Ambrose Library features an extensive and diverse collection of theological materials with access to cross-disciplinary resources to support many avenues of study.
Books and eBooks will typically offer more extensive information on a topic than a journal article, given their longer length. Both are found by searching the library's catalogue. See the sections below for information on how to search the library's collections for books and eBooks.
The library catalogue search allows you to search for print books in the library and eBooks available online. Check out the sections below for tips on how to search for books and eBooks.
A note about eBooks: not all books are available as eBooks for a variety of reasons:
Additionally, even if an eBook is available for purchase online (e.g., through Kindle) or directly from the publisher, this does not mean that the library will be able to purchase a copy; some publishers do not allow libraries to purchase copies of their eBooks.
Go to the library catalogue. When you start typing your topic or search term in the search bar, a drop-down menu will appear. Select the library catalogue option to search for print books and eBooks:
Alternatively, use the Advanced Search area to enter multiple search terms in different fields. This area is particularly helpful when you're searching for a "known item" (e.g., if you're looking for a specific book and know the title and author, you can use the Author/creator and Title options in the drop-down menu):
This search retrieves 155 results. On the search results page, select Held by Library under the Availability filter to limit your results to just print books in the library's collection:
Adding this Held by Library filter reduces the results to 40 print books. Now, all your results will say Available at Ambrose Library if they're on the shelves and ready to be checked out, or Checked out from Ambrose Library if someone else already has something signed out:
If you find a book that looks relevant to your topic, you may want to browse the books around it to see if there are other similar books on the same topic. You can also do this virtually!
Click on the title of the book to go into the record, and then scroll down to the Virtual Browse section near the bottom of the record. Here you'll see the book you clicked in the middle, and then arrows to the right and left; clicking these shows you the books that are shelved before and after the book on the shelf. This is a handy way to "browse the shelves" virtually, and you may also find additional search terms relevant to your search (e.g., "critical thinking" may be worth adding to my "misinformation" topic).
Log in to your library account to request print books or refer to this information on how to find print books on the shelves!
Go to the library catalogue. When you start typing your topic or search term in the search bar, a drop-down menu will appear. Select the library catalogue option to search for print books and eBooks:
Alternatively, use the Advanced Search area to enter multiple search terms in different fields. This area is particularly helpful when you're searching for a "known item" (e.g., if you're looking for a specific book and know the title and author, you can use the Author/creator and Title options in the drop-down menu):
This search retrieves 155 results. On the search results page, select Full Text Online under the Availability filter to limit your results to just eBooks in the library's collection:
Adding this Full Text Online filter reduces the results to 115 eBooks. Now, all your results will say Online access indicating that they are available online:
Click on the title of the eBook and check the links in the View Online section to see where the book is available. This book is available through 2 platforms, Ebook Central and EBSCO:
Clicking on the Ebook Central link takes you to the page below.
Under Availability, you can see what type of license the library has: unlimited access means an unlimited number of people can access this book simultaneously. You may also see 1 user access or 3 user access options here.
You can either read online or download the book to your device (please note many course texts cannot be downloaded).
See the section below for instructions on downloading the eBook and importing it into Adobe Digital Editions.
Clicking on the EBSCOhost link takes you to the page below.
Next to Concurrent User Level, you can see what type of license the library has: unlimited user access means an unlimited number of people can access this book simultaneously. You may also see 1 user access or 3 user access options here.
You can either read the book online (click PDF Full Text) or download the book (click Full Download) to your device. To read the downloaded book, you will need to install Adobe Digital Editions on your device.
See the section below for instructions on downloading the eBook and importing it into Adobe Digital Editions.
After you click Download you'll be prompted to confirm your device type:
Then you'll be asked to either download Adobe Digital Editions (click Get Adobe Digital Editions) or confirm you have ADE (click Done with this step):
Clicking Get Adobe Digital Editions brings you to an Adobe webpage where you can download the most up-to-date installer for Windows or MacOS. Once you have ADE installed on your device, return to Ebook Central and click Done with this step. Now you'll be able to select how long to borrow the book for, and then click Download to complete the download:
See the Adobe Digital Editions tab above for instructions on importing the eBook into ADE.
When you click Full Download in EBSCO, you'll be prompted to choose how long to borrow the eBook for and the download format of your choice. You will also have to confirm that you have Adobe Digital Editions. Clicking the Adobe Digital Editions link brings you to an Adobe webpage where you can download the most up-to-date installer for Windows or MacOS.
Clicking Full Download downloads the file to your device:
See the Adobe Digital Editions tab above for instructions on importing the eBook into Adobe Digital Editions.
Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is a software that allows users to open and read library eBooks on their devices. To read downloaded library-owned eBooks, you will need to both download and authorize ADE on your computer. Go to Adobe's webpage where you can download the most up-to-date version of ADE for either Windows or MacOS.
Open Adobe Digital Editions once you've installed it on your device. Before you can import your eBook, you need to authorize ADE. Click Help > Authorize Computer:
Click the Create an Adobe ID link (this will bring you to an Adobe webpage where you can create a free Adobe ID):
Enter your Adobe ID and password (that you created) and click Authorize:
ADE will authorize and you will see the following confirmation. If you have any difficulty authorizing ADE on your device, refer to this help information from Adobe.
Now you're ready to import your downloaded eBook! Click File > Add to Library:
Navigate to the folder where you saved the eBook (most likely your Downloads folder). Make sure you select Adobe Content Server Message in the drop-down menu near the bottom of the window:
Now you should see the eBook you downloaded in the list. Select it and click Open:
ADE will take a moment to import the eBook:
Once import is complete, the eBook will display:
If you want to upload the eBook to an eReader, click the Library button in the above screenshot to bring you to your bookshelf. Once you plug an eReader into your device, you'll see it appear in the Devices section. Simply drag-and-drop the file into the device:
Now the eBook will be saved to your device and you'll be able to read it there for the duration of your loan period.
When you click on the titles of resources in the library's catalogue, you'll be brought into that item's record where there are many useful tools. Use the tabs above to learn about them!
A permalink is a stable link to an item in the library's collections. Use the permalink (rather than the URL in your browser) if you need to send a link to an item to your instructor or to a classmate.
Click the permalink button and then the copy the permalink to clipboard button:
If you're referencing an item in a research paper or assignment, you'll need to include a citation to it in your Bibliography, Works Cited, or Reference List. Depending on your program of study, your instructor may require these citations be formatted in a particular style. The citation tool is useful for generating a citation in a variety of citation styles:
Click the citation button, choose your preferred citation style from the list, and then click the copy the citation to clipboard button:
To remember a record for later, use the email tool to send yourself the record. Click the email button, enter your email address (include a note if you want to), and then click the Send button:
You'll receive an email from library@ambrose.edu with the subject Item(s) sent by Primo. If you don't see the email in your inbox, check your junk or spam folder.
You may find that pinning items is a more useful way to not just remember items for later, but also to organize resources on related topics. To pin items, click the pin icon associated with an item:
This saves an item to the My Favorites section. Click the pin icon at the top of the screen to go to your favourites:
Here you can add labels to group similar resources together in whatever way is useful for you (e.g., by topic, assignment, or course):
You can also save searches using the pinning tool, which may be particularly helpful when you've used the advanced search area and combined multiple search terms and are searching in multiple fields.
Click the Save Query button at the top of your search results to save your search. Click Turn on notification for this query to enter your email address if you'd like to be notified when new items are added to the catalogue that meet your search criteria:
Click the pin icon at the top of the screen to go to your favourites:
And click the Saved Searches tab to see your saved search. You can turn search notifications on or off here using the bell icon, or you can click the hyperlinked search to launch the search again:
See these instructions for how to request print books online.