Finding eBooks

Help

For assistance with finding and using eBooks, contact the reference desk by telephone (805.756.2649), email, or in person.

Cal Poly eBooks come from the following two eBook providers:

netLibrary

Provides access to scholarly, academic, trade and professional books. Subject areas include business, computer science, economics, education, information technology, psychology, reference, the sciences, and the social sciences. There is also a collection public domain books that include classic works of literature, as well as other titles.

Safari

This database includes technology books from O'Reilly Media and Pearson, including topics like certification, enterprise computing, Java, Linux/Unix, Web development, Windows, XML, and more.

You can search for eBooks in PolyCat. Any search you run will search for eBooks as well as traditional printed books. However, if you wish to search for eBooks only, you can follow these steps:

  1. Type in: ebook and (subject goes here)
  2. Look at the list of results. Click on the underlined title of the eBook to learn more about it.
  3. Navigate to the eBook by clicking on the link in the yellow box (will say "view the online version" or "connect to this resource online")

There are also many other eBooks freely available on the web. These are primarily older books, which are no longer protected by copyright laws. However, some sources offer previews of newer books, and can be a great way to discover what books are available on a topic.

Here are some important web sources of electronic books:

Google Book Search

This highly successful project has seen Google partner with libraries to scan books and make them available online. Note, however, that only those books no longer protected by copyright are fully available online. In most cases you will be allowed only a short preview of the book. This is still a great source to identify potential books and read a sample to learn if the book will be useful to you. You can then return to the library to locate the book itself. Use PolyCat to check if we have it at the library, and if not, request it via Interlibrary Loan.

Internet Archive Text Archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit working to build an Internet library offering permanent access to digital historical collections. At the Text Archive section of this website you'll find online versions of many classic texts. Sub-collections to investigate include the Universal Library Project (also known as the Million Books Project), and Project Gutenberg.