The Library has a growing collection of current and historical e-books in many disciplines. Many books are available both in print and online and some are available only in e-book format.

We do our best to keep this guide updated, but it is not an exhaustive list. If you are looking for a specific title and cannot find it here or in the online catalog, please contact the library for help.

How can I tell if an item is an e-book?

The University library has a large (and growing!) collection of e-books available for you to use. 

When browsing through a list of results, look for the link icon at the bottom of the entry, which indicates the item is available as an e-book. 

Most commonly, e-books belong to either the UIUC Online Collection or HathiTrust eResources. Both mean that the title is available for you to read online.

How do I search for specific e-books?

 To find e-books in the Library Catalog, start at the Advanced Search page:

• Enter as much information as you know about the book, such as title or author
• Click "Search" 
• Refine your search to "available online" to the left of the search results

A search for an online copy of Moby Dick by Herman Melville might look like this:

Enter as much information as you can about the book.

Refine your search to "available online."

Click "apply filters" to run the search again for only online materials.