How to get the most out of the Library and other University support for revising for and taking exams
E-books are electronic versions of print texts. You can read them on various devices, including your laptop or University computers. The Library has purchased access rights to thousands of e-books which you can access and read on- or off-campus.
E-books are available to you 24/7 from any device which is connected to the internet, and many can be downloaded for later reading.
This section includes guidance on:
Although all our e-books can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, most e-book platforms have not been optimised for viewing on mobile phones and tablets as they do not automatically re-format the size of the text to fit your device. For the best viewing experience we would therefore recommend accessing our e-books from a PC or laptop computer.
For very popular e-books you may see a message telling you that the e-book is already in use. Some platforms only allow an e-book to be viewed by one or sometimes three people at a time. If you get a message saying the e-book is already in use, take a quick break and try accessing it again after a few minutes.
If you’re experiencing technical difficulties accessing e-books, please read this guide, and if you're still struggling, get in touch with us via EdHelp (students) or the Helpline(staff).
Many e-books available to university libraries contain Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. This software, which is used by some e-book suppliers, can limit what you can do with an e-book, i.e. download, print or copy.
While the University Library purchases e-books without Digital Rights Management wherever possible, some of our e-books do have restrictions on how they can be used. You can find more information on how to use our e-books by browsing the tabs in this E-books guide.
Laptop Computer Browser by StockSnap on Pixabay under CC0 license
