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March 8, 2004 Volume 28, Issue 27 |
DataBasics
By Deborah Lee
MSU Libraries
Electronic Books: anywhere, anytime
The Mississippi State University Libraries provide access to netLibrary, a collection of more than 27,000 electronic books, known as eBooks. These are full-text electronic versions of published books that library users can search, borrow, read, and return over the Internet. In addition to the 27,000-plus purchased titles, the netLibrary collection includes some 3,400 freely available titles, bringing the total number of titles available to more than 30,000.
The eBooks are available to MSU users at computer terminals in the library and from their personal computers via the Internet. Robust search technology allows users to quickly search all the eBooks in the collection to identify the reputable published sources of greatest interest at any time. Users may search the entire eBook collection for authors, titles or keywords, and they may search within eBooks for keywords and phrases. The eBooks are available for checkout and are automatically checked back into the library collection when the checkout period expires, making the eBook available for another user.
The eBook titles range in scope from core academic areas of science, social sciences and the humanities to collections of specialized study in areas such as business, education, library science, medicine, religion and philosophy, computer science, and engineering. As an added feature, the Houghton Mifflin fourth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is embedded into NetLibrary eBooks. Faculty, staff, students, and other users may obtain dictionary definitions simply by clicking on a word in the eBook, or by entering a word in the dictionary search window. Some word definitions are accompanied by audio.
The netLibrary collection is integrated into the MSU Libraries online catalog, known as Galaxy, or may be searched via the NetLibrary interface. For access to the netLibrary collection, visit the MSU Libraries Web page and select "Online Resources."
For additional information about using the NetLibrary eBook collection, contact the Reference Department at 325-7667, or visit the Ready Reference Desk on the second floor of Mitchell Memorial Library.