Online Books
Finding and using online books
This page will help you understand the basics of finding online books on the library website and using them in your classroom. Scroll down for the step-by-step breakdown! Also useful: the Free Online Textbooks Guide and the Library eBooks for Beginners Guide.
Watch this video for more information!
The first thing you'll want to do is choose some words that cover the most important parts of the topic you're searching for.
Watch this video for more information!
After coming up with some good search words, you'll want to head to the library website and add them to the search box you find there. Then hit enter or click the magnifying glass!
There's a good chance that the list of results that comes up will include much more than online books. In fact, many of the books at the top of the list are likely to be print/physical books. To only view online books in your results, click "ebook" in the format box on the left.
Note that you might need to click "see all" first; it depends on the search!
When you find a book you're interested in reading, click the View Online button. This will take you to the book's page in one of our databases. Next, you'll want to click (usually on the left) the "Read Online" button. That will bring you to the book!
Note that using the "Full Download" option for reading library ebooks is often more work than it's worth. It's much easier to just use "Read Online." Use "Full Download" only if you know you'll need access to the entire book at a time when you won't have internet access.
If you decide that you want to use the book you found, look for the link button. (Usually you can find this by clicking the little chainlink icon on the left.) You can paste the link into your Brightspace classroom, your syllabus, or an email to allow students easy access to the book.