Intro to ebooks

You wrote:

As a new student of Concordia, I was browsing the many services I could benefit from. Perhaps I overlooked some features, but I did not come across any online digital media distribution (ebooks and audiobooks). I was wondering if it would be possible for the University to partner with companies such as OverDrive which allow students to access content from virtually anywhere.

Congratulations on being accepted at Concordia!

It is true that we do not have access to OverDrive.  However, the Libraries have thousands of ebooks from other publishers and platforms.  You can browse our ebooks collection from this page:  http://library.concordia.ca/research/internet/ebooks.php?guid=browse .  You can also simply search our catalogue, CLUES, and if we have electronic books on your topic, they will come up in your results.

FYI, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec  (BANQ) has Overdrive.  All residents of Québec have access to the BANQ’s physical and virtual collection.  If you are new to Montréal, take a look at their website as well!

Best wishes for a wonderful end-of-summer and a great start to the semester.

CLUES workstations for access to library resources

You wrote:

My suggestion is that there be a permanent guest past or net name for library use and academic research in the library and online especially during holidays. It would really be a convenience not to have to get the consent daily for use of facilities. I hope my request is given strong consideration….

Thank you for your email.  All databases, e-journals and e-books that are part of our collection are accessible on our “CLUES” workstations.  No login required.  CLUES workstations are available in both libraries on all the floors. 

Search for the resource’s title in CLUES and follow the links from there.

Online books

You wrote:

Please establish connection with Books24x7 Inc. as they offer books online as electronic files (only) that can be accessed by many Montréal university student such as McGill , UdeMon, HEC… except Concordia students!

Thanks for the suggestion. While we don’t have a subscription to Books 24X7, we do currently offer thousands of online books through a variety of publishers and vendors such as ebrary, IEEE, MyiLibrary,  NetLibrary, Oxford Scholarship Online,  and  SpringerLink.  The books can be viewed, searched or browsed online by Concordia students from any computer connected to the Internet. Some of the publishers, such as Oxford, Springer, and IEEE use the PDF format and allow downloading of individual chapters. Other publishers have their own online readers.

Your best bet for locating our online books  is to simply search CLUES:  use Advanced Search and select the Limit Options Internet and Book. For example, to find online books related to quantum physics:

If you have more questions or comments about specific ebook collections feel free to write us again or to Ask a Librarian.

Trouble getting into the system

You wrote:  

How come I can’t get in to the system? I type my name and bar code and get told it is invalid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I’m sorry to hear that you cannot get into the system.  What are you trying to access?  A database?  A journal article?  An e-book?

At first glance, it sounds to me like you need assistance with your barcode and PIN.  Information on library PIN is available on this page:  http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/pins.html  

If you are working off-campus, you may also like to consider downloading the VPN software onto your computer.  Information on how to do that is available at:  http://library.concordia.ca/research/databases/offcampus.php?guid=vpn  

If you are trying to accesss the wireless network in the library, find out how to set up your laptop at:  http://library.concordia.ca/services/computers/laptops/own.php   

Or perhaps you are trying to access one of the library’s computers?  Your portal netname and password should let you in.  If you need to re-set your MyConcordia password, you can do so at:  https://fcms.concordia.ca/netname/net01.asp  

 Finally, if none of these pages are helpful, do not hesitate to “ask a librarian” for help.  You can contact us via chat, email, telephone and face-to-face.  Contact information is available at:  http://library.concordia.ca/help/questions/ 

Good luck!

Google Books

You wrote:

I would like to draw your attention to a recent change in Google Book Search limitations. Please check the following link:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-book-search-settlement-will.html

It will be extremely useful us if Concordia can obtain an institutional subscription that gives us access to most books that are scanned as part of the Google Book Search project.

I understand the changes apply to the US for now, but I think it is important to keep an eye on the subject and investigate the possibility of having such a great resource available to us students.

Please let me know if there are any efforts or plans regarding this subjects.

Thank you for writing. The Library is very interested in this, and is actively following developments related to the Google Books settlement. Although the settlement only applies to the U.S., we are certainly interested to see where this goes. For more on Google Books as it relates to Concordia , see the recent Concordia Journal article, “Does Digitize Mean Democratize?“.