LibGuides: Types of Resources: Major ebook collections

Broome Library ebook collections

It can be helpful to browse directly in large ebook databases. The most popular ebook databases are listed below by the size of the collection, with notes on their general scope and usability. A complete list of ebook databases provided by the library can be found here.

HathiTrust Digital Library
HathiTrust is a digital library of 18 million items, of which 7 million are freely available for online reading. Hathi ebooks are primarily read-only, most do not enable downloads. Excellent source of public domain (pre-1928) titles. Guide to using HathiTrust.
Ebook Central
Provides access to 250,000 e-books across academic disciplines on a user-friendly platform. Download/printing capability varies by title, usually 40% of the book. Full download is time-limited and requires Adobe Digital Editions (free). See user guide here.
Springer Nature Link
Providing researchers with access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols, reference works and proceedings. Ebooks are downloadable by whole book or chapter, without printing restrictions. User guide.
JSTOR
JSTOR is an interdisciplinary & historical database providing access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, images, & primary sources. Ebooks are downloadable by chapter, without printing restrictions. Now includes Artstor's 2.5 million images. Tutorials for JSTOR and for ArtStor images.
O'Reilly Ebooks
Access to over 50,000 online ebooks, audiobooks, and videos about technology, digital media and business. Downloadable to CI students through the O'Reilly Education mobile app. See directions here.
Project MUSE
Project Muse provides full-text access to over 700 journals and 70,000 ebooks. Provides high-quality, peer-reviewed Humanities and Social Science content. Ebooks are downloadable by chapter, without printing restrictions. Video tutorial.
ACLS Humanities Ebooks
6,000 high quality ebooks in the humanities and related social sciences for online reading. Print/download restricted to 10 pages at a time.
Diversity & Ethnic Studies eBooks Collection
Over 5,000 books on topics of equity, inclusion, and diversity. Download/printing capability varies by title, usually up to 100 pages of the book. Full download is time-limited and requires Adobe Digital Editions and an Ebsco account (both free). See user guide here.

Open Access ebook collections

There are many free, Open Access ebook collections available to the public; often these collections have older books that are part of public domain. See also California's Bookshelf, a publicly accessible ebook/audiobook library detailed elsewhere on this page.

Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. You can also search for archived websites through their Wayback Machine.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project (Fordham University)
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. The broad scope of this project includes primary sources focused on Byzantine, Islamic, Jewish, Indian, East Asian, and African history. You will also find many documents especially relevant to women's history and LGBT studies.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks from public domain. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them, or read them online.