Summary
E-BOOKS
Typical questions
• Is this book available electronically?
• Can I get a list of all the books digitized by Google?
Points to consider
• Many libraries subscribe to e-book packages. These offer access to textbooks which are not available free via the internet. Therefore students should be directed to search local library catalogues/electronic libraries first. Remind users that searches via Google may not retrieve the correct login page, so it is always safer to go via their own institutional catalogues/web pages.
• Many governments, charities and think-tanks now publish pamphlets and reports in e-format only. Many libraries do not create individual records for these items in their catalogues. They can usually be located by searching for the title of the publication or the organization on an internet search engine.
• Some free e-book websites are of low quality. Advise students to check publication dates and details carefully before use.
Where to look
This section highlights major free collections suitable for academic use.
Europeana
www.europeana.eu
European Commission-funded portal which is working to build a virtual European library offering free access to Europe's cultural resources. It includes millions of texts (manuscripts, papers, e-books), images (photo - graphs, maps), films (moving images, videos, film clips, TV broadcasts) and sound recordings from Europe's main research libraries, archives and galleries.
Gallica
gallica.bnf.fr
Electronic library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Provides free access to thousands of full-text historic French-language books, journals and newspapers from the library, covering all subject areas.
Google books
books.google.com
Go directly to this site to search for e-books. The help screens and blog provide useful updates on library collections that have been scanned by Google. Use the advanced search form to restrict your search to full-text only.
HathiTrust Digital Library
www.hathitrust.org
Consortium of research libraries (mostly American based) that are creating a digital archive of their major research materials. This includes the full texts of books and pamphlets out of copyright. All subject areas of the arts and humanities, sciences and social sciences are covered. There is particularly strong coverage of American political, social and economic history.
Online Books Page
onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
Excellent index to free e-books maintained by Penn University. Highlights individual titles and large e-book directories. Over 1 million titles currently listed. Covers all subject areas.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Know it All, Find it Fast for Academic Libraries , pp. 97 - 142Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2011