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E-textbooks in the Library: a guide for searching & browsing potential e-books for course use

Browsing for eBook availability

As interest grows in OER opportunities, and as we continue to build on our Textbooks in the Library project, you may be wondering what is available in electronic format as an alternative to print textbooks (and as a way to save students money).

The following are vendor platforms the library uses for purchasing e-books--we use these because they have large catalogs and they can provide institutional licensing for their titles. You can simply provide us with textbook titles and we can check these sources, or if you'd like to browse the catalogs, please use the logins provided below.  


ProQuest eBook Central

Username: guestsearch

Password: bsu2023Beavers

You can proivde us with book information via copy/paste, screenshot, or search and make lists within the resource. If you choose to make lists within ProQuest eBook Central, please label them with your full name and email them to tbobrowsky@bemidjistate.edu once they're completed. 

A note on access models: We will work with you to determine an appropriate access model, but for the purposes of creating lists, please select the one that best suits your students' needs.


EbscoHost eBooks 

Username:  libbsu

Password:   BemSta23!

You can proivde us with book information via copy/paste, screenshot, or search and make lists within the resource. ("submit for approval").  If you choose to make lists within EbscoHost eBooks, please label them with your full name as this is a shared log-in. 

A note on access models: We will work with you to determine an appropriate access model, but for the purposes of creating lists, please select the one that best suits your students' needs.


JSTOR 

JSTOR has over 10,000 open access e-books that can be searched through JSTOR's interface. JSTOR also has scholarly and university press books for purchase, but you'll need to contact a library staff for titles. 

 

Project Muse

Project Muse has almost 10,000 purchased and open access e-books that can be searched through its interface. Project Muse also has scholarly and university press books for purchase, but you'll need to contact a library staff for titles. 

 

WorldCat

A WorldCat search allows you to search most of the libraries of the world. You can use Advanced Search to limit your results to e-book format.  


Open Educational Resources (OER) Options

OER is quickly becoming a great way to save students money. What is OER?:

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.

Open license refers to a license that respects the intellectual property rights of the copyright owner and provides permissions granting the public the rights to access, re-use, re-purpose, adapt and redistribute educational materials.

~Unesco

Below are some places to search for OER:

  • Open Textbook Library: "Openly licensed books for the common good, to be freely used and shared by everyone."

 

  • OER Commons:  "OER Commons, its digital public library and collaboration platform, informed by the organization's pioneering efforts in knowledge management and educational innovation. OER Commons offers a comprehensive infrastructure for curriculum experts and instructors at all levels to identify high-quality OER and collaborate around their adaptation, evaluation, and use to address the needs of teachers and learners."