⚠️On Dec. 16, 2024, TCC Library will migrate to the new Ebsco UI. Screenshots and information may differ until this FAQ is updated.
This video explains how to discover ebooks in the TCC Library collection as well as search within them to quickly scan their contents to know if the ebook will work for you. Read on below for more info. Please be advised that the Internet Archive's Open Library ebooks are no longer discoverable in the TCC Discovery catalog, but we do recommend you use them. And, since the the publishing of this video, the EBSCO interface has been updated (in 2024).
The sections of the video may be relevant as well: Intro: 0:00 | Searching Discovery Catalog for eBooks: 0:41 | JSTOR ebook example: 6:48
The Discovery catalog on the TCC Library homepage is a great place to search (the main search bar) for eBooks. After typing your search terms and selecting "search," limit on the left side to "ebook" to filter our irrelevant results.
Select a title or a blue "View ebook" button to be taken to access options. Oftentimes, there is a "search within" type of feature or a search bar to search for key terms within the ebook. You'll be shown a list of pages/results where that word appears in the book. So, you can quickly scan a book without having to read the whole thing.
Because our ebooks come from various databases, they might look slightly different but here is an example with an Ebsco ebook:
If you select the title of the result, you will be taken to an expanded view of the result. Select "View ebook" to be taken to the database which holds that book:
In some cases, you will have many options for what format you want to read the ebook in:
Sometimes there is a search bar, sometimes different wording -- it all depends on the place the ebook is coming from.
Type in your word:
Use various spellings, synonyms, shortenings of words, and so on. Some search features within ebooks will not search for phrases or can only pull good results using a single word. It's important to try various searches before giving up!