SMU Twin Cities Library | EBSCO eBooks

EBSCO eBooks

EBSCO’s Academic eBooks contains over 83,000 eBooks. Topics include business, education, health and medicine, biographies, law, psychology, religion, and social sciences.

Accessing  |  Searching  |  Viewing/Downloading  |  Citing eBooks  |  eBook FAQs

Accessing EBSCO eBooks

  • Go to TC Library's homepage: http://www.smumn.edu/tclibrary
  • Select the Articles tab. Click the Databases A-Z link and select EBSCO eBooks.
  • Off-campus users: You will be prompted to enter your Saint Mary's University username and password after you select the database.

Searching EBSCO eBooks

You have three basic and one advanced searching options in EBSCO eBooks.

  1. Search by keyword. Enter your term(s) into the search box and hit "Search."
  2. Browse by subject category. View a results list by selecting a broad subject area.
  3. View highlighted, popular books. Go directly to the book by selecting its cover.
  4. If you want to perform a more in depth search, select the "Advanced Search" link under the search box. On the resulting page, you have multiple search boxes. You can perform a scholarly search using options including:
    • ISBN
    • Author
    • Title

Searching EBSCO eBooks

Viewing and Downloading EBSCO eBooks

Read Online, Read as PDF, Download OfflineThe three options for viewing EBSCO eBooks are to:

  1. View entirety online—EBSCO eBooks database.
  2. View portion online or in eReader—Download up to 60 pages as a PDF.
  3. View entirety in portable device or eReader*—Download the entire document to Adobe Digital Editions.

*Due to publisher restrictions, not all eBooks offer this option.

To view in an eReader (e.g. Kindle, Nook, iPad) you need to download the entire document to Adobe Digital Editions. This is a multi-step process.

  1. Install reader software based on your device.
  2. Search for an eBook in EBSCO eBooks.
  3. Click the EBSCO eBook title.
  4. Click Download Offline.
  5. Sign in to EBSCO or create an EBSCO account.
    • From EBSCO eBooks, click Sign In on the top toolbar.
    • At the Sign In Screen, click the Create a new Account link.
  6. Click Download Offline.
  7. Click Checkout & Download.
    • For Apple devices, Bluefire will open, and you will be prompted to enter your Adobe ID.

Downloading eBooks Offline

Citing eBooks

EBSCO eBooks can create a premade citation for you, however the citation is incorrect. The Twin Cities Writing Center created a handout for you to use when citing eBooks.

If you have citation questions, please contact the Writing Center for assistance.

EBSCO eBooks FAQs

What happens to the downloaded book at the end of the checkout period? Does the book disappear?
EBSCO says: "After an eBook checkout has expired, the downloaded eBook file can still be found in Digital Editions but cannot be opened. You must manually delete the file from Digital Editions to remove it from your computer. Note: This also applies to any portable devices (such as Apple or Android devices) to which you have transferred the eBook."

If I download a book and add notes, do the notes disappear at the end of the checkout period?
EBSCO has a great user guide that explains how to add notes.
Unfortunately, notes do disappear once the checkout time expires for an eBook. We suggest you print your notes before your loan period is up. Your printed notes page will list each note along with its corresponding page number.

What if someone has my eBook checked out? Can I reserve it?
Most of our eBooks have unlimited simultaneous checkouts, so with luck you will never encounter this issue! However, you can reserve checked-out eBooks:

  1. Click Download Offline.
  2. If the eBook is checked out, you will see the message Sorry, this eBook is in use.
  3. Enter your email address in the field provided and click the Place Hold button.
    • When the eBook is available, you are notified via the email address you provided and the eBook appears in the Checkouts area of your folder.

Placing a Hold on an eBook