Subject and Course Guides: How to Find Ebooks Online: Home

Finding Ebooks

This guide is meant for UNL patrons who have Ncards (in other words, UNL faculty, staff, and students). Most of the links on this page will only work if you are able to log into the UNL system.

If you can't find an ebook through any of these means, you can place a Delivery/Interlibrary Loan request here:

Delivery/Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad)

UNL Libraries Catalog

Start by searching the UNL Libraries catalog for the book you need. If you know the exact title, you can search for the title in quotation marks to narrow down the search faster.

You can limit search results to online resources by selecting "Available Online" near the top of the left-hand column, then clicking "Apply Filters."

Ebooks will have a link that says "Available online."

Click on the link to see one or more links to publishers/platforms that have the ebook. Click on one of them to access the book.

Different platforms have different rules for how many people can view an ebook at the same time, or how many pages can be saved or printed per day.

Using WorldCat & Google to Find UNL Libraries Resources

If the book doesn't show up in the UNL Libraries catalog, you can try searching in WorldCat's FirstSearch.

You can click on "Internet" to narrow down the search to e-resources.

Click on the book's WorldCat record and scroll down to "Access." This will tell you which publishers/platforms have the ebook. (Just be aware that this list may not be completely up to date.)

You can use this information to determine which database to search for the book in. (Ebrary and MyiLibrary books have been absorbed by ProQuest.)

For example, this book is available in several places: EBSCO, Google Books, JSTOR, MyiLibrary, ProQuest, and VLeBooks. You can try clicking on the links with "libproxy.unl.edu" to see if any of these ebooks are accessible through our resources.

You can also try doing a Google search for the book - search for the title, in quotation marks, plus "JSTOR" or "Project Muse" or "ScienceDirect." If you find a link this way, click on it to make sure we have full-text access. If the Google link doesn't work, go to the databases through the Databases A-Z list or through the links provided in the next box.

Using UNL Libraries Databases

EBSCO eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
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Search within EBSCO itself, because not every title we have access to will show up in a catalog search. Also, these ebooks cannot be found via Google, but you should be able to access them through the WorldCat links mentioned above.
HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
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HathiTrust records may or may not show up in our catalog. Works in the public domain (pre-1924) can be downloaded as PDFs.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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JSTOR links in WorldCat records should link directly to the resource, or you can Google the book title plus "JSTOR" to find it.
When searching within JSTOR, you can use the "Book" and "Book Chapter" options to narrow down your search. If you click on an item we do not have access to, you will see a blue banner stating "Your institution does not have access to this book on JSTOR." You can also narrow down your search to "Content I can access" to make sure you only see materials that UNL has access to.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Project MUSE links in WorldCat records should link directly to the resource, or you can Google the book title plus "Project MUSE" to find it.
When searching within Project MUSE, you can use the "Books" option to narrow down your search. In the search results, the items we can access will have a green checkmark or green "OA" icon. Items we don't have access to will have a red padlock icon. You can also narrow down your search to "Only content I have access to" to make sure you only see materials that UNL has access to.
ProQuest Databases This link opens in a new window
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ProQuest links in WorldCat records do not usually work well. Search for the item directly within ProQuest instead.
When searching within ProQuest, you can use the "Books" option under "Source type" to narrow down your search.
ScienceDirect Collections This link opens in a new window
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ScienceDirect/Elsevier books and book chapters often show up in Google. Make sure you are accessing ScienceDirect through this link (or the Databases A-Z list) so that you can see what we do and do not have access to.
When searching within ScienceDirect, you can use the "Books" option to narrow down your search. You can also click on "Subscribed & complimentary" to only see materials we have access to. Once you have clicked on a book, you will see a green dot next to the words "Full text access" on each chapter you are able to access.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
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Springer ebooks will usually show up when searching our library catalog. Links to Springer ebooks in WorldCat will also generally work.
When searching within SpringerLink, you can use the "Book" option to narrow down your search. You can also uncheck the "Include Preview-Only content" checkbox to only see materials we have access to. You will know we have access to a Springer book because it will let you download chapters or the entire book as a PDF!

Other Websites to Find Ebooks

Internet Archive
Internet Archive books are available to everyone, no library card needed! Links to the Internet Archive may or may not show up in WorldCat.
OverDrive
A public library database of ebooks and audiobooks that you can check out with your Lincoln City Libraries card. (For non-Lincoln patrons, check with your local public library to see if they offer books through OverDrive).
Hoopla Ebooks
A public library database of ebooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, and music that you can check out with your Lincoln City Libraries card.
(For non-Lincoln patrons, check with your local public library to see if they offer materials through Hoopla).