EBSCO E-books is an ebook platform, providing access to E-books from a range of publishers, and covering a wide range of subjects.

Key facts:

• All titles can be read online
• The amount you can download and keep from Ebsco ebooks varies from title to title
• Some titles can be downloaded for use on your PC, Mac or Device (this is a temporary file which deletes after 24 hours, and requires additional software)
• Access to some titles is limited to 1-3 concurrent users.  If you see the message "Sorry this ebook is in use" try again later.

EBSCO Information Services /EBSCOhost is the registered trademark of EBSCO Information Services

All of the Ebsco ebooks the University has access to can be found through Library Search

To search for a book enter the author, title or subject into the search box.  As you enter your terms four options appear in a dropdown list, Everything, Books, Articles and Rare books, click the Books option to limit the search to books

From the results pace you can limit the search to view ebooks only by choosing the  Available Online option in the filters on the left under the 'Tweak your results' heading:

Accessing the ebook

Click the title of the book or 'Available Online to access the record for the book:

From the ebook record click the 'view full text' link in the View Online section:

If you need to login to view an  Ebsco ebook you'll be directed to the University of St Andrews Microsoft Office Single Sign in, where you enter your university email address and password.

Ebsco Ebook licenses

Ebsco Ebooks are supplied with on a range of different access models, these vary from title to title.  This will impact the number of people who can access a title at the same time, and the amount that you can download and keep.

An Ebsco ebook page looks like this:

• Usage restrictions are highlighted in the red box in the example above these show:

This means that you can download and keep 15 pages.  This book is supplied with a limited number of credits, this shows 297 credits are available, which means the ebook can be accessed a further 297 times, there are no restrictions on how many people can access it at the same time, each person will use one credit when they access the ebook.  The Library will be notified before credits run out.  

With other titles you may be able to download and keep a larger proportion of the ebook, and the concurrent user access may restrict the number of people who can access at the same time, or could be unlimited.

The green box on the left shows options to access either a PDF or EPub format of the ebook, these are the read online options for Ebsco ebooks, we recommend you use these to read the ebook.

These will open the book in the Ebsco ebook reader.  

We only recommend you use the Full Download option if you need to access the ebook when you will be offline.  When you choose Full Download you will be asked to sign in to download the ebook.  If you don't already have an Ebsco account you will be prompted to create one, if you already have an Ebsco account, login. You will also need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed.

The Download options below will appear:

Select the format and confirm you have Adobe Digital Editions installed to activate the Full Download option.  You will not be able to print from, copy or annotate the download, after 24 hours you will no longer have access, but can download it again by repeating the process above.

Need help? Chat to Library Staff, Monday - Friday, 9.00-17.00 using the box below.  When "Chat with us" is unavailable email library@st-andrews.ac.uk with your question.