Q. My internet connection has broken in the middle of a download.
If your connection is broken before your file has download go to the Download area by clicking the Download Area button on the title bar on the Virtual Library home page. This will take you to a page where all the papers you have purchased are available for download. Your papers will remain in this area for 28 days, allowing you to retry downloading your paper. The download area will be particularly useful where multiple papers have been purchased as you can download them one by one if you prefer.
Q. How do I pay?
We take payment via:
You only need to provide us with your credit card details once, when you set up an account with the ICE Virtual Library. This means you will save time the next time you wish to buy a paper from us.
Q. Is it safe to buy online?
Yes. When you submit your personal and credit card details the information is encrypted and then protected by a firewall that forms part of a secure server.
We do not sell or provide your information to third parties.
Q. I have forgotten my password/username. What do I do now?
On the Sign in or Register page click on "I've forgotten my password". You will then be asked to submit your E-mail address. We will then email you with the question that you entered when you first registered with us to help you recall your password. We will not email the password directly for security purposes.
Q. I wish to buy a paper and I already have an account. Do I need to enter my credit card details again?
No. You entered your credit card details when you set up the account. There is no need to submit your details again as long as you have your username and password.
Q. I am an international customer. Can I still buy a paper?
Yes. All major international credit cards are accepted and will be charged at the current pounds sterling rate.
Q. I would like to place a company order. Is this possible?
Yes. Corporate credit cards are accepted.
Q. How do I download the paper?
Full text is available using Adobe's Acrobat Reader software. This allows a complete article, with photos, drawings etc. in position to be viewed on screen. To download a free copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader click here.
All papers are stored as fully searchable Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Papers pre 1996 were scanned at 300 dpi resolution, papers from 1997 were originated in PDF format.
PDF files contain high quality text, drawings and photographs, and are almost indistinguishable from the paper as it appears in the printed journal - even when printed out on your office printer. Because of the high quality information they contain, our PDF files can vary in size from 150 kb to 3MB, and, depending on the time of day, your location, and how you are connected to the Internet, can take anything from 15 seconds to 15 minutes to download onto your computer.
To save on access time, perform your initial search using the bibliographic record. These are in HTML format, and consequently will appear almost instantaneously. It is possible to perform an extremely refined search using the advanced search fields. Use these to select a shortlist of papers that are of interest rather than downloading full text papers that may not be relevant
If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC, click the Download button, and the paper will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
We recommend that you use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the paper, this may be downloaded here:
Q. I would like to download a paper published this year
The virtual library archive contains paper published from 1836, up to 3 years ago. Details of later papers are held on the Thomas Telford Journals website. Summaries of all of these papers are available free, with full text available on line to subscribers. To view these papers go to www.thomastelford.com/jol
