Ebooks
If you are a Brookes student, you can access our ebooks from anywhere using your Brookes login. This guide will help you with finding, reading and downloading library ebooks, using the main ebook platforms you're likely to see.
Note that publishers do not always make their titles available as library ebooks. In some cases a book can be purchased for individual use (e.g. via a Kindle) but it may not be available for libraries. This is particularly true of textbooks.
How to search for ebooks
Ebooks are listed on LibrarySearch. Follow the steps below to search our collection through either of these routes, or alternatively, watch our video.
To find ebooks through the LibrarySearch:
- Go to the Library home page and choose the tab 'Books & ebooks'.
- Search for the book by author and/or keyword or a combination of both. At the search results screen, click the Library filter (on the left) to limit your search to Oxford Brookes University content if this limiter is required. Under the Format filter, click the check box marked eBooks to select only e-book content.
- Click on the book title to see the full details and click for the button marked 'View eBook'. Log in when prompted with your Brookes username and password.
Download our illustrated step-by-step guides:
Using LibrarySearch to find a book or e-book when you know the title and author (PDF)
Using LibrarySearch to find a book or e-book on a specific subject (PDF)
Reading and downloading ebooks
Our ebooks are on a variety of online platforms and each of these offers different options for viewing and downloading. Below are tips on using the main ebook platforms you're likely to see. For other platforms, check the on-screen help guides.
Adobe Digital Editions
In order to download ebooks on the ProQuest Ebook Central and EBSCO eBooks platforms you will need to have the Adobe Digital Editions programme on your laptop or computer. You can download Adobe Digital Editions here. IT Services have installed Adobe Digital Editions as an App on Brookes networked computers. If you are using one of these PCs, you should launch Adobe Digital Editions first (from the "AppsAnywhere" page) and then go to the ebook. Brookes staff may need to request the programme from IT Services if they want it installed on their office PC.
ProQuest Ebook Central platform
Many of these books are available through a 'user license model' – this allows for only a limited number of people to access the book at one time. If an ebook is being used, you will get a message saying that it is not currently available and you will need to try again later.
Some of these books are available through a 'credit' model – this allows for a certain number of uses in a 12-month period, starting from the day the ebook is bought. This means there are no restrictions on the number of students using one ebook at the same time.
You can read ProQuest Ebook Central books online and may also be able to download the whole book (for a limited time) or sections of it, depending on what the publisher has allowed.
In order to read and download ProQuest Ebook Central ebooks you will need to have the Adobe Digital Editions programme on your laptop or computer - see the note above.
On iOS and Android devices, you need Bluefire Reader, which is free from the App Store and Google Play, though you also need an Adobe ID to use Bluefire Reader. ProQuest have produced a very helpful guide ProQuest Ebook Central: Full Download explaining how their ebooks work on different devices.
EBSCO Ebooks platform
Many of these books are available through a 'user license model' – this allows for only a limited number of people to access the book at one time. If an e-book is being used, you will get a message saying that it is not currently available and you will need to try again later.
You can read EBSCO e-books online and may also be able to download the whole book (for a limited time) or sections of it, depending on what the publisher has allowed.
In order to read and download EBSCO e-books you will need to have the Adobe Digital Editions programme on your laptop or computer - see the note above.
For full details of how to use EBSCO e-books, check this EBSCO eBooks User Guide.
This is a collection of ebooks on various aspects of Information Technology and Business. If you are using O'Reilly it is important that you log out of the database at the end of your session to release the collection for other users.
Reference ebooks and dictionaries
- Oxford Reference gives access to Oxford University Press reference books on a wide variety of subjects.
- See our guide to Dictionaries for links to other collections of reference books and online dictionaries.
- Information about reference ebooks for specific subjects may be given on the relevant Course Resource Help pages
Online collections of historic books
Historical Texts (formerly JISC Historic Books) provides the full text of over 350,000 books on a wide range of subjects published in Great Britain from 1475-1900. It consists of: Early English Books Online (EEBO), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) and Nineteenth Century Books from the British Library collection. You can opt to search the collections individually or in combination. The books are not listed on LibrarySearch.
Free ebook sites
- Internet Archive E-book and Text Archive: a range of ebooks including both popular and academic titles
- Directory of Open Access Books: open access books from academic publishers
- Project Gutenberg: a collection of 38,000 free ebooks, with a strong emphasis on older literary works
- Getty Virtual Library
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