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Streaming Services and Ebooks

A guide to help you find digital resources, like ebooks and streaming videos, in the Library.

Ebooks Search

 

Finding Books in the Library


Spartan Search

You can also use the search box on the library homepage to start finding books or ebooks.

If you know the title of a book, enter it into the search box, or type in key words to find a book on any subject.

Example: Search for "Florida Ecology"

To find books in the collection, under "Resource Type" on the left filter list, choose "Books." This will come up with a list of both physical books and ebooks. If you need just physical books, choose "Macdonald-Kelce Library Items" under the "Availability" list.

If you want just ebooks, choose "Ebooks" from the top menu next to the search box.

Use other filters found on the left hand side of the page such as dates and subjects to help you narrow down your search.

Finding Ebooks in the Databases

Downloading Ebooks: Software and Devices

Navigation:

Each ebook database allows you to read the full-text ebook within the database interface on most desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. Most ebooks are navigable by a Table of Contents, usually found on the left hand side of the screen. For full functionality (annotating, highlighting, bookmarking etc.), you will need to create a separate account with each database.

Downloading:

Keep in mind that some platforms don't allow you to download the entire ebook file to your computer. Some allow for chapter by chapter downloads or sending a chapter via email

If you have trouble navigating any ebook platform, please chat with us, email at library@ut.edu, or come visit us in person.

Kindle

  • Can I use the library's databases on the Kindle? 

Not yet. Although the Kindle can read .pdfs if you save them from the database and then upload them to the Kindle.

  • Getting Free Books: Here are a few places to find free books to read on the Kindle.

(NOTE: Many free works are available as .PDFs. To get a .PDF document on your Kindle, first save the document to your computer. Then, connect your computer and Kindle with the USB cable and save the documents to the Kindle.)

Free Ebooks

  • Amazon: You can find Amazon's top 100 free ebooks for the Kindle here 
  • DPLA: Digital Public Library of America - Discover 36,868,852 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States.
  • HathiTrust Digital Library:  A free collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
  • Internet Archive: The Internet Archive and Open Library offers over 10,000,000 fully accessible books and texts. There is also a collection of 300,000 modern ebooks that may be borrowed or downloaded.
  • Feedbooks: An offering of thousands of public domain ebooks
  • Google: Here's Google's page for their most popular free ebooks
  • Hillsborough County Public Library: The local public library supports checking out ebooks to your desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, or Kindle on multiple platforms. Here's the ebooks page for the HCPLC. Join for free as a Tampa resident and get a library card to access their physical and digital book collection.
  • Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg offers over 53,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.

Web Accessibility Statement

Read the University's web accessibility statement here.

Macdonald-Kelce Library - The University of Tampa - 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. - Tampa, FL 33606 - 813 257-3056 - library@ut.edu - Accessibility