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.
If you're looking for a specific book and know the title and author, use the Advanced Search area to enter multiple search terms in different fields. This can be handy when you have a citation for a book (perhaps from a syllabus), and you want to see if the library has the book. This example will use the following citation, specifically just the information in red font:
Noble, Alan. 2021. You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press.
On the Advanced Search screen, use the drop-down menus available to enter Noble in the Author/creator field, and You Are Not Your Own in the Title field. After doing this, click Search.
Because we've used the drop-down menus for Title and Author, we've executed a very targeted search which has retrieved just the book we're looking for!
Click Sign In if you'd like to submit a hold on the book (follow these instructions). We're going to click on the title of the book for more information:
When we click on the title of any book record in the catalogue, we're brought into the record where we can see more information about the book. Every record has tools like cite, email, pin, etc. (check out this page for more information).
Records will also have helpful links in the Details section that you can follow to find even more information. In the record in our example, there are author and subject links. If you wanted to see what else the library had by Alan Noble, you could click his author link.
We want to show you the Identity (Psychology) – Religious aspects – Christianity subject link:
When you click it, you're brought a list of books that also have Identity (Psychology) – Religious aspects – Christianity as a subject; subjects pinpoint what books are most about, so when you see the same subject applied to other books in the library's collection, you can be confident that these books include information on the same topic.
When you click any of these linked subjects, the catalogue searches for all the resources that have the same subject:
So if you've found 1 great resource for your topic, be sure to click the subject links in the catalogue to find even more resources on the same topic!
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.