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The Basics
Library Services eBooks
Library Services offers thousands of ebooks that Springfield College students, professors, and staff may access for free. This guide will help you know what to expect when you open one up and start reading it. If you have any questions, or if something doesn't work the way you would expect, feel free to contact Library Services for help!
(Click the links to jump to a section.)
INFORMATION ABOUT EBRARY BOOKS
What is ProQuest Ebook Central?
The Ebook Central starting page
Sections on the Ebook Central starting page
Reading an Ebook Central ebook
Sections when reading an Ebook Central ebook
INFORMATION ABOUT EBSCO BOOKS
Sections on the Ebsco starting page
Sections when reading an Ebsco ebook
INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER TYPES OF EBOOKS
ProQuest Ebook Central eBooks
What is ProQuest Ebook Central?
ProQuest is the company from which we get most of our ebooks. This is the type of ebook you're most likely to run into. They're also pretty easy to use!
Sections on the Ebook Central starting page
1. This area offers some basic information about the book. (You can find more basic information in the "Bibliographic Info" box on the right.)
2. This area allows you to jump straight to specific sections or chapters in the book.
3. The "Read Online" button is how you start reading the book, beginning with the front cover. You can also download it, though that can be quite a process sometimes, so I recommend reading it online if you can.
Sections when reading an Ebook Central ebook:
1. These are the pages. Scroll down to finish the page or to view more pages.
2. This scroll bar allows you to very quickly zip through the pages of the book. You can also use the left and right arrows just above it to flip back and forward from page to page.
3. This allows you to quickly jump to a specific chapter or section, and also allows you to search within the book, which can be very useful if you're looking for certain information.
4. These are a variety of tools that make the book more useful or easier to read. In particular, it can be nice to highlight, add notes, or zoom in and out as needed.
Ebsco eBooks
What is Ebsco?
Ebsco is the company we get most of our article databases from, but we also get quite a few ebooks from them. They're not quite as common as Ebrary ebooks, but you may still run into them.
Sections on the Ebsco starting page
1. This area offers some basic information about the book.
2. This area allows you to jump straight to specific sections or chapters in the book.
3. The "PDF Full Text" button is how you start reading the book, beginning with the front cover or first page. You can also download it, though that can be quite a process sometimes, so I recommend reading it online if you can.
Other Library Services eBooks
What other ebook types does Library Services offer?
Library Services' collection includes several types of ebook aside from the two explained above. These are currently very uncommon in our collection, and it's not very likely that you'll run into them while searching our resources. That said, if you need help using these (or any other type of ebook), feel free to get in touch with us!