Western Libraries provide access to thousands of ebooks through a variety of platforms. To locate and access most of the ebooks we provide follow the steps below. If you have questions or feedback please feel free to contact us.
You can locate ebooks using the Western Libraries OneSearch interface. After doing a search on the "WWU" tab, click on the "eBook" format filter.
Most of the ebooks showing in OneSearch need to be accessed through a publisher or distributor's platform. Click on "Access Options" then use "Get access from" link shown.
Ebooks may be used directly from the browser, in many cases, or as downloads. When downloading books, there are two ways that may happen: PDF files that do not require specialized software and in other cases files that have digital rights management on them (DRM), which will make it so the ebook can only be used within a specified checkout period. DRM books require specialized software as well that includes needing to have an Adobe Digital Editions account.
After following the access link from OneSearch you will likely be asked to log in using your WWU credentials. In some cases, where we are partnering with other libraries for access to the books you may have to choose Western Washington University from a list of institutions first (click here for an example of what that looks like).
Once your book is open for reading, you have the option to download the book for a check-out period that varies depending on the publisher of the book.
Since downloading an entire book takes some effort creating accounts and using apps that you may not have yet, if you only want to read a selection from within the book it might be preferable to do so through your browser or by downloading individual chapters as a regular PDF.
Downloading and/or transferring these books to a reader (Nook, Sony, IRiver), or checking the book out requires a computer with Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed. Note: Kindles do not work with ADE, hence cannot be used to download EBL books. Kindle Fire and Apple Devices such as iPads or iPhones use the BlueFire Reader.
Remember, many of these books check out for a specific amount of time, which may vary by publisher or platform. DRM books will be inaccessible after the checkout period.
