E-books

Keep in mind that textbooks are difficult for libraries to acquire in digital forms. Rental options, through the Barnes and Noble Bookstore, may be the best option for some students to access textbooks. Also, remember that Wiley, Oxford, Springer, Cambridge and Routledge all produce a variety of handbooks, companions, and surveys which can serve as course texts freely accessible to you and your students. Again, see our e-book guide for more details as to the availability and access to these collections. Consider Open Educational Resource options as well.

Please allow time for the exploration of possible options when preparing your course, so that we can determine what e-book options are available, and how we can maximize use and availability!

It is also good practice to check links and access prior to assigning texts for class, as e-book package content can change (particularly for subscription databases).

You can search DiscoverE for our subscribed content to most of these collections or go directly to their platforms. Databases@Emory also contains links to most our e-book collections! Note that once in many of these databases, you may want to limit (usually via a click box) to items to which we have access.

• Directory of Open Access Books

  DOAB aggregates records for Open Access Books so libraries can integrate the directory into their online catalogues, helping scholars and students to discover the books.

• ProQuest/Ebrary Academic Library Complete Collection 
• Routledge Handbooks (great Handbooks series, we have access to all via subscription)
• EBSCOhost ebooks
• Oxford Bibliographies, Handbooks and Research Encyclopedias 
• Oxford Scholarship Online (check the green lock to limit to Emory accessible content)
• Credo (Reference works)
• Gale Virtual Reference Library
• Digitalia (Spanish Language Texts)
• Sage Research Methods
• Springer E-Book Collections (Physics and Astronomy, Materials Science and Chemistry, Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Computer Science)--check DiscoverE for individual titles. Just added: 2017-2020 content for Mathematics and Statistics, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, and Social Science
• Safari (technical, business, and computer science titles)
• Wiley (Social and Behavioral Sciences, Physical Sciences and Humanities collections)
• Cambridge University Press (Frontlist titles, 2017-present, limit to "collections I have access to")
• ALCS Humanities E-Books
• JSTOR E-Books (2015-2020 university content primarily, select "books" in advanced search, complete backlist is available as a pilot)
• Project Muse (selected e-books, primarily 2010-2013 university press imprints)
• Elsevier Science Direct Titles (selected frontlist content and Handbook Series)

Leisure Reading

• Overdrive (sign in to make requests). Note that these are 1 user titles and NOT ideal for Reserves.

Open Library

• Open Library from the Internet Archive. Just copy and paste the title from discoverE into the search box, and see if it is available. Note that if the title is unavailable, please contact your subject librarian for other options. The Internet Archive and participating libraries have selected digitized books from their collections that are available to be borrowed by one patron at a time from anywhere in the world for free. These books are available in BookReader for mat and usually in PDF and ePub formats. You can choose which format you prefer as you complete the borrowing process. BookReader editions may be read online immediately in your web browser. No special software is required. Other Internet Archive loans are managed through Adobe Digital Editions and will require software installation on your computer or device. You can borrow a title to read online for 1 hour, or check it out for a period of 14 days. Even if the title is checked out, you can still read online for the 1 hour.

The Libraries purchase and make e-books access in a number of ways. Preference is for e-books without restrictions, where possible and feasible: