Did you know that the University Library has more than 65,000 e-books in the collection? That means there are over 65,000 books that you can access from your laptop or your computer at home, on our Calgary and Edmonton campuses, on vacation, from anywhere, anytime.

The e-book collection covers a wide range of subject areas, including management, education, political science, religious studies, literature, sociology, economics, history, philosophy and more.

Many reference books, such as encyclopedias, handbooks and dictionaries, are also available in e-book format. The library has the most current editions of the Oxford English Dictionary, Encyclopedia Britannica and many other specialized and general reference books available electronically. There are plenty of online alternatives to Wikipedia available from the library catalogue.

In order to locate e-books, you can limit your library catalogue search to "E-book". Some e-books allow for multiple users to view them at one time, while others only allow for a single user. If you are having trouble viewing one, it could be because someone else is using the book. Currently, the library doesn't have the capability for users to check out an e-book from the collection and transfer it to an e-reader.

The library's e-books are provided through several different platforms, such as MyiLibrary, Ebrary or SpringerLink. Most platforms will allow you to download or print about 10 pages or a chapter at a time, and to annotate pages, bookmark pages and save books to a bookshelf. You may need to sign up for your own free account within the platform for full functionality.

There is also a link on the library's website to the Directory of Open Access Books (look under DOAB in databases by title), which is a way to find peer-reviewed and edited open access books available electronically.

Don't hesitate to ask your librarian for more information.

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.