VLeBooks VLeBooks is the Online Library's principal e-book database, and contains a growing collection of e-books including a number of core textbooks. Click here to log into VLeBooks This video explains how to use VLeBooks (read the transcript here): E-Book Central (ProQuest) The Online Library also provides access to a growing collection of e-books in E-Book Central. You can login from the E-Book Central database page. E-Books in a Nutshell E-Books in a Nutshell Guide (PDF) - A guide to the e-books available in our multi-disciplinary databases. Law eBooks in a Nutshell Guide (PDF) - A guide to the law e-books available in the Online Library databases. Downloading E-books You need to use Adobe Digital Editions to read an e-book in VLeBooks or E-Book Central that you have downloaded. You can download Adobe Digital Editions for free from the Adobe website. The How can I download e-books? page explains further. Waiting to access e-books For some e-books, you will be asked to wait before you can read it. The Why do I sometimes need to wait to access an e-book? FAQ has details. When it is your turn to read the book, we recommend that you download the book so that you can read it until the download period ends. This is because when you read a book online in your web browser you might lose access to it if somebody else is waiting for it. Printing from e-books On the e-book's page in VLeBooks or E-Book Central, click the 'Read Online' button. Then click on the printer symbol at the top of the page. You will notice that there is a limit on how many pages you can print. This is a restriction imposed by the publishers of the book. But you can print the pages you have chosen as many times as necessary. Accessibility VLeBooks: when you read a book online in VLeBooks, you will see several features to help you read the book at the top of the page, including zoom in or out, changing the page layout, changing the background colour, and read aloud. E-Book Central: when you read a book online, you can zoom in or out. To read books aloud, go to your profile in E-Book Central and select 'Text Only' mode. You can then read books using screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA or VoiceOver. See the 'Read Online' section in E-Book Central's help page. PDF and EPUB formats When you read a book online, it will open in either PDF or EPUB format. For some books, you can choose which format to open it in. PDFs of books are similar the printed version of the book. Please note that you cannot download PDFs of whole books to keep indefinitely. EPUBs are versions of the book created specifically for online reading. They have greater flexibility to make the book more accessible to read, such as resizeable text. Page numbers will often be different in EPUB versions, so if you are asked to read specific pages, read the PDF version if possible. If only EPUB is available, navigate to the right chapter or section. Free e-books Here are some websites which host open access e-books we can recommend: Internet Archive (eBooks and Texts) - This project aims to provide free, universal access to all knowledge. It currently contains 44 million books and texts Directory of Open Access Books - This community-driven discovery service indexes and provides access to over 82,000 scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books Project Gutenberg - A library of over 70,000 free e-books, including the world's greatest literature, with a focus on older works Getty Publications Virtual Library - Getty is a leading global arts organization committed to exhibiting, conserving, and understanding the world’s artistic and cultural heritage
