This guide is written to help network and institutional managers successfully administer and run their enterprise Pressbooks networks. In the following pages, you’ll find definitions of key terms, advice and suggestions for administering your network, and guidance for establishing or developing a successful institutional publishing program. No matter what your specific goals are, we’re excited to support your institutional publishing endeavors and hope that you enjoy your experiences using Pressbooks!

Types of Users

There are three broad categories of users on Pressbooks enterprise networks:

1. Network Managers
2. Institutional Managers
3. ‘Regular’ End Users

All enterprise Pressbooks networks have at least one network manager. Shared Pressbooks networks may have one or more Institutional Managers. Most Pressbooks networks have dozens or hundreds of regular end users.

What is a Network Manager?

A network manager is a user on an enterprise Pressbooks network who has been granted special administrative capabilities to administer books and users, control network settings, adjust the appearance of the network home page, add or remove books from the network catalog, configure network-level integrations, view network-level stats, and perform other high-level administrative tasks.

Network managers are the primary contact points between Pressbooks support staff and the institution who has purchased an enterprise Pressbooks plan. Network managers typically serve as the front line of support of first point of contact for regular end users on their Pressbooks network. Network managers do not have to have any special technical expertise beyond a willingness to accept responsibility for administrative duties and learn how to administer their Pressbooks network, though it can be helpful for an institution to select at least one network manager with prior knowledge of publishing, open education, or basic web design (principles of HTML and CSS).

The number of users who can be given the ‘network manager’ role is determined by the type of Pressbooks subscription your institution has purchased. Most enterprise networks have between 1-5 network managers.

To see a current list of users currently designated as network managers, click Network Admin > Settings. To request a change for your network, please contact premium support.

What is an Institutional Manager?

An institutional manager is a user on a shared enterprise Pressbooks network who has been granted special administrative capabilities to administer books and users for and view institution-level stats for a single institution within a larger shared network.

Institutional managers do not have the same abilities as network managers to control network-level settings or integrations, but they do have the ability to support books and end users who belong (or have been assigned) to their institution. In most cases, network managers on shared networks choose to delegate part of their support responsibilities for end users out to these institutional managers.

The number of users who can be given the ‘institutional manager’ role is determined by the type of Pressbooks subscription your institution (or institutions) have purchased. Questions about unlimited shared networks or institutional buy-in status should be directed to your account manager. On a shared enterprise network, network managers can view and assign institutional managers from Institutions > Institution List.

What is an End User?

An end user is simply a ‘regular’ user on an enterprise Pressbooks network. End users can be added to one or more books with whatever roles or permissions are needed for their participation in those book projects. People at your institution only need Pressbooks user accounts to create or edit content or to read private content.

📕 Learn more about the various user roles in our User Guide.

📕 Learn more about administering users on your network elsewhere in this guide.