General Research Guides
netLibrary eBooks
What are eBooks?
eBooks are complete electronic versions of printed books. Approximately 8,500 eBooks are available to MINITEX libraries (of which Carleton's Gould Library is one) through a service called netLibrary. Since eBooks are available online, you can access them from any computer with an Internet connection. You can search the full text of eBooks for key terms and concepts, broadening the scope of how books are used to find information, or you can read them page by page as with traditional print books. eBooks include fiction, nonfiction, and reference titles.
Creating an account
In order to access eBooks, you must first create a netLibrary account. Go to the netLibrary "Create an Account" Web page at http://www.netlibrary.com/CreateAccount.aspx and fill in the required fields (you may wish to read netLibrary's Privacy Policy at http://www.netlibrary.com/PrivacyPolicy.aspx first). Carleton College does not keep track of these accounts and passwords, so you will need to contact netLibrary if you forget your password.
Checking out eBooks
Once you have created your netLibrary account, you can log in at http://www.netlibrary.com/Login.aspx and begin searching for eBooks. If you would like a basic demo before you get started, go to netLibrary's Customer Support Center at http://www.netLibrary.com/help/index.asp. You can also browse our collection of eBooks by subject or title at http://www.minitex.umn.edu/cpers/electronic/netLibrary/titles.aspx. You can preview an eBook for 15 minutes at a time or check it out for four hours. Some eBooks are in the public domain and therefore have no due date. You don't need to worry about eBooks becoming overdue because they automatically "return" themselves.
Reading eBooksYou may read eBooks online using the browser-based netLibrary Online eBook Reader. Offline access to eBooks is not available at this time.