LibGuides: Electronic Books: Electronic Books

Electronic Books in the Library Collection

The library has thousands of ebooks for you to use. Most of them can be found in the Library Catalog. When you first do your search, all the print books, ebooks, and videos will be mixed together.

If you just want to see ebooks, after you do your search, look at the filters on the lefthand side of the screen:

Under Availability, click Available Online
Under Resource Type click Books

Different books come from different vendors, so the loan rules will vary. When you are off-campus, you will need to log in to read the book.

Scanned Digital Textbooks

In some cases, you may have a class that uses a digital textbook that the library has scanned and offers through the catalog for a 2 hour checkout. Here is a video about how to use those textbooks.

To download EBSCO eBooks view these instructions: Document or Slideshow

Below you will find a list of the library's eBook Collections and the type of sources they contain.

ABC-CLIO eBooks This link opens in a new window
eBook collection containing encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and guides from ABC-CLIO, Greenwood Press, Libraries Unlimited, and Praeger. These ebooks complement the library collection of ABC-CLIO databases.
eBook Collection from EBSCO This link opens in a new window
Access more that 12,700 new books and classic titles or search for eBooks in our catalog by author, title or subject.
Proquest Ebooks Central This link opens in a new window
Scholarly and popular ebooks.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than 270 reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Provides access to reference sources in African American studies featuring the Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895; the African American National Biography project; the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present; Black Women in America; and Africana.
Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive reference resource for all aspects of the visual arts worldwide, from prehistory to the present day. Library subscribes to content with a green unlocked icon.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. Traces the usage of words through quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, classic literature, and other sources.
Salem Health This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to Salem Press’ award-winning health reference works. Includes Salem Press’ bestselling Magill’s Medical Guide; Genetics; and more. NOTE: To search the contents of an individual title, navigate to the Search page and click on the desired title.
Salem Literature This link opens in a new window
Access the complete content of the Magill’s Literary Annuals (1977-2010); Masterplots; Critical Insights series, and more. NOTE: To search the contents of an individual title, navigate to the Search page and click on the desired title.
Salem Science This link opens in a new window
An online database that includes the complete content of printed reference sets. NOTE: To search the contents of an individual title, navigate to the Search page and click on the desired title.
World Book Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
Based on the World Book Encyclopedia, the suite includes more than 40,000 articles, 270,000 primary source documents, and 5000 e-books. It also includes a Spanish language encyclopedia, timelines, atlases, dictionaries, web and periodical links, as well as current events and Back in Time articles.

eBooks on the Web

There are many sources on the web for free ebooks including other libraries. In addition, there are some great open source websites:

Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
Project Gutenberg
There are over 30,000 of out of copyright books available here. So if looking for older material, this may be of help.
Open Library
Includes references to 23 million books and includes the full-text of many out of copyright editions
Cool4ed
CSU site for open source e-textbooks. Open source textbooks are typically authored by faculty and published on the web with the support of universities or new commercial companies. Open textbooks are frequently governed by Creative Commons licenses that enable users to download, customize or print the textbook without expressed written consent of the author.
National Emergency Library
The National Emergency is a collection of books that supported remote teaching, research, independent scholarship, and intellectual stimulation while universities, schools, training centers, and libraries were closed due to COVID-19. It was launched on March 24, 2020, and closed on June 16, 2020. After June 16, books in the National Emergency Library are available to one borrower at a time using controlled digital lending.
LibriVox
Free audio books on the web.

Google Books

Google is aiming to add full content of books on-line. They already have some books on-line & lots of books with some content, so that you can judge how useful they might be, before trying to get hold of them from elsewhere.