eTextbooks have been added 
  • via SmartSearch
  • via the Kortext APP

Logging in to a Kortext eTextbook:

  • Click on the Kortext eTextbook link
  • You now need to choose your institution - type Aston University into the search box (see image below)
  • Choose Aston University OpenAthens
  • You should now see the University login page - type in your University username and password

How to use the Kortext App

Watch this video to learn more about the Kortext app or go straight to a section of your choice:

  • Book download - 0:08
  • Navigation toolbar search and contents panes - 0:35
  • Bookmarks, notes and highlighting - 1:07
  • Read aloud - 2:36
  • Share annotation - 2:50
  • References - 3:00
  • Accessibility - 3:31
  • Tests, videos and resources 3:51
  • Additional features (IOS) - 4:40
  • Kortext bookshelf 5:21

Staff helpguide

Why am I being asked to register?

  • If you are a first time user, or you don't have a current Kortext account you will be prompted to register via a simple pop up box.
  • You will be asked to confirm your university / institutional email address and create a new password (different to your Aston University password) to access the content the first time you access any Kortext content.
  • Once the account has been set up the book will be on your user bookshelf for access

If you have further questions you can visit the 'Ask the Library' pages to see FAQs, contact us on library@aston.ac.uk or get in touch via LiveChat.  You can get additional information from the Kortext online support pages.

How to use Kortext eTextbooks

Watch this 'Getting started' video to explore Kortext ebook functionality or go to a section of your choice:

  • General navigation - 0:14
  • Reference export - 0:46
  • Navigation toolbar, notes and bookmarks - 1:17
  • Printing pages - 2:34
  • Accessibility - 2:52
  • Tests, videos and resources - 3:37
  • Kortext bookshelf - 4:17
  • Exporting references (Endnote and Refworks) - 4:39
  • Groups and sharing - 5:05

Trouble shooting

If you are getting an error message, such as "no active subscription", please try the following:

  • clear the cache
  • try a different browser (Kortext is optimised for Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari)

If above steps don't resolve the issue, please contact your library@aston.ac.uk or visit the Kortext online support pages.

We recommend accessing Kortext eTextbooks from the module reading list or via SmartSearch.

Kortext FAQs

We are regularly updating FAQs relating to Kortext eTextbooks. You can find the FAQs on our Ask the Library pages.

Adding a Kortext title to your module reading list (Talis)

If you are already familiar with adding books and ebooks to your module reading lists in Talis, you can add Kortext eTextbooks in the same way.

You can also follow these steps:

  1. Run a search in SmartSearch (accessible from the library homepage)
  2. Locate the title in the results list
  3. Click on the title to open the record
  4. Select the bookmarklet button "Add to my bookmarks" from the bookmarks bar  *

This will add the title to Talis bookmarks list from where you can add it to your module reading lists

*For help on how to set up the bookmarklet button and how to add ebooks to your module reading list, please see the guidance and screencasts on the Talis reading list tab on this LibGuide