Introduction to Electronic Books (EBooks)
Massey Library offers many EBooks through three platforms: AccessEngineering, EBSCO EBooks, and Scholars Portal. Most of these EBooks can be dowloaded in PDF or EPUB format for viewing on both mobile devices and computers. Many of these platforms operate on a keyword and/or title search system, allowing the user to find books either directly by title or indirectly through keywords.
How to Use the Platforms
AccessEngineering
AccessEngineering provides access to McGraw-Hill reference publications. It covers 14 major areas of engineering including latest editions of classics such as Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, Perry's Chemical Engineers Handbook, Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers and Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain. Engineering subject areas: Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Communications, Construction, Electrical, Energy, Environmental, Green/Sustainable, Industrial, Material Science, Mechanical, Nanotechnology & Optical engineering.
To use AccessEngineering, first use the search bar to find what you're looking for. The search bar can also be used for keyword searches to find EBooks. Once you find the book you're looking for, you can open the EBook viewer by clicking on a section of the book in the Table of Contents. Books can be viewed in both mobile and computer browsers and can be downloaded as PDFs by clicking the Download PDF button at the top of the EBook viewer.
EBSCO EBooks
EBSCO is a very large database platform that offers many forms of digital reading. Included in this platform's databases is a large EBook database called EBSCO EBooks which offers a vast selection of non-fiction and fiction reading for its users.
To use the EBSCO Database, first use the search bar to find what you are looking for, whether through keywords or Lexile field code. Alternatively, you can use the Browse By Category, Featured eBooks, or Latest Added tabs to find EBooks. Once you have found what you're looking for, you can either click the eBook Full Text icon to view the EBook in EBSCO's EBook viewer in browser, or you can click the Download button to download the EBook for offline viewing.
Scholars Portal
Scholars Portal is a repository of EBooks provided to participating universities by the Ontario Council of University Libraries. It is home to about 400,000 books from scholarly publishers, as well as government documents, musical scores, and much more.
In general, Scholars Portal EBooks are found through the university's online library catalogue. So, when you find an EBook that is available through Scholars Portal, the link on the library's catalogue will take you straight to Scholars Portal's EBook reader where you can read the book in browser. The Scholars Portal books that can be downloaded for offline viewing can be checked out by clicking the Read this book offline in Adobe Digital Editions button, which allows you to open the EBook file using Adobe Digital Editions, which you will need to have downloaded on your computer (so EBooks cannot be downloaded using a mobile device), and automatically returns the EBook in 72 hours.
For help, send an e-mail to the Massey Library.