Research Guides: E-readers, Tablets, and Library Ebooks: Find Ebooks

Ebooks for Download

Note: The platforms EBSCO eBooks, Ebook Central, and ebrary have the greatest number of ebooks which can be downloaded to devices for offline reading. These platforms also provide advanced features for highlighting, note-taking, and more. See more details about each at the bottom of this page.

Ebooks at the Newton Gresham Library

Ebook Central (formerly EBL) This link opens in a new window Huge collection of e-books in all subject areas. Books may be read online or downloaded (temporarily) to certain devices. Titles can be found in the library catalog or searched within Ebook Central.
Details on downloading ebooks.
Business Expert Press E-Books This link opens in a new window Downloadable business e-books.
CRCnetBASE This link opens in a new window Provides e-books in the areas of Forensics/Law Enforcement and Nutrition. All these titles can be searched and opened from the library's online catalog, or the whole collection can be searched as a database.
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics This link opens in a new window The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics contains physical constants and formulas, properties of elements and organic and inorganic compounds, and other chemical data.
Early American Imprints 1639-1819 (includes Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker) This link opens in a new window Virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America from 1639-1819. Documents almost every aspect of life in colonial America and the early U.S.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window Virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere, from 1473-1700.
FORENSICnetBASE (part of CRCnetBASE) This link opens in a new window FORENSICnetBASE provides online access to e-books on forensic science, criminal justice, and law enforcement published by CRC Press.

Gutenberg-e
Award-winning history books from Columbia University and the American Historical Association. Chapters can be saved as HTML files (text).

Gale Ebooks (*formerly* Gale Virtual Reference Library - GVRL) This link opens in a new window Collection of ebooks (primarily reference) in almost all subjects, which are searchable together or individually. For a list of titles currently available, click on "Title List" at top right.
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InfoSci Books (IGI Global)
Information/computer science; technology applied to business & public administration, engineering, education, medical & healthcare, and social science. Book chapters can be downloaded as PDFs, which can be transferred to most devices.

Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window Information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Contains thousands of plot summaries, synopses, work overviews, literary criticism articles/essays, author biographies and interviews, literary journals, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems and short stories, classic texts, and much more. Also includes a wide range of leading encyclopedias and other works in literary studies.
MackinVia This link opens in a new window MackinVIA provides easy access to eBooks, audiobooks, educational databases, and videos for K-12 students and teachers. Use MackinVIA on any desktop, laptop, or mobile device with Internet access; content can be embedded into Blackboard or other LMS.
NUTRITIONnetBASE (part of CRCnetBASE) This link opens in a new window Provides e-books in Nutrition (as well as Forensic Science, and the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics).
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window (number of simultaneous users is limited) Combines quick reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the rich resources of the Oxford Companions from ready-reference to comprehensive scholarly articles. See the titles in Oxford Reference.
O'Reilly for Higher Education (formerly Safari Tech Books Online) This link opens in a new window An electronic reference library for programming and IT professionals, providing searchable full-text contents of 35k+ books, 4,000+ videos, and 200+ business case studies. Enter an SHSU email address when prompted to access the content.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window ScienceDirect is the world's largest scientific database. ScienceDirect provides full-text access to journals in various science disciplines. Note: Does not support IE 8 or older versions.
Taylor & Francis eBooks This link opens in a new window This is a platform for all of Taylor & Francis' academic, science, technology and medical eBook content. Titles can be found in the library catalog or searched within this platform.

Free Ebook Websites

Directory of Open Access Books
The primary aim of DOAB is to increase discoverability of Open Access books. The directory is open to all publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books in Open Access.
National Academies Press
Free ebooks from the publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.
University of California Press Ebooks Collection
500+ academic press books available to public in full text
De Gruyter Open Access Book Library
Nearly 900 open-access titles, about half from the humanities publisher De Gruyter and half from their publishing partners.
OAPEN
(Open Access Publishing in European Networks) The OAPEN Library contains freely accessible academic books, mainly in the area of humanities and social sciences. OAPEN also hosts all the scholarly content that has been "unlatched" into open-access status by the Knowledge Unlatched program.
EU Bookshop
EU Bookshop contains more than 100,000 titles in more than 50 languages. PDF and e-book versions are free of charge. The vast majority of titles on EU Bookshop are authored by EU institutions such as the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of the EU, EU agencies and other bodies.
Project Gutenberg
Over 42,000 free ebooks, including Epub and Kindle versions.
Google Books
To search only free, complete electronic books, do an Advanced Search and choose "Full view only."
Standard Ebooks

More about... EBSCO E-Book Collection

EBSCO eBooks Collection is the SHSU library's largest source of ebooks and covers almost all disciplines.

Reading Options: Read e-books online, or "check out" the book to download it and read it offline (on a computer or a portable device) for a specified number of days.

Highlighting and Note-Taking: Create a free MyEBSCO account to save your own notes and highlighting.

Waiting List: If the e-book you want to read is already in use, you can "Place a Hold" and be put on a waiting list. You will be notified by email when the e-book is available for you to read.

More about... EBL

EBL is another major e-book collection at the SHSU library and also covers most disciplines.

Reading Options: Read e-books online, or "check out" the book to download it and read it offline (on a portable device) for a specified number of days.

Highlighting and Note-Taking: Use your SHSU username and password to log-in. In your account, you can save ebooks to a bookshelf, save your own notes and highlighting.

Copying Quotes: To copy a quote, go to the toolbar at the top of the EBL reader.

Go to a document and paste the quote; it will automatically include the source information for your Works Cited page.

More about... ebrary

ebrary is another major e-book collection at the SHSU library and also covers most disciplines.

Reading Options: Read e-books online, or "check out" the book to download it and read it offline (on a computer or a portable device) for a specified number of days. Not all books may be downloaded in their entirety in ADE format; some books may only be downloaded in PDF and only up to 60 pages.

Highlighting and Note-Taking: Create a free ebrary account to save your own notes and highlighting.

Copying Quotes: To copy a quote, highlight it, then click InfoTools and select Copy. Go to a document and paste the quote; it will automatically include the source information for your Works Cited page.