THE IMO BOOKSHELF

USER MANUAL
Contents

Getting Started 1
System Requirements...................................................................................................... 1

Index 2
Functionalities................................................................................................................. 5

Library Search 6
Download Library 7
Offline Mode 8
Offline eBook Reader Application.................................................................................... 8

A Note on Vessel Inspections........................................................................................... 9

Account 9
Terms and Conditions 10
User Manual 10
Best Practices 10
FAQ 11
Technical Support 11

November 2021, V1.15

ii The IMO Bookshelf

Getting Started
System Requirements
Any modern browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari…) can be used,
on Windows, Mac or Linux. iPads and mid to top range Android tablets are also supported.
Note that Internet Explorer is too old and does not support the technology used by the IMO
Bookshelf. It is replaced by Microsoft Edge which is installed by default on all Windows 10/11
computers.
Any shore connection speed will be sufficient for the IMO Bookshelf.
Ship connections have been tested at 0.5 Mbps (512 kbps). Lower speeds will still work, particularly
when eBooks are already downloaded, which can be done in port when the connection is fast/
cheap.
Books are only downloaded once on each computer.
To access your account, go to http://www.imobookshelf.org.
Fill in the Username and Password fields at the top of the screen before clicking on the login
button:

This takes you to the Home page of the IMO Bookshelf. You can navigate to the various sections
shown on the left-hand side of the screen, and log out at any time by clicking the Logout button in
the top right corner:

User Manual 1
Index
The Index section takes you to the list of all titles available in the IMO Bookshelf. If “View All” is
selected, the Index will show you the titles included in the first category of the library – Cargo. If
“My eBooks” is selected, only the categories for owned books are displayed and the first of these is
selected. You can navigate to the other sections and expand them to see different titles.
Hover over the cover of a title to see a summary:

The button at the bottom of the cover tells you whether you have access to this publication: blue
if it is unlocked, grey if it is locked. Please contact your account manager if any title appears locked
when it shouldn’t be, or if you would like to purchase access.
As soon as an errata or supplement is published, the eBook is updated on the server for everyone
to use.

2 The IMO Bookshelf

If the book has been accessed before, it will be cached locally and will show:

As soon as an errata or supplement is Obsolete eBooks and eBooks that are

published, the eBook is updated on the Superseded by another eBook are kept on
server for everyone use. If the book has the server for 15 months then removed.
been accessed before, it will be cached They are clearly indicated (if Show
locally and will show: Superseded is selected):

Electronic edition
Electronic edition

e
at

d
pd

de
U

se
g

r
pe
in
nd

Su
Pe

This information is also indicated in the Download Library section.

The titles included in subsections do not appear in the larger sections so you need to go to precisely
the right section. For example, titles in the LNG subsection will not be shown in the larger Gas or
Cargo sections.
The Index will default to show you only the titles you have access to.

When the “Open books in a new tab” option is selected, all books will open in a new browser TAB
instead of staying in the same TAB. It may be useful when doing research on a subject.
You can also search book titles to find a book quickly by searching for the book title. Please note
that the IMO Bookshelf does not search for alternative spellings in titles. If you cannot see the book
you are searching for, please check the spelling.

You can also tick the star under the title’s cover to mark it as a favourite. It will then appear in the
Favourites section, to make accessing it even easier.

User Manual 3
Once you have chosen a book to access, click on the Open button. Most books open immediately
except particularly large publications that may show chapters to choose from. If you have ticked the
“Open books in a new tab” option, the book will open in a separate tab. If you are using Firefox, you
might need to allow pop-ups in order for this to work:

The first time you open a book, it might take a moment to open since the IMO Bookshelf will be
downloading and saving the eBook file to your browser’s cache. The next time you open it,
access will be near-instantaneous, and the book will also be available offline.
A small 2MB book will typically take a few seconds to download for an office user while a ship user
may need to wait for 30 seconds or more.
A large eBook will take 5 times longer.
Once the book is open, you can navigate it in one of three ways:
• Scroll up and down to move from page to page
• Select the page or section you are looking for in the left-hand side menu. If you select
Thumbnail, you will see a small picture of the pages, and if you select Outlines you will see
the different chapters and sections of the book:

• If you already know which page you are looking for, simply type it into the left part of the
page number:

4 The IMO Bookshelf

Functionalities
Below is an outline of the various functions available to you in the IMO Bookshelf, from left to right, top to
bottom:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Panel: hides/unhides the left-hand side column allowing you to navigate to sections and pages of the
1
book. When the panel is open, you can adjust its width by dragging the slider right or left
2 View Controls: allows you to control the way pages are laid out and displayed in the reader.
3 Zoom in and out function.
Pan: when this is selected and you click and drag over the page, you can move the page around. This is
4
helpful when you are zoomed in to more than 100% as it allows you to move the page right and left.
Select: when this is selected and you click and drag over the page, you can select the text. This will make
the following options appear: copy, highlight, underline, squiggly underline, strikeout and link URL or
5 page:
If you highlight, underline or strikeout your selection, you get additional options: comment, change style,
delete or link:
6 Copy page link to clipboard: this creates links that are usable for your company’s document system.
7 Annotations: hides/unhides the annotations toolbar. The annotations functions are:
• Highlight: click and drag over the text you want to highlight.
• Underline: click and drag over the text you want to underline.
• Strikeout: click and drag over the text you want to strike out.
• Squiggly Underline: click and drag over the text you want to underline.
• Note: click on the place where you want to add a note, type it in and click save. You could use this function to
mark the place where you left off so that you can easily find it the next time you open the book. Simply click
on the Comments button and navigate to your note to find the place you left off.
• Free Text: this allows you to add text over the page. This tool is best used over pictures and blank spaces to
make it distinguishable and readable.

• Style Box: colour options will appear for your highlights, underlinings and strikeouts. Click on the drop-down
menu to see more options.

• Undo: cancel last action.

• Redo: redo last action.
• Eraser: this will erase all notes and highlights that you drag it across. Select something else to deactivate it

8 Full Screen: will hide everything except the book and the reader’s functions. This is especially useful when
reading on smaller screens. Press Escape or select Exit full screen to go back.
9 Search: hides/unhides the search column. Use this function to search for a simple word within the book
only (otherwise, use Library Search). When the panel is open, you can adjust its width by dragging the
slider right or left:
10 Comments: this allows you to view and search through the notes and highlights made in this book. Click
on a note to be taken to the place it was made. When the panel is open, you can adjust its width by
dragging the slider right or left:
11 Menu: this gives you access to two more functions: Print and Dark Mode:
• Print will show you your remaining print allowance before you print. Please note that you can only print one
page at a time, and that a print will be taken out of your allowance even if you decide to cancel after clicking
print. Please contact your account manager if you would like to discuss your printing allowance.
• Dark mode will turn the light spaces on the page to black and grey. Select Light mode to go back.

Please note that any comment, free text, highlight, underlining, etc that you add will be visible to
and editable by all users with whom you share the account.

User Manual 5
Library Search
This section allows you to search for your chosen term or phrase inside books and across multiple
books. As you can see from the image below, you can customise the selection of titles across which
you want to search and the ways in which you want to search. Please note that you can only search
across titles that you own. This is because the server contains tens of thousands of document.

In the grey area, you can select how you want the IMO Bookshelf to search for your chosen word
or phrase (this defaults to “All words within 5 words”). In the purple area and the line above the
grey box, you can select the books across which you want to search. If you untick “Include All”,
you will have to select the titles you want to be used in the search one by one. To do this, tick the
box next to the title you need.

Once you are happy with the setup, type your chosen word or phrase in the search criteria bar and
click Search. A window will open with the results of your search sorted by relevance and title. For
large books, search results for each section of the book will appear separately to make navigation
easier (this is the “Subject” column). Click on the book and section for which you want to see the
search results and they will be displayed in the grey box below.

6 The IMO Bookshelf

The searched-for term or phrase will appear in blue and, when you click on it, the book will open
in a separate tab, at the page where the citation was found. You can navigate to other occurrences
of the term in this book on the right-hand side, or go back to the search window to return to the
search results.

Download Library
This section allows you to save the eBook file of the titles you have purchased to the cache of
your browser. This makes the eBooks available to use offline and means they will open near-
instantaneously.
When downloading from this section, the eBook will be saved in its entirety. Therefore, we
would advise you to wait until you have enough time and a strong Internet connection before
using it.
Additionally, this will only download the eBook on the computer and browser to which you are
currently logged on. You will need to repeat the process on all other computers that need
offline access.
In this section, the following actions are available to you:
This downloads and saves all the titles you have purchased. Please wait until
you have plenty of time to do this as you should not navigate to other parts
of the IMO Bookshelf while the books are saving. If you do so, the
download will be interrupted.

This will save only the eBook you have selected.

This will update the title – it is not related to new editions as these are
considered to be separate eBooks, but rather to errata and addenda that
are available for the current edition.

This will remove the eBook file from your browser’s cache, making it
unavailable offline.

If all your eBooks are downloaded and up to date, all you will see are red buttons.
On the right-hand side of this section, you can also gain information on the size of each eBook file
and the status of each eBook. No mention means the eBook is current and up to date, otherwise
you will see mentions of Pending Update, Superseded (by another edition) or Obsolete (when an
eBook is discontinued without replacement).

User Manual 7
Offline Mode
Offline Mode allows you to access the titles you have saved in case of emergency resulting in a loss
of Internet access. It can also be accessed directly from the following URL:
https://www.imobookshelf.org/offline/
The functions available in Offline Mode are mostly the same as in the Online Mode, although
you won’t be able to print or create links and the titles will appear in a list rather than grouped
by categories.

Click on Open and the book will open. You can search for the title of the book to filter the list
more quickly. Please note that the IMO Bookshelf does not search for alternative spellings.
Offline eBook Reader Application
Offline mode is an emergency mode that is meant to be used on board ships when Internet
connection is temporarily not available. It makes sure that publications are available at all times.
To install the application for offline use in Chrome, click on the + button to the right side of the
address bar, pictured below. The exact steps might depend on the browser you are using – click on
Help to see instructions for more browsers.

Please note that it may take around 10 to 20 seconds before the installation button appears as
necessary files are downloaded.

8 The IMO Bookshelf

Certain browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, may not support installation of the application. In this
instance, please switch to a supported browser (e.g. Chrome or Edge) if you are planning to use
the offline capabilities of the IMO Bookshelf. Safari on Mac does not allow creation of an
application shortcut but it works offline from the above URL.
Once clicked, follow the on-screen instructions to install the application.
To run the application, create a shortcut on your desktop for the program, or type ‘the IMO
Bookshelf’ into your search bar if using Windows 10/11.
eBooks opened or downloaded while using IMOBookshelf.org can then be accessed for offline use.
Please note that you must install the application using the same browser that was used to save
your books or they will not be available within the offline application.
A Note on Vessel Inspections
See the IMO Certificate for IMO publications.
If you are using the IMO Bookshelf on board a ship that is preparing for inspection, we recommend
that you take the following steps in advance to demonstrate compliance with flag State
requirements for backup access to the publications:
• Log in to the IMO Bookshelf and install the Offline eBook Reader Application as
described above
• In the Download Library tab, make sure that all titles are saved and up to date (all the
buttons should read: )
Repeat these steps on all computers used to access the library on board as saving them on one
computer does not save them on the other computers.
During the inspection, you can log in and out of the IMO Bookshelf on several computers to
show the inspector that access can be transferred from one to the other should the main
computers experience hardware failure.
You can also open the Offline eBook Reader Application to demonstrate that (provided that the
titles have been saved), should your Internet access fail, you will still be able to access the library.
The computer must be disconnected from the network for this demo.

Account
The Account tab allows the account administrator to set and change the alias username and
password for the account. Only the user who has the Licence Code for the account may do this.

To access the admin options, enter the account licence code in the required field and click Submit.

User Manual 9
You can then follow the instructions to set a new username and password alias. The original login
details you were sent as the account administrator will still be valid, but this allows you to set a
username and password that are easier to remember for you and your colleagues with whom you
might be sharing the account.

Terms and Conditions

If you need a reminder of our Terms and Conditions of Use, they can be found in this section.

User Manual
This is where you will find the most up-to-date version of this Manual to read and download.

Best Practices
Below are a few recommendations to make your use of the IMO Bookshelf as easy and
smooth as possible:
• Please make sure that the www.imobookshelf.org is white listed by your company to ensure
that there are no issues with permissions/access.
• If you are sharing your the IMO Bookshelf account with other users, always log out using the
Log Out button rather than by closing your browser. If you do not log out correctly, other
users might have to wait for up to 3 minutes before they can log in again.
• If you are in the habit of clearing the cache of your browser, please be aware that the eBooks
on your account will also be deleted from the cache and will no longer be available for offline
browsing until such time as you redownload them. To avoid this issue, you might decide to
use the IMO Bookshelf in a separate browser and not clear its cache.
• Please double check that you are on the correct page before clicking Print as a print will be
taken out of your allowance even if you decide to cancel after clicking Print.
Should you encounter any issues or have any feedback on the IMO Bookshelf, please do not
hesitate to contact us at sales@imo.org.

10 The IMO Bookshelf

FAQ

 Can only one person access at a time?

This depends on the number of concurrent users allowed for your account. A typical account allows
for one concurrent user, meaning that as soon as one user is logged in, other users trying to access
the same account will be refused access.
 What happens if I forget to log out?
If you close your browser without logging out of the IMO Bookshelf first, you (or your colleagues)
won’t be able to access the account again for up to 3 minutes. If you keep the IMO Bookshelf open
in your browser without using it, you will be logged out after 30 minutes of inactivity. The tab will
first start showing as “INACTIVE” to w arn you:
 What is the size of the Offline App?
The offline app is 60MB plus the size of the eBooks (on average 5MB per eBook).
 Can I move my windows licence to the IMO Bookshelf?
Yes. If you were previously using the windows version of the IMO Bookshelf, you can migrate to the
browser version of the IMO Bookshelf.
We can only migrate titles that were purchased via ourselves and are not superseded or
discontinued. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange this.

 Is there an annual fee for IMO Bookshelf?

The IMO Bookshelf eBooks are one-off purchases and there is no additional fee to maintain access
once you have paid for them.
 Is there an expiration on my account?
The IMO Bookshelf accounts do not expire so you will have access for as long as you want/need it.
However, please note that unless otherwise advised, superseded editions will be removed after 15
months.
 Can I download eBooks to my PC?
The eBooks can be saved to the cache of the browser, but for reasons of cybersecurity and
IP protection, the files themselves cannot be downloaded to the computer.
 Is the licence fixed to a computer?
There is no limit to the number of devices on which you can access your account, as well as save the
books for emergency offline use.
 Can everyone see my notes?
All users who share the account with you will be able to see the Annotations and Comments you’ve
added to the books. You can also see theirs and comment on them. For this reason we would
recommend adding your initials to your comments to identify them.
 Is there an admin panel where I can manage all my company logins?
Yes. An Admin Panel is available to help you manage multiple logins and see usage reports.
Please contact us if you would like to be set up as an Admin.

Technical Support
Should you need any support when using the IMO Bookshelf, you can click on the Support button
in the top right corner which will take you to the Technical Support page. If the information
you need cannot be found in the Knowledgebase section, you can open a ticket to speak to the IT
team.

User Manual 11
For more information contact sales@imo.org