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E-Books at the University of Dayton

How to find and access e-books (and print books) at the University of Dayton.

eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)

The EBSCO eBook Collection includes thousands of titles. These titles operate on the "library check-out" model, where readers who want to download the entire e-book have to check it out for a specified amount of time. There are also options to download individual chapters or page ranges of the e-book. These features do not have a time limit. The following page provides a detailed overview of how to access, download, and save individual e-books within this vast collection.

Access Option #1: View Full Text in Your Browser & Download Individual Chapters

  • Once you've chosen an e-book from your list of search results in EBSCO's eBook Collection, select the "PDF full text" icon image of the "PDF Full Text" download link (as circled below) to open the full-text within your browser:
screenshot showing how to reach the full text PDF link for a specific ebook in EBSCO
  • Selecting the "PDF Full Text" link should open the full book. Within this page, there will also be a "Contents" section towards the right side of the screen (pictured below). This section allows users to browse within the work, and it also contains download links for users who want to download individual chapters or page ranges. To prompt the download, simply click on the downward-facing grey arrow, as pictured here:
screenshot showing the table of contents section towards the right side of the screen
  • Selecting the download link should open a pop-up window (pictured below). Select the page, number of pages, or chapter that you wish to download, and then click "Download," as circled below:
screenshot showing the download popup window example for an ebook in ebsco
  • The above option can be highly useful for users who want to print sections (or chapters) of an e-book. When downloading individual chapters or sections of up to 100 pages, the file format is a regular PDF, and this format is very easy to print.
  • Sometimes the e-book you select will already be in use, and you will be unable to immediately view the full text. Note: you can still eventually read the book, but you will have to wait until it becomes available again (this can take a few hours or a couple days). To make this process as straight-forward as possible, it is advisable to place a hold on the book. To learn more about placing a hold within the EBSCO eBook Collection, please visit our guide.

Access Option #2: Download the Entire Book

  • Full e-books can be downloaded from EBSCO's eBook Collection. This option is indicated by a blue link labelled "Download" (screenshot dowload link within ebsco). This link is either listed in the search results or within the item record for the ebook (see the screenshot below). 
screenshot showing where the download link is placed within an ebsco ebook record
  • Selecting the "Download" link will open a pop-up window labelled "Download." Within this window, select the "Full eBook" tab (as indicated below by an error). Once on this tab, there are several options to select. The first is for how many days you will borrow the book for, and the second is the download format. Note: In order to download entire eBooks, you must have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your computer. We recommend ensuring you have the most recent version of Digital Editions installed. This is a free download available at http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-editions/download.html. Once you've selected the number of days, selected the format, and checked a box confirming that you have installed Adobe Digital Editions, select the blue "Download" link to begin the download:
screenshot showing how to download full eBook from EBSCO
  • Once the "Download" link has been selected, you should receive a confirmation letting you know that your download has been successful, as pictured here:
screenshot of ebsco ebook popup screen confirming download has begun
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