Electronic Books
Electronic books (eBooks) may be viewed in their entirety on a computer screen. You can access Cardiff University's eBooks over the Internet both on and off campus.
How can I access eBooks available at Cardiff University?
The library has either purchased or subscribed to hundreds of ebook titles which can be accessed via the Voyager library catalogue or by searching the eBooks provider's databases.
Voyager
All eBooks available at Cardiff University are recorded on and accessible via the Voyager library catalogue. Search for the title you need in the usual way by a keyword, author or title search. If the title is available electronically it will be indicated by the term [electronic resource] and there will be a link in the Internet Link field for the title.
eBook providers avaialable at Cardiff University
Choose the publisher or host provider of the book you want from the links below. Unless specified links can be used both on and off campus. To access some of these resources you will need your Cardiff University Login.
- MyiLibrary
- EBSCOhost
- Dawsonera
- Early English Books Online (EEBO)
- Books@Ovid
- Oxford Reference Online
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
- Oxford Scholarship Online: Philosophy Collection
- Oxford Scholarship Online: Political Science Collection
eBooks freely available on the web
As well the subscription eBook providers above there are a number of websites that provide access to freely available eBooks.
- Google Books - millions of eBooks available to view in ‘Full View’ (full text of book available) and ‘Limited Preview’ (only a limited number of pages from the book are available to view). Those books with limited preview are still in copyright, and their pages displayed with the permission of publishers and authors.
- Internet Archive - millions of eBooks available to view in full text. The ‘Texts’ collection of the Internet Archive includes millions of digitized books from various libraries around the world as well as many special collections. As well as eBooks Internet Archive offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitised materials, including websites, music, moving images, and books.
- Project Gutenberg – over 100,000 free eBooks available to download and read. Project Gutenberg aims to digitise and archive books by freely providing them in standard electronic formats. The collection is made up of books whose copyrights have expired or whose authors have permitted free redistribution.
Help
Accessing eBooks
Ebooks can be accessed from the networked computers on campus. They can also be accessed from home or other off campus locations using your Cardiff University login.
The majority of eBooks will not require a username and password when using a networked computer on campus. However some services require the use of your Cardiff University login both on and off campus.
eBooks: A Guide (PDF) provides information on how to find and use eBooks at Cardiff University.
Copyright and restrictions
Under UK copyright law it is generally accepted that you may print out one whole chapter or 5% of a whole work, whichever is the greater. Ebook providers closely monitor and restrict the amount of printing from their titles.
Unlike printed books, the library does not own most of the electronic books it subscribes to. Instead, a licence agreement is made with each provider, specifying the terms and conditions of use. The terms of the licence generally limit the usage for research and scholarly study, and you are not permitted to distribute the content to someone else by email.
Violations of the licence agreements are taken very seriously by both publishers and the library. Infringements could result in access being terminated, or even legal proceedings being brought against offenders.
Software
eBooks are accessed via the Internet, and you will need an internet browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox to do this. You may also need Adobe Acrobat Reader, to enable you to view pdf files (the format in which some full-text titles are displayed).
Acrobat Reader software is already installed if you are viewing electronic books from the University network. If you need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader on your home computer, the software can be downloaded free from Adobe.
What can I do if the book I want isn't available electronically?
Check Voyager to see if the library has a printed copy. If not, you may be able to obtain a copy through the Interlibrary loan (ILL) service.