© 2009 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Addison | ebrary | Knovel | netLibrary | Safari | Ebook packages | Online reference books | Online handbooks and manuals
The Virginia Tech Libraries has subscribed to a number of ebook packages, giving us access to tens of thousands of books online. (Since these are paid subscriptions, be sure to use Off Campus Sign In before attempting to connect to an ebook outside the campus network.) All of these packages currently allow reading the ebook through the browser, and a few also allow downloading for offline reading or transfer to another device like a PDA or dedicated ebook reader. Most of our ebooks are formatted as PDFs, and thus require no additional software to view (we note below any exceptions to this rule). All of our ebooks have been cataloged in Addison--any usual search will turn up ebooks in the results. However, the search functionality available at each ebook platform typically allows for full-text searches, which may give more results than searches through Addison.
You can limit your search results to ebooks by using the advanced search screen and choosing Online Book from the Material Type limit menu. You can also typically see a list of all ebooks from a package by keyword searching the package name.
The Virginia Tech Libraries subscribe to less than 100 ebooks from ebrary. ebrary ebooks require using an ebrary reader: the QuickView Reader, the ebrary Plug-in Reader and the ebrary Unity Reader.
QuickView runs within your web browser and works with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. You can use QuickView to
QuickView is a tool for viewing documents quickly. You cannot use it to print or copy pages, highlight text, save notes, or access the features of the ebrary InfoTools -all available with the other ebrary Readers.
The ebrary Plug-in Reader runs within your web browser as a browser plug-in that you download and install. It works with the current Windows and Mac browsers. With the ebrary Reader, you can
The ebrary Unity Reader runs outside of your web browser as a separate application that you download and install. It works with most of the recent Windows and Linux browsers. If you are using Mac OS X, you must use the ebrary Plug-in Reader. With the ebrary Unity Reader, you can
Our collection of Knovel ebooks contains over 1700 titles on engineering and the sciences. Most present each chapter as a downloadable PDF.
Currently, the Virginia Tech Library's netLibrary collection includes nearly 50,000 eBooks, of which nearly 13,000 are downloadable. (There are other ebooks in netLibrary to which we do not subscribe.) NetLibrary provides free access to a few thousand publicly-accessible eBooks that anyone can read, but the vast majority of titles are accessible only to subscribers through the campus network or account login. Most netLibrary ebooks are delivered as PDFs, but some require a DjVu plug-in to view.
About 25% of our netLibrary collection is downloadable and useable offline for up to three days. Downloading netLibrary ebooks requires activating your copy of Adobe Reader so that it can recognize the Digital Rights Management restrictions put in place by netLibrary. Read our webpage on netLibrary for full details on using and searching this collection.
The Library subscribes to about 7200 of the books in the Safari Books Online collection. These books are primarily in the areas of Computer Science and Information Technology, but also include a number of Business titles. Safari now offers all subscribers an opportunity to view select books in Print Fidelity mode. This means that the book is presented in the exact page format found in the hard copy version. Some, not all, Print Fidelity books will have PDFs associated with them. It is the publisher's decision to allow download capability.
A collection of over 10,000 ebooks and book chapters in 13 subjects: Architecture and Design; Behavioral Science; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Business and Economics; Chemistry and Materials Science; Computer Science; Earth and Environmental Science; Engineering; Humanities, Social Sciences and Law; Mathematics and Statistics; Medicine; Physics and Astronomy; and Professional and Applied Computing. (We do not have access to all ebooks from this site; ebooks will be marked with a green box to denote access rights.) Most documents are delivered as PDFs that can be downloaded and saved.
Sun, Nov 15: 12:00noon - 12:00mid
Mon-Thur, Nov 16-19: 7:30am - 12:00mid
Fri, Nov 20: 7:30am - 7:00pm
Sat, Nov 21: 9:00am - 6:00pm
Sun, Nov 22: Closed
Mon-Thu, Nov 16-19: 8:00am - 11:00pm
Fri, Nov 20: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sat-Sun, Nov 21-22: CLOSED
Mon-Tue, Nov 23-24: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Wed, Nov 25: 8:00am - 12:00 noon
Fri Nov 20: 12noon - 7pm
Sat Nov 21: 9am - 5pm
Sun Nov 22: 1pm-5pm
Mon-Tue Nov 23-24: 12noon - 7pm
Wed-Sun Nov 25-29: CLOSED
Mon - Tue, Nov 23-24: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Wed, Nov 25: 8:00am - 12:00noon
Thu-Fri, Nov 26-27: CLOSED
and by appointment.
Mon-Thurs, Nov 16-19: 7:30am - 11:00pm
Fri, Nov 20: 7:30am - 5:00pm
Sat-Sun, Nov 21-22: CLOSED
Mon-Tue, Nov 23-24: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Wed, Nov 25: 8:00am - 12:00noon
© 2009 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University