Media Collections
- Library
- LibGuides
- Media Collections
- Ebook Collections & Ebooks & Audiobooks from OverDrive
Ebooks
The College Library provides access to over 1 million ebooks through our subscription plans & packages, individual purchases made upon request and through access to resources made openly available without cost. Finding ebooks through Discover (the library catalog) is easy (see first tab of this guide). It is important to understand access as well as the differences in usage terms among various publishers, which can affect downloads from the different platforms.
New in January 2020
While our primary ebook subscription access is to scholarly titles, we do have a platform with selections designed for leisure reading and chosen primarily through recommendations by students, faculty & professional staff. More information about OverDrive can be found in the column on the far right.
Access
After you locate an ebook in Discover, make sure to either click on the drop down menu found on the "View ebook" button or click on the title of the ebook to find more information about the book as well as access options. More often than not, there are multiple links to the same ebook and some work better than others. Try all links before reporting an access issues and make sure you are logged into Inside F&M with your user id and password (you will be prompted to log in if you're not). The College Library does not have control over the order or appearance of links to ebooks in our catalog.
Usage Terms
Most of our scholarly ebooks are "DRM-free", which means that there are no copy, print, or download restrictions on them. This includes ebooks from Springer, Cambridge, GVRL, Taylor & Francis, JSTOR and SAGE Knowledge. This also includes a portion of the ebooks available through our two major subscription packages--EBSCO & Ebook Central (Proquest); however, some of these titles have publisher restrictions regarding chapter and page print/downloads. There will often be language beside the title or within the description of the item (see examples below) to indicate these limits. Also for these platforms, if you want to download to an ereader, you must sign in/create an individual account. In all cases, you can download the entire book without restriction.
OverDrive
OverDrive is a user-friendly/device-friendly platform for popular ebooks and audiobooks. Often, books that are not available as ebooks in our scholarly subscriptions or on academic platforms, can be found on OverDrive. Although the general model for this platform is 1 user at a time, we can investigate bulk purchasing of certain titles for class use. Books can be read/listened to on your computer or downloaded onto a phone, Kindle or other device.
When we receive requests for ebooks via the online order form, we will investigate all options and determine which platform is best on a case-by-case basis.
Since we are now using OverDrive primarily to fill requests for required class readings in an online environment, we are currently not filling recommendations made through the OverDrive site. However, feel free to use the recommendation feature to let us know you’d like us to add a title to the collection, perhaps for your own reading pleasure. These recommendations will be reviewed and some may eventually be fulfilled as funds permit.