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e-Books
e-Books, or electronic books, are the digital equivalent of standard, printed books. e-Books are available from any location, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We've purchased thousands of e-books to help you get access to key texts and reading list items and our e-Book collection is constantly growing.
e-Books - You try, we buy
There are 240,000 e-Books waiting for you here, covering all subject areas. Search to find what you need, and if you choose to continue reading when prompted, the e-Book will be bought by The Library
What are the advantages of e-Books?
When using e-Books you can:
- access them both on and off campus
- access them 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- avoid waiting for reservations
- print a number of relevant pages
- search the book for keywords
- make notes, save them and often print them off
- export the citation to a citation manager such as EndNote
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Where can I find e-Books?
SOLAR provides a quick and easy way of finding e-Books.
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Do I need a username/password to access an e-Book?
This depends on the e-Book supplier.
When on campus you may be able to access the e-Book straightaway. However, some will require your Athens [pdf] username/password.
When off campus, you should expect that your Athens username/password will be required to access e-Books. You can find your personal Athens information on your F:\Drive in a document called password.
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How do I use an e-Book?
We purchase e-Books from different suppliers so you may notice that some books look different from others. However, there are some common features too.
- Once you've found the e-Book you want click on the link to open the book: e.g. ‘Read Online’, ‘View this book’ or something similar.
- The number of people that can use an e-Book at the same time varies, depending on the publisher. In the unlikely event that you are not able to access a book it is worth trying again later. The e-Books will open on a first come, first served basis.
- When the book opens, there will usually be a navigation section on the left of the screen and the full text of the book will be displayed on the right.
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How do I navigate through an e-Book?
There are different ways that you can move through the book. You can:
- use the navigation section to click on the book's sections and chapters, to move to the relevant page or section.
- use the navigation arrows to move the pages forward and back - these are in different places depending on the supplier of the book.
- enter the page number of the exact page that you want to go to in the book.
- search the book for keywords and click on the links to the relevant pages.
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Can I make electronic notes?
Yes, one of the advantages of using e-Books is that you can make electronic notes as you are reading the book. You will need to be logged on to do this. These notes will be saved to the system and will be there when you next log on. You can often print the notes to refer to them later.
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Can I print or copy?
e-Books are subject to strict copyright laws and digital rights management. Copyright Law allows you to print or copy one chapter or 5% of an e-Book, whichever is greater. Most providers restrict the amount you can print or copy. Some will tell you how many pages you are allowed to print and copy, and some providers may not allow you to print or copy at all.
Some e-Book providers monitor usage. It is your responsibility to stay within the Copyright Law.
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Can I download an e-Book?
Yes, some suppliers allow an e-Book to be downloaded for a period of time.
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What e-Books are available?
The Library automatically purchases an electronic copy of books listed on Reading Lists on LaSU, if an e-Book is available from the publisher. Subject-specific e-Book collections are purchased in addition to multi-subject collections, and include:
Blackwell Reference Online - an online library giving instant access to the most authoritative and up-to-date scholarship across the humanities and social sciences. Access is currently provided to the Linguistic bundle.
Books@OVID provides e-Books in a wide range of subject areas - including the world's largest online collection of core clinical texts.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700 - from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War. Subject areas covered include English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, music, fine arts, education, mathematics and science.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) - a comprehensive digital edition of The Eighteenth Century, the world’s largest library of the printed book on microfilm.
Emerald Business, Management and Economics E-book Archive contains over 550 volumes from over 70 book series titles and new content is added each year. It features titles from the highly regarded JAI imprint and offers access to subjects such as strategy, accounting and finance, organizational studies and economics.
Knovel combines essential and authoritative reference books and databases from more than 30 Scientific and Technical publishers and professional societies. The Knovel subscription gives full text access to Food Science & Oil & Gas Engineering titles only.
Nineteenth Century books from the British Library is a collection of digitised versions of more than 65,000 first editions from the long 19th century, covering philosophy, history, poetry and literature. The collection of over 25 million pages of previously rare and inaccessible content is searchable for the first time, and includes the original typeface and illustrations for each book.
Sage Reference Online provides a collection of full-text electronic encyclopaedias covering subjects including black studies, cognitive behaviour therapy, disability, health care management, homelessness and multicultural psychology.
Stat!Ref provides access to full-text electronic information in latest editions of medical, chemical and pharmacological texts, dictionaries and indexes. Subjects range from emergency-critical care, nursing, oncology, paediatrics, point of care, primary care, psychiatry, pharmacology and cardiology.
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Are there any technical requirements?
You will need:
- to have access to the internet to access e-Books.
- an up-to-date internet browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.
- an up-to-date version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, as most e-Books use pdf files (this is the format in which the book is displayed). If you do not have this, you can download it for free at www.adobe.com.
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Where can I go for help?
If you need assistance when using an e-Book, have a look at its help pages. They will often give you tips and advice on how to use the system. Alternatively, you could contact the Enquiry Desk in the library or your Academic Support Librarian for advice.
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