BibliU (formerly known as Bibliotech) is an online textbook platform with enhanced search capabilities, offline access to textbooks through the BibliU App, synced annotations, a range of accessibility tools, and it allows you to access your library on multiple devices.
If you want to know more about BibliU, check out their About Us page.
Accessing Your Book
As soon as you gain access to your online classroom, you can access your BibliU textbook for that class as well. To access the textbook, locate the BibliU link within the Course Materials tab of the online classroom. When you click on the link to your textbook, you will be automatically logged into your BibliU account and have instant access to your textbook.
Before you can view your textbook for the first time, you will need to consent to Analytics cookies. Click on the switch to the left of Analytics cookies and then click on Confirm Consent.
You can navigate quickly around your textbook by clicking on a section underneath Brief Contents. You can click back on your browser to return to the previous page. You can also use the left and right arrows at the bottom of the page to move around the textbook.
Before you proceed to the BibliU website, make sure that you access the textbook through your classroom first. Enter your course, look under Course Materials, and select the link to your textbook. Once you have accessed your textbook through the classroom, then you can access your textbook any time using the BibliU website.
To log into the BibliU website, select login and search for Grand Canyon University from the Through your university/institution drop-down list. If you are a student or adjunct faculty using your @my.gcu.edu email to sign in, select the Grand Canyon University (Students and Adjuncts) option from the drop-down list. If you are full-time faculty using your @gcu.edu email to sign in, select the Grand Canyon University (Full-time Faculty) option from the drop-down list. Once you select an option, click Next.
If you are not already signed into the GCU Portal, you may be asked to sign in. If asked, sign in using your GCU email and password. Once you are signed in, you will be taken to a Your Books page. You may use the web browser reader to view your textbooks, but some features such as downloading books for offline reading can only be accessed on the native applications. Please see the Accessing your Textbook Through the BibliU App section for instructions on downloading the application.
Before you use the BibliU app on any of your devices, make sure that you access the textbook through your classroom first. Enter your course, look under Course Materials, and select the link to your textbook. Once you have accessed your textbook through the classroom, then you can access your textbook using the BibliU App.
To download the BibliU App, go to BibliU’s Apps page.
Once there, select the platform you are using to download and install the appropriate application.
Desktop App
If you install the BibliU Desktop application, you should see the BibliU icon appear on your desktop.
The first time you use the BibliU application, you will see a login screen. To log in, search for Grand Canyon University from the Through your university/institution drop-down list. If you are a student or adjunct faculty using your @my.gcu.edu email to sign in, select the Grand Canyon University (Students and Adjuncts) option from the drop-down list. If you are full-time faculty using your @gcu.edu email to sign in, select the Grand Canyon University (Full-time Faculty) option from the drop-down list. Once you select an option, click Next.
Sign in using your GCU email and password. Once you are signed in, you will see your library.
Mobile App
You can also install the mobile app on your Android or iOS device from your appropriate app store. After opening the app, you will see the same login screen as described before. Alternatively, you can log into your LMS classroom, access the BibliU textbook from the course materials, and use the QR code at the bottom of the main screen in the BibliU library to gain access on the mobile app.
Once you scan the QR code, you will be logged into your personal BibliU library on the BibliU app. You will remain logged in until you choose to log out.
BibliU Features
You will need the BibliU app installed on your device to download a textbook for offline use (see installation directions above). To download your eBook, open the BibliU app, locate your textbook, and select the white download arrow in the top left circle on your eBook. The eBook will then begin to download.
Once downloaded, the download arrow icon will invert to black and a “Download Complete” pop-up will appear in the bottom of your screen. The textbook will also appear in the Downloads section of the BibliU app, which can be accessed at the bottom of the application window.
When printing from the book, navigate to the page or section that you want to print. Go to the top right corner of the screen and click on the three dots labeled More Options. From the drop-down list, select Save to PDF.
The Save to PDF window will appear and you will be able to select between the current page, or a selection of pages. When you are ready to save, you can press Save in the lower right corner of the window.
After pressing Save, a PDF will download containing the pages selected. You should now be able to open the PDF and print using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. For more information on how to print using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC check out the article Printing eBook PDF.
You can highlight parts of the textbook and add comments to those highlights. This can be done by dragging your mouse across the text you want to annotate and then a menu will appear with options for highlight colors, inserting a comment, text-to-speech, copying, and sharing text.
If you'd like to add a highlight, click on one of the colored circles. If you would like to add a comment, click on the comment icon to open a new dialogue. Type in your comment and click Save.
If you comment, the text will be highlighted automatically so that you can locate your comments.
After the text is highlighted on the page, if you click on the highlighted text, you'll be able to see that annotation menu again. From this menu, you can change the color of the highlight by clicking on one of the colored circles. Selecting the comment icon will allow you to view your comment. Once inside the comment, you can delete it by clicking on the icon of a trashcan. You can also remove both the comment and highlight by clicking the X for the current highlight color.
If there is a circle to the left of a highlight, then there is a comment associated with the highlight. Clicking on the circle will bring up the comment without having to go through the annotation menu.
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate around your textbook:
- Use tab to switch between elements on the page
- Use the arrows to navigate lists and scroll pages
- Use Enter to select
- Use Escape to close a dialog
- Use the “F6” key to jump to the table of contents.
To use the text-to-speech and screen reader, select the Read Aloud icon from the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can press play to hear the whole page or highlight text and press play to hear selected text. The drop-down lists that appear to the left of the play button allow you to select the voice and playback speed of the text-to-speech feature.
If you'd like to access the Speed Reader, select the Speed Reader icon from the options menu after highlighting text. From the Speed reader pop-up, you can set the words per minute (wpm) you'd like to read at, then click the bottom play button. You can adjust the speed up and down between 50 and 700 wpm until you find the right pace.
You can customize your experience by clicking on the Settings icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Change the Zoom level by dragging the slider left and right.
Flux mode changes the screen to a warmer color to reduce eye strain. Dark mode inverts the colors to white on black to reduce eye strain when reading in low light. You can also change the text and background colors to whatever you want by selecting Custom colors. You can only have one selected at a time.
FAQ
If this occurs, simply press the Read here button. This will allow you to read the book on the current device while it will display the same message on the other device.
The BibliU app requires you to have a minimum operating system version for the app to be installed successfully on your device. The list below are all the devices and minimum system requirements that the BibliU app can run on.
Laptops/Desktop Computers- MacOS 11.0 or later and Apple M1 chip or later
- Windows
- iOS 11.0 or later
- iPadOS 11.0 or later
- Android 7.0 or later