Finding E-books

Although you can search the library catalog for eBooks as well as many other things (and while eBooks do still show up in a Summon search that searches everything we own), the best way to search for eBooks is by searching each eBook database itself individually.  One of the reasons is that by doing so, the eBook databases are able to search every single word of every single eBook for the terms you input.  This allows you to find very specific information or otherwise-hard-to-locate information, which you might not be able to do otherwise.  Several eBook databases that have eBooks on a variety of topics are listed in the box below.

When searching eBook databases, you can be much more specific in your search than you can searching our catalog for print books, and you can use several keywords at a time since they search every word of every single e-book in the many thousands in its collection.  

• When entering an eBook database, always look for an Advanced Search link (if available) and click on it (it gives you many more options than the Basic Search).
• In your search results list, click on the title of an eBook you want to explore
• Then click on the full text link in the record for it (or sometimes, the "read online" link) to get into the individual eBook.
• Navigational tools in these eBook databases are usually on the left side of the screen (links to the Contents page, individual chapters, index, etc.). 
• The actual content of the book appears on the right side of the screen.  You can also navigate within the content by scrolling down or using the forward and backward arrows to move through one page at a time. 
• You can also search each individual book for specific words or phrases in the search within book or search within boxes (if searching for phrases such as "political science", enclose the phrase in double-quotes in these boxes to keep those words next to each other and in that order.)

You can also usually print, save, or email a certain number of pages from each eBook (usually a percentage of the total length of the book).

(For access to e-books from off campus, log in with your Barton network username and password.)

The following eBook databases and web sites also provide access to the full text of eBooks.  Some are discipline-specific in what they include, and some include other formats (such as audio books) as well eBooks.