- [ Resources ](/resources) Share- [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://about.ebsco.com/markdownify/node/163177) - [ ]() - [ ](< http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://about.ebsco.com/markdownify/node/163177&title=Transitioning to LCP DRM for EBSCO eBooks: What Libraries Need to Know&summary=&source=>) - [ ]() ## Transitioning to LCP DRM for EBSCO eBooks: What Libraries Need to Know [Webinar](/taxonomy/term/5178) | Original broadcast date: 26 January 2026 EBSCO is transitioning EBSCO eBooks to LCP DRM from EDRLab, a more accessible, streamlined, and secure alternative to Adobe. LCP removes Adobe account requirements, supports accessible reading with Thorium Reader, and simplifies the user experience. All libraries will migrate on April 14, 2026, with an optional May 19, 2026 date for those needing more time. This webinar provides an in-depth overview of EBSCO's migration to the new LCP DRM solution and what it means for your library and users. #### Transcript | [ Download ](javascript:void(0)) ### Transitioning to LCP DRM for EBSCO eBooks: What Libraries Need to Know Ref Link: https://about.ebsco.com/markdownify/node/163177**Julie Twomey** Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our webinar transitioning to LCP DRM for EBSCO eBooks, what libraries need to know. My name is Julie Twomey, and I am the marketing manager for EBSCO eBooks, and I will be moderating the session today. I am joined by two of my colleagues in product management, and that is Yuthika Gundamaraju and Emma Waecker. And now I will pass it over to Yuthika to get us started. **Yuthika Gundamaraju** Alright. Hello, everyone. Our agenda for today, we'll be going over who is affected by our change to LCP and what exactly is changing as a result of this transition. We'll be going over some changes to accessibility regulations that have necessitated our switch to using a new DRM solution. I'll give you an overview of LCP DRM and go over our communication plan and timeline for when these changes will be taking effect. I'll do a live demonstration, and then Emma will be going over some frequently asked questions, and we'll give you at the end some resources that you can follow-up on. So who exactly does this change affect? If your library has full e-book downloads turned off in EBSCO e-book Manager, then this change does not affect your library. If your library has full e-book downloads turned on in EBSCO e-book Manager, then this change does affect your library. And if you do not know exactly how to check your full book download settings in EBSCOhost Collection Manager, you can follow this QR code, which will take you to instructions on how to check or modify those settings via EBSCO Connect. So what is changing and what is not changing? Our end user experience for downloading an entire DRM protected EBSCO e-book for offline reading is changing. In addition to that, the reader program to open these downloaded DRM protected e-books is changing. I did want to note for most libraries, full book downloads account for about five percent of e-book usage. So although this is an important change, it is not a substantial change for your patrons. What is not changing is reading EBSCO eBooks in your browser. Online reading in the online reader is remaining the same. Downloading e-book chapters and DRM free EBSCO eBooks is also not changing. That workflow is remaining the same. EBSCO full text article download stays the same. And e-book formats that are provided to the user. So EPUB format and or PDF format depending on what the publisher provides to us will still be provided to the user. All checkout durations and rules set by the library and existing user checkouts also are not changing, and library authentication and personalization logging in also staying the same. We're not changing any of that. So just to go over it again, the user experiences that are not changing, all online browser-based reading for EBSCO eBooks on desktop and mobile. As you can see, the reader looks exactly the same, and it has not changed. It will not be changing. Also, downloading chapters and DRM free EBSCO eBooks, the download modals for those are the same, and you'll be able to download your patrons will be able to download in the same way that they have been up to this point. What is changing is downloading full DRM protected EBSCO eBooks from the EBSCO platform for offline reading. So opening those e-books, we would we will be recommending Thorium Reader. So as you can see, our current download messaging allows patrons to pick the duration of their download and select a format for download, and that is also remaining the same in our new download messaging. The only thing that is changing is instead of referencing Adobe Digital Editions and having a checkbox, we will instead be recommending that users download Thorium Reader and because our e-books are encrypted for use with Thorium Reader, and we will give them a passphrase that they can use to access their e-books in the Thorium Reader, which I will be going through in the demo. That link that you see, for the Thorium Reader takes users to a site where they can download Thorium. So why are we doing this? Why are we switching to LCP instead of remaining with Adobe DRM? There have been changes in accessibility regulations that have necessitated this. The European Accessibility Act is a directive of the European Union for EU member states, and it's aimed at improving the accessibility of products and services for people with disabilities and the elderly across the EU. That went into effect on June 28th, 2025. And Adobe Digital Editions was not compliant with these accessibility regulations, and so we were forced to turn off full book downloads for all EU customers after that date. The other accessibility regulation that is relevant here is ADA title two, the Americans with Disabilities Act title two, which applies to US state and local governments and publicly funded institutions. It requires them to ensure their services are accessible to people with disabilities and will go into effect in April of 2026 or 2027 based on the size of population served. So once again, Adobe Digital Editions is not compliant with these accessibility regulations. And so rather than being forced once again to turn off full book downloads for a large swath of patrons, we are switching over to LCP DRM. Web content accessibility guidelines are a standard a single shared standard for web content accessibility and a commonly adopted global standard for websites and digital content like e-books. LCP DRM and the Thorium reader are WCAG compliant, which will achieve compliance with EAA and ADA title two accessibility requirements. So the new DRM solution for EBSCO eBooks. Currently, we have Adobe DRM, which requires users to use Adobe Digital Editions. It's not fully accessible for screen reader users and requires users to create an Adobe ID and account. And Adobe is not actively supporting or developing Adobe Digital Editions, so there is no guarantee that it will become accessibility compliant in the future, which is why we are switching to our future state, LCP DRM. This allows users to read e-books with any compatible reader. We personally will recommend WCAG two dot two double a compliant Thorium reader, which is acts actively supported and opens any DRM free EPUB or PDF in addition to opening LCP DRM encrypted e-books. So what exactly are LCP DRM and Thorium Reader? LCP is a DRM solution that is developed by EDR Lab. It's it stands for licensed content protection. It's specifically designed for e-books and offline reading and has already been adopted by one hundred plus publishers, platforms, and libraries globally soon to be joined by EBSCO. Thorium Reader is an e-book reader application that is compatible with LCP DRM, which is also developed by EDR Lab, and it supports PDF and EPUB. It opens both LCP DRM protected and DRM free e-books. And Thorium Reader and LCP DRM were designed to work in conjunction with one another by EDR Lab. Why has EBSCO chosen to move to LCP DRM? Well, it offers a modern alternative that is focused on usability and accessibility and is, of course, compliant with EAA and upcoming updates to ADA title two. And switching over to LCP DRM aligns with our commitment to improving the EBSCO e-book experience for users and patrons. Some key benefits of LCP for libraries and patrons. Unlike Adobe DRM and unlike Adobe Digital Editions, there is no external account creation required. So patrons will not be required to create an Adobe ID. It supports accessible reading via the Thorium reader, which has strong DRM protection without sacrificing usability. And Thorium offers far more beneficial user facing features than Adobe Digital Editions, and I will be demonstrating that shortly. Alright. And we also have some notification dates and rollout options, a timeline for you. So in mid-February, you will receive an email confirming library's migration dates. And in mid-March, you will receive a reminder email prior to the switch over to LCP. The two rollout groups that we have, group one, Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, and group two is Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. If neither of these dates work for you and you would like more time to transition to LCP DRM, please make sure to disable downloads using e-book manager and reenable them when ready as I went over at the beginning of the presentation. Alright. And now I will do a live demonstration. So first, I'm going to log in using my institutional credentials. Alright. So I will now search for an e-book and open it in the online reader. As you can see, the online reading experience has not changed, and this online reader will not change. It'll remain the same. However, if I want to download a full text of an e-book for offline reading, I will be prompted to sign in to my myEBSCO account to download. So I can go to sign in. And if you don't have an account, you can create one. So can put in a first name and put in a last name if you want. That's optional. An email address, create a password. I do want to note, clearly, we are not collecting that much information. We do allow require users to check this checkbox to collect this data. Alright. So I will create this account, and I will sign in. Alright. And once you have signed in with your user account, you can choose your download duration. So I'll choose four days. You can select a format to download in, PDF or EPUB. Some e-books only allow PDF download. Some e-books only allow EPUB download. That is up to which format the publisher provides to us. Once again, you'll be prompted to have Thorium Reader installed. I'll follow this link just to show y'all. It leads you to this download page for Thorium, and it also has down here the Thorium user guide. And it also gives you instructions to copy the passphrase below to access this and other e-books in Thorium Reader. So I will go ahead and copy that. I will download this e-book, then I will go over here to Thorium Reader. So you should be able to import your e-book to Thorium Reader. As you can see, it's right here. And if I want to open it, it prompts me for a passphrase. So I will paste in the passphrase that I copied earlier and open the e-book. So there's there are a lot of very useful functionality in this e-book reader. You can, of course, page through different sections since this is an EPUB. You can go to the table of contents, which will allow you to select different sections. Go to those. In the table of contents, there is also a go to page functionality. So if I want to go to page 57, for example, it will take me there. There is a functionality to add bookmarks. So if I want to add a bookmark on this page, it will be added here, and I will be able to see it under the bookmarks tab here. You can also highlight and add notes. So if I want to annotate and add a note here, I can say I can change the color as well. You can have it underlined, struck through, boxed, or outlined. You can add tags to your annotations, so I will save this. And once again, those annotations can be found under the table of contents. I did want to note that annotation is not a functionality that is currently that currently exists in Thorium Reader for PDFs. So instead, if you want to add annotations, you can create a bookmark and write a note in the bookmark that is similar to having an annotation. You can also, for accessibility purposes, change the display, text layout, alignment. So if I want to read in dark mode, for example, if I want to make the layout scrollable instead of paginated, I can do that. If I want to change the alignment, can do so. I can make it one column or two columns for easier reading. So, again, I want to emphasize that this is for accessibility functionality, and it's once again so much more robust than what exists in Adobe Digital Editions. Thorium Reader also has a text to speech functionality, which you can activate up here. And as you can see, as it is reading, it is highlighting which words it is reading. You can also change the playback rate here, make it slower or faster. You can change the language if there are multiple languages available. You can change the voice that is reading the text to speech, and you can change the style of the text to speech. So if I wanted to instead do this and I played it, it changes the way that the text to speech looks. So once again, great accessibility functionality. Finally, I wanted to show y'all the info page. So if you go to this little menu here, go to the about publication, it shows you all of this information. And one of the really cool things about it is that it shows you all the accessibility information that is provided by the publisher. So, for example, this e-book has alternative text. It has these different types of navigation. So that's very cool. From the screen, you can also return the publication if you would like to. And once you have done that, you will see in Thorium Reader that the loan has expired, and you will no longer be able to access it. Alright. That is all for the demo. I will now pass it over to Emma to go over some of our FAQs. **Emma Waecker** Thanks, Yuthika. I'll go ahead and share my screen. So I'm going to go over some of the frequently asked questions around the LCP DRM release and rollout to libraries to help libraries understand important steps they may wish to take to prepare for this transition. So one of the common questions we've heard is how often are my users downloading full books at my institution? So that is a great question. It's something we recommend every library take a look at when they make their decision around when to enable LCP DRM for their library. Generally speaking, when we look across all libraries, full book downloads account for about five percent of usage as Yuthika mentioned earlier. So, again, while this workflow is really important, it is not necessarily the primary way most users are accessing your e-books in the day to day. However, every library can be different, so we would recommend reviewing your specific e-book usage statistics via whatever reports you prefer, counter reports, the e-book title usage report, all of which are available in EBSCOadmin on the reports and statistics page as shown on the screenshot on the right. And the link on this slide will bring you to that page so that you can evaluate the usage at your institution. Another question that we've heard, relatively often, which Yuthika went over earlier, but I'll just reiterate, does this change my library's authentication? The good news is that LCP DRM and Thorium Reader have no impact on your library's authentication. Your existing authentication methods will stay exactly the same as they are today for your users. Users will not need a new login to open their e-books in Thorium Reader, and their authentication for the EBSCO platform will not be used in Thorium Reader either. That's where, as Yuthika showed in her demonstration, that passphrase is used, which we give to the user. They enter into Thorium one time on their device, and then they can open books subsequently in that same Thorium reader instance on that device without entering a passphrase. There's more information about the passphrase behavior on this page on EBSCO Connect on our FAQ that you can get to through the QR code there. Another related question is how do EBSCO personal user accounts work? So just to sort of draw the camera back, creating a My EBSCO or personal user account has always been a requirement to download a DRM protected EBSCO e-book. So that's not a new, requirement with the LCP DRM workflow. And, really, this is how we, as EBSCO, can ensure that your limited user licenses are treated correctly, within your collection as well as allowing users to rediscover their checked-out e-books on our platform because we have a way to identify that individual person when they come back to the platform. The process to create a myEBSCO account is documented on EBSCO Connect along with what data is specifically collected and how we comply with, regulations around personal data, like GDPR, all outlined on EBSCO Connect, which this QR code will help walk you through. And as Yuthika showed earlier, the process to create the account does not take very long, doesn't require a lot of information, and it is GDPR compliant. So that is how personal user accounts fit into this LCP DRM solution. Another question that Yuthika touched on, but just to reiterate here, how does LCP DRM impact checkout settings and user checkouts? So LCP DRM has no impact on the checkout settings, your library configures, and e-book manager. They will remain the same as they are today, both pre and post LCP rollout, and they will still apply to your titles in the same way for all models, including single user e-books. So if a user downloads a single user e-book with LCP DRM on it, that means that title is taken out of the collection until the user's checkout expires or they return it as showed in Thorium Reader. And, additionally, LCP does not change the end user checkout duration either. That is driven by your e-book manager settings just like today. And as Yuthika showed, the user still can choose the download duration up to the number that you have selected in e-book manager. And if they've checked out books prior to the LCP transition, they can still access that e-book for the duration of their checkout. In Adobe Digital Editions if they wish. If they already have it downloaded there, they can continue accessing it through the duration of their checkout. Or if they prefer, they could download a new copy with LCP DRM applied after your library transitions to LCP. So there's no loss of access for the end user. It's really up to them which reader they would prefer to use if they have it checked out sort of at that inflection point for your library in terms of the transition date. So recommended next steps for libraries. So what do we want to encourage libraries to do? We started communicating about this early and often because we understand that having new software installed on devices can be a bit, a process depending on your institutional policies. And that is really the key thing that libraries need to do at this stage is determine where you like to have Thorium installed on any devices that are managed by your institution. You may need approval from your IT department depending, again, on your institutional policies and rights on your individual machines. We have quite a lot of resources that you can share with your IT department to secure approval if that's necessary. That's on the next slide. And for users who have personal computers, they can download Thorium Reader anytime. It's free. They can download it to their own machines if they wish to use the full book download workflow. And then finally, we would recommend, prior to the launch that you update your documentation if it specifically references Adobe Digital Editions. We will be providing updated LibGuides closer to the launch that walk through all of the end user workflows and steps. So if you would like to leverage our resources, we welcome you to do so. If you have anything sort of homegrown, then that would need to be updated by your staff when you get to the point of migration. These are the technical documentation items that are available. So this QR code on the right will take you to a very robust FAQ about our transition to LCP covering everything from user experience, from a walkthrough video, for checkout settings mobile app, for all of the other sort of questions that you may have. A lot of them will be addressed on that connect page. I just wanted to point out specifically there's a section that has technical resources. So the screenshot on the left here just kind of highlights the block of the page that has this information, but there is a technical specifications document available on the EDR lab support page that would include all the information listed here, such as supported operating systems, hardware and software requirements, how to install and register an application, publication formats, storing features, security troubleshooting, legal stuff, etcetera. So we would really encourage folks to check out that page and share that information with your IT department if you need approval. There's also an accessibility conformance report, which is also, like, VPAT compatible. So if you need accessibility documentation, that is what we would recommend you share with the appropriate folks at your institution. There's also an accessibility statement available that explains EDR Lab's approach to accessibility. And then if this applies to your institution, there's a higher education community vendor assessment toolkit, say that five times fast, on this page as well, which has been provided by, EDR Lab. That, again, may be helpful, securing approval from your IT department. And I will also just mention, if you need something special for your institution, we are happy to help facilitate having that completed. We've already done that for several libraries. So if you have a special document or process that needs to be followed, please contact us, and we will be happy to help and connect you with the right folks at EDR Lab if needed. So please don't be shy. Reach out to us and let us know how we can help there. One thing I wanted to touch on is special information for libraries in the EU. So as Yuthika mentioned, we had to disable downloads for customers based in the EU temporarily due to Adobe Digital Edition's noncompliance. So currently, libraries in the EU cannot control their download settings in EBSCO eBook Manager as we showed earlier. However, we will be reenabling that option for libraries in mid-April. So libraries in the EU will once again be able to go into eBook Manager and turn downloads on or off however they wish in terms of the LCP rollout in mid April, and we will be sharing information about that with your local teams. EU libraries can then, at that point, choose to enable full book downloads and therefore adopt LCP DRM when they are ready to do so. So it's really in your hands on your timeline at that point. Testing before migration. This is also something that was, a frequent request. So EDR Lab provides access to test books that are wrapped with LCP DRM on their website, which is linked here. It includes a test passphrase. So you can test out part of the workflow Yuthika just demonstrated, downloading the file, entering the passphrase, and then having access to the full range of Thorium user experience features. That is a great way to get started. We recommend libraries do that, just to get comfortable with the experience. If you have more specific questions or different needs around testing, please, again, reach out to Yuthika, to myself, to your EBSCO support rep, and we can talk through options with you. So users on mobile devices. So at launch, there is no Thorium mobile app available. Our interface will notify users on a mobile device that they cannot download an LCP DRM protected file to their mobile device at this time, and it will recommend the users save the record to access on their desktop device later. Thorium mobile apps are in development. The iOS app is currently in, I think, beta testing, and they are targeting a 2026 launch. We're very excited about this. We will obviously update our experience and documentation as soon as that app is available for use. And the Android app will follow directly after that. It's targeted to launch in twenty-seven, and, obviously, we will be keeping everyone posted on the timeline for that. So for users on mobile devices, the good news is that they can still read in our online viewer in their mobile device, either in the mobile app or in their mobile browser, like Safari or Chrome, whatever they have on their device. So they will still have full access to all the e-books in your collection just like today. If they really are interested in a full book download workflow with LCP DRM protection, as part of that, there are a lot of apps available for Android and iOS that are compatible with LCP DRM, such as FB Reader, Cantook by Aldeco, and Lisa. There is a list of applications on the page here that is linked that users may choose to play around with different options. And there is more information about how you can save an EBSCO eBook on EBSCO Connect as well as a link to that page on the EDR lab site on our Connect page as well. Okay, Julie, you're up. **Julie Twomey** Perfect. Thank you so much. I want to thank everyone for joining us today. I'm just going to give you a couple of resources to stay connected with us, as we move forward with this process. So this first link here, was actually served up a few times through the program. This is the frequently asked question, document that is on our EBSCO Connect page. You do need an account for EBSCO Connect, so I do encourage you to go ahead and sign up for that. Next slide, please. Perfect. And I just want to thank everyone for joining us today. Anyone who signed up for the webinar, so whether you attended live or you're watching this recording, you will get a thank you email that will have this recording that you watched today in it as well as several links to information that was discussed during the live program. As I mentioned before, EBSCO Connect is a great resource, to stay informed about anything EBSCO Books and really anything EBSCO all around. So, it's a really good resource. Secondly, we do have a monthly newsletter that's called EBSCO Books Update. That is going to give you anything related to books, whether it be Mosaic, EBSCO eBooks, Gobi. That's really your go to resource for anything books. In addition, we do post on our blog quite regularly about EBSCO books, and we do have a blog forthcoming, that will be, towards the end of February of 2026. And that will also have a roundup of all the questions that were posed to us during the live program. So, stay, posted for that. You can go on EBSCOpost.com to find that information. And we're also regularly on your favorite social media outlet, so, look for ad EBSCO on your favorite social media platform. So I just want to thank you for your time today, and I hope you have a great day. **Emma Waecker** Thanks so much. *Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.* #### You might also be interested in ![](https://assets.ebsco.com/asset/a3a20a46-85ce-46bb-81ef-6ca637e3a048/folio-in-5-circulation-logs-video-image-780.png) ## FOLIO in 5: Tracking Activity with Circulation Logs & Version History [ Watch video ](/resources/folio-5-tracking-activity-circulation-logs-version-history) ![](https://assets.ebsco.com/asset/e2a11651-57fb-46b3-977c-1719adec2404/folio-in-5-lists-app-video-image-780.png) ## FOLIO in 5: Using the Lists App to Identify Faculty with Open Loans [ Watch video ](/resources/folio-5-using-lists-app-identify-faculty-open-loans) ![](https://assets.ebsco.com/asset/a0112b44-f33e-4a4b-aa95-71dc14f21a87/folio-in-5-open-source-video-image-780.png) ## FOLIO in 5: How Open Source Puts Libraries Back in Control [ Watch video ](/resources/folio-5-how-open-source-puts-libraries-back-control)