E-books
(Electronic versions of printed books)
The MPC Library has a collection of over 15,000 electronic books available for students, faculty and staff. Click here for instructions on creating a free account to access the E-books.
What are E-Books?
E-Books are electronic versions of printed books. While E-books are NOT intended to replace our print collection, in many cases, they allow us to offer access to material we would not otherwise be able to include in our collection. Since the library has limited funds, we are not always able to maintain the most up-to-date collection of print materials. However, with E-books, we are able to provide and maintain an up-to-date collection in a wide range of subjects such as technology and computer sciences, health, business, psychology, literature and much more.
Advantages of E-Books
E-Books can be viewed online from any PC connected to the Internet. E-Books are available at your convenience – anywhere, anytime. When you “check out” an e-book, it is available to you only for the period of time you are actively reading online, and when you log off the computer, the e-book is “returned,” available for another user.
There is a built-in American Heritage Dictionary to use for definitions and an audio component pronounces the word out loud for students. (To see the definition, highlight any word in the text and then click on the dictionary tab on the left side of the screen.)
How to Access E-Books
Using e-Books from the MPC campus computers is easy! You will need to log in with your user name and password. Click here for instructions on creating a free account to access the E-books.
How to find an E-Book
E-Books are integrated in the MPC library catalog. You can go to the online catalog at http://voyager.csumb.edu:8200/. When you locate a book and see the location is “Electronic books,” click on the title to access the full record, and then click on the words “Access this electronic book via the World Wide Web.” This will take you to the site where you can read the contents of the book by choosing to browse this book online.
Another option is to go to the NetLibrary website at http://www.netlibrary.com and sign in with your username and password. Searching by keyword or Full Text will retrieve those titles that are in the MPC Library E-Book collection.
Once you have accessed the book at the NetLibrary site, you will be able to read through the table of contents on the left side of the screen. You can jump right in and read sections of the book, page by page, using the arrow keys.
Click here to see an example of a record from the MPC library online catalog