E-books Guide: Getting Started

There are many different types of e-books: freely available electronic copies of books that are out of copyright; e-books through sources such as Google Books in which only selected parts of the books can be viewed; e-books that you purchase yourself and download from Amazon or other sources; and, finally, the e-book collections that the library provides.

About Library E-books

All library e-books are full-text. All of them can be read online through a regular Web browser. Some library e-books can also be downloaded for offline reading on your computer, mobile device, or e-book reader, such as a Kindle. Here are directions how to download ebooks.

Finding E-books

Search E-books and Library Catalog to search all e-book collections simultaneously. 

Using E-books

There are various ways to actually read and use e-books. The best method depends on how you plan on using the book and how much of it you are going to read.

Read online. This is great for quick information or using smaller sections of e-books. All e-book platforms allow this.

Save, Print, or Email parts of e-books. Some e-books allow this, but copyright restrictions limit the pages allowed (such as 60 pages or 20% of the book). This usually works great if you just want a chapter or two.

Download  to a device for offline use. Some e-books are available to download (PC, Mac, Android, iOS, etc) for a limited "check-out" period, most often 21 days or 52 weeks. Additional software and configuration is required! This is the best method if you plan to read the book cover-to-cover.

More Help with E-book Platforms

Proquest Ebook Central: video tutorial  and help guides

eBooks on EBSCOhost: downloading and searching tutorials and other help guides

These databases provide access to e-books purchased or subscribed to by Manderino Library. E-Books in these collections are full text. In addition to being able to read the books online, you may download some titles for offline use (on a PC, Mac, and many mobile devices).