E-book Help

Most of our e-books are on the EBSCO platform and are embedded into the SophiSearch interface. These books can be read online, chapters or pages can be downloaded for off-line use as PDFs, or the entire book may be downloaded for a limited time using Adobe Digital Editions or the EBSCO Mobile app.

To search and download e-books on a mobile device (including Chromebooks that support Android apps), download the EBSCO Mobile app. Note that you can also use the EBSCO Mobile app to search all our EBSCO content (not just e-books!) and read articles and other resources you find there, including articles in the Atla Religion Database.

Here is what an EBSCO e-book will look like in your search results:

PDF Full Text and EPUB Full Text will both take you to an online reader where you can read the book, jump to a specific chapter, and print or save sections of the book to use offline. This is generally the best option. Note that both links go to the same content, but EPUB Full Text may work better with a screen reader or when reading in your browser on a mobile device.

When you click into the full text reader, you can read the book online in the pane to the right or use the table of contents in the pane to the left to navigate to a specific chapter. You can click on the download button next to a chapter title to quickly download that chapter as a PDF.

Full Download will start the process of downloading (or checking out) the full e-book, generally for a limited time. A small (but growing) number of DRM free titles are available to download without a time limit.

Downloading a book to read on your computer requires a one-time set-up of logins and downloading a free program called Adobe Digital Editions. E-books can also be downloaded and read in the EBSCO Mobile app. Detailed information on how to download an EBSCO e-book on your computer or mobile device is available in this PDF handout, and in the links below.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Many of these books allow unlimited users, but if you are having trouble accessing a book, it may be because the publisher only allows a limited number of people to access the title at once and the book is already in use. You can find information on how many people can use a title on the detailed page for the book under Concurrent User Level, just click on the book’s title and scroll down. In that section, you will also find information on publisher page limits on saving to a PDF or copying and pasting text from the e-book:

Helpful links:

Using a laptop or desktop computer

• Downloading and Using EBSCO E-books (PDF)
• Searching EBSCO eBooks (video and PowerPoint)
• Reading EBSCO eBooks (video and PowerPoint)
• Downloading EBSCO eBooks to a Computer (video and PowerPoint)
• EBSCO eBooks Getting Started and Troubleshooting for Windows PC Users
• EBSCO eBooks Getting Started and Troubleshooting for Mac Users

Using the EBSCO Mobile App

• EBSCO Mobile App -- Quick Start Guide
• Downloading and Reading eBooks on the EBSCO Mobile App
• The EBSCO Mobile App (Video and PowerPoint) -- signing in and searching
• EBSCO eBooks on the EBSCO Mobile App Tutorial (Video and PowerPoint) -- downloading and reading

Our second-largest provider of e-books is ProQuest Ebook Central, and all our ProQuest titles are included in SophiSearch. Here is what a ProQuest e-book will look like in your search results:

Click View Book to be directed to the ProQuest Ebook Central page for your e-book.

Once in ProQuest Ebook Central, you can search within the ProQuest titles using their unique tools. Like EBSCO e-books, most ProQuest books can be read online, chapters or pages can be downloaded for off-line use as PDFs, or the entire book may be downloaded for a limited time using Adobe Digital Editions after a one-time set up process. See the links below for more details on reading and downloading ProQuest e-books.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Many of these books allow unlimited users, but if you are having trouble accessing a book, it may be because the publisher only allows a limited number of people to access the title at once and the book is already in use. You can find information on how many people can use a title on the detail page for the book under Availability at the top of the book’s detailed page. In that section, you will also find information on publisher page limits on saving to a PDF or copying and pasting text from the e-book:

Helpful links:

• ProQuest Ebook Central Help and Troubleshooting
• ProQuest: Read online
• ProQuest: Full download

With Credo Reference Online, you can search and read over 900 encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks on both theological and general academic topics. This is an excellent place to begin when you are first learning about a topic. You will find over 175 e-books under the Religion and Theology subject, including commentaries, biblical dictionaries, and encyclopedias.

You can access Credo through the link under Databases for Scholarly Journal Articles and Essays on the Research Tools page.

These books are included at the title level in SophiSearch. Here’s what they will look like your search results -- just click View Book to go to the title in the Credo interface:

By going directly to the Credo interface you gain access to special search tools like Mind Maps that can help make new connections in your research.

The interface includes a large collection of free-to-use images that you can cut and paste into presentations and papers without worrying about copyright restrictions. The videos linked below can help you learn more about the mind map and image search features in Credo.

Helpful links:

• Credo handout (PDF)
• How to search in Credo (both basic searching and image searching)
• Using Credo’s mind maps

Ministry Matters provides online access to essential Bible reference works such as The New Interpreter's Bible and The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, as well as the Bicentennial edition of Wesley's Works and resources for preaching and church ministry. It has a unique platform that is best accessed directly, instead of through SophiSearch. 

Ministry Matters Handout (PDF)

Ministry Matters Overview (MP4)

These e-book providers have straightforward interfaces that allow you to read or download PDFs at the chapter level with no additional login or (usually) any limitation on the number of users or pages you can access:

• ACLS Humanities e-books
• Bloomsbury
• Brill
• Cambridge
• de Gruyter
• Duke University Press
• Gale Cengage
• JSTOR
• Oxford University Press
• Project MUSE
• Taylor & Francis
• And more!

The titles will come up in SophiSearch results. Here’s an example of what one of these books might look like in your search results:

Just click on View Book or View Full Text or View Online (exact wording my vary) and then access the book at the chapter level in the provider’s interface.

And here is an example of one of the platforms (in this case, the interface for Oxford University Press). Individual interfaces will vary, but all have similar features. Use the table of contents to browse to the chapter you need and then click through to view and save a PDF at the chapter level:

I'm having problems reading EBSCO e-books online with my Mac - what should I do?

To use the online viewer with a Mac, you need to install the Adobe Reader plugin for the browser you wish to use.

When I try to view EBSCO e-books online in my web browser, I'm prompted to download PDFs of the pages, one page at a time:

To fix this issue, follow the instructions for the browser you are using at this link. Additional information about this problem can be found on the EBSCO help pages here.

Where can I download Adobe Digital Editions?

Adobe Digital Editions is available for free here.

For help installing and using Adobe Digital Editions, see the E-Books for Texans page here.

Can I transfer e-books to my Kindle e-reader?

Because Kindle uses a proprietary format, you can’t download library e-books directly to your Kindle Reader. You can, however, use Amazon’s Send to Kindle option to send e-book pages saved in the PDF format to your Kindle reader or app. Note that the number of pages you can print to PDF is set by the publisher and will vary from title to title.

• Information on Send to Kindle
• Information on printing or saving EBSCO e-book pages as a PDF

How can I delete expired e-books from Adobe Digital Editions?

When your check-out period is over the e-books you have downloaded will automatically become inactive. If you click Remove from library from the dialog box that pops up when you try to open the book it will delete the book from your library, but not from your computer. To completely delete the book from your computer, right click on the cover image, click Show file in Explorer and manually delete the highlighted PDF or EPUB file from the explorer window.

How can I access e-books from the Austin Public Library?

Austin Public Library has a large collection of fiction and non-fiction e-books for all ages available to download for free, all you need is a library card!

Austin Public Library (need library card & pin)