You can find most of our ebooks in Berkeley's catalog, but sometimes searching is easier on the websites:
Create an account and borrow temporarily from:
Download and save chapters from:
Download and save whole books from:
Online reading only:
For more, see the library's general guide to ebooks.
1. Search our library homepage for a topic and filter to show only: "available online" and resource type: "books" to find ebooks.
2. Browse ebook platforms to find books you might have missed.
3. Search HathiTrust [login and deselect 'full view only'] to read older books online.
4. Search Google Scholar to see if the researcher shared a PDF of their book online.
5. Email your librarian to see if we can buy an ebook for you to read.
* If you know the author or title, search our catalog first.
* If you know the topic, search Google Books, and then look up interesting books in our catalog.
* Sign up with nearby public libraries (Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco) and search across all of them to find general nonfiction.
* We try to get you DRM-free books when possible, but some publishers will only license restricted-access books.
* Use our off-campus access guide if you're having trouble logging in or getting access to ebooks.
* Please email your librarian if you need help finding, buying, or accessing an ebook!
When you look at a book's record in our catalog, you'll see #subjects listed. It's like a hashtag (without the hashtag), and describes some of the main topics of the book:
Subjects and keywords are different. A keyword searches across titles, authors, subjects, and descriptions. Subjects are more specific, and only search the #topic section. But they're useful because they link you to other books on a similar topic!
Try it! Click the catalog links to see books on these subjects:
(These tips on finding books are adapted from librarian Juliann Couture).
Our books are organized by the Library of Congress system. When you find a good one in the catalog, write down its call number:
GN308.3.R8 E47 2014
Our books are in alphabetical order (so CC is before CD is before GN) and then organized by number (31 is before 308). Some major sections in anthropology include:
