eBooks Part II: EBSCOhost eBooks

Want to access nearly 21,000 eBooks from EBSCO but don’t know where to start? Click into the Library’s EBSCOhost eBook collection from here and follow the steps below as we walk you through the process of viewing and downloading an EBSCO eBook.

Find an eBook

Using the search bar at the top of the EBSCO eBook Collection page, you have the ability to look for specific titles, authors, subjects, and more, or you can browse through the 20 categories listed on the left of the page until you’ve found the eBook you need. If you plan to read the book online immediately, select your title and click the “eBook Full Text” link found on the Result List or on the left of the book’s Detailed Record page. This opens the book in a page viewer with tools to zoom in or out, arrow buttons to turn the pages, and a variety of options on the right side of the screen such as searching the book, taking notes in it, or saving up to 60 pages in PDF format.

Note: If you’re using a Mac computer, you’ll need to install a PDF Browser plugin in order to use the eBook Viewer. The Schubert-it plugin can be downloaded here.

You then have two hours to read your selected eBook online (or listen to the text if an MP3 audio file is available) before the session times out. If you need more than two hours, you might what to think about downloading the book for future reading offline.

Download the eBook

From the “eBook Full Text viewer,” you can choose to print up to 60 PDF pages of the eBook you’re reading, e-mail the pages, or save them to your computer to read offline. If you want to download the entire book for a limited period, you’ll need to create an EBSCO account. Not all publishers allow their eBooks be downloaded, but EBSCO makes it easy to see if access is available. Just look for the “Download this eBook (offline)” link on a book’s Detailed Record page. If it’s there, you can click it and sign in to EBSCO in order to start the download process.

Creating an EBSCO account is as easy as clicking the “Sign In” link and choosing “Create a new Account” on the right side of the Sign In page. All that’s required is your name, e-mail address, a user name and a password of your choosing.

Then, if a copy of the eBook is not already checked out to another user, you’ll be able to select your checkout period (generally up to 14 days, though some publishers only allow seven days) and be prompted to open or save the book in Adobe Digital Editions.

Adobe Digital Editions is a free software required for downloading eBooks (learn more about it in our previous blog post here) that allows you to read eBooks from your computer, transfer them to a mobile device and return them early if you need to check out more. Up to 35 EBSCO eBooks can be checked out at one time.

Place a Hold

If a copy of the eBook you need is not available—another patron may have checked it out or is currently using the last copy—a window will appear to let you know that the book is in use. But you still have the option to place it on hold using your e-mail address.

Your EBSCO account allows up to 20 holds, and you have three days to check out a hold once it becomes available. Hold requests expire after 15 months.

But as soon as a copy of your requested eBook is returned, you will receive an e-mail notification and see the title appear in the “Checkouts” area of your EBSCO account folder for you to download from there. Follow the steps from our Adobe Digital Editions blog post here, and your book will be saved to the computer and ready for offline viewing until its checkout period expires.

For more information on EBSCO eBooks, you can visit EBSCO’s help page from the eBook database, view tutorials for Windows PC users or view tutorials for Mac users.

You can also contact any CSN reference librarian by phone or in person for troubleshooting tips and friendly advice to make the most of your eBook experience.