eBooks: Home

Musselman Library has a multitude of ebooks on various platforms which can be found using MUSCAT Plus. These ebooks can be viewed online, and in some cases, downloaded to your device. All of our ebooks can be searched through our main catalog, but below are the main collections we have access to by publisher and/or platform.

Academic Ebook Collections: 

• ACLS Humanities Ebooks - Around 6,000 ebooks based in the humanities. 
• Cambridge Histories Online - A collection of reference volumes in ten historical subject areas. Musselman Library has access to the Cambridge Histories Archive up to the publication year 2024.
• Duke University Press Ebooks - More than 2,600 ebooks published by Duke University Press in the humanities and social sciences.
• eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) - A growing subscription package containing a large selection of multidisciplinary ebook titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter.
• Ebooks at De Gruyter - Six University Press ebook collections from Columbia, Harvard, Fordham, NYU, Princeton, and Yale. Includes subscription content plus open access.
• EBSCO Ebooks - Over 15,000 ebooks across all disciplines.
• JSTOR - Over 45,000 ebooks in all subject areas.
• ​Oxford Scholarship Online - Over 16,000 ebooks published by Oxford University Press, spanning subjects in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine, and law.
• ProQuest Ebook Central - Access to over 200,000 ebooks in all subject areas.
• Sage Knowledge - A collection of over 5,000 ebooks in a variety of disciplines.
• Very Short Introductions - Access to the online collection of the popular Very Short Introductions book series, which provides brief introductions to a variety of topics. 

Popular/Leisure Reading Collections:

• OverDrive - Popular fiction and nonfiction titles; includes ebooks and audiobooks. Visit our OverDrive guide for more information.

When searching in MUSCAT Plus, books available in both print and online will show in your search results. 

An ebook can be identified if the result states it is "Available Online":

To access an ebook in MUSCAT Plus, click on the search result of the item you wish to view. Then, click the link in the View Online section. It may give the platform's name (the example below is accessed through Ebook Central) or it may just say "view full text."

To limit your results to only books with online availability, you should use the filter options under Narrow your results to select "Available Online" and "Books." 

Some of our ebook licenses are limited to a certain number of users, and we try to place this restriction information in the library catalog record for the ebook. You'll see this note either under the access link in the View Online section, or as a Local Note at the bottom of the Description section:

• Single User Access for Gettysburg College – one user can access the ebook at a time
• Three User Access for Gettysburg College – up to 3 users can access the ebook at a time
• Multiple User Access for Gettysburg College – many users can access the ebook simultaneously, but we will be limited to a certain number of uses in a one year period (usually 325)
• Unlimited User Access for Gettysburg College – an unlimited number of users can access the ebook simultaneously

The number of users that can access the ebook simultaneously will also be reflected on the ebook provider's page: "Your institution has access to 1 copy of this book" or "Limited User Access (1 copies available)".

Except for ebooks that are DRM-free (not protected by Digital Rights Management), ebook users are limited to a certain number of PDF download pages for each book. This number varies widely by publisher, and even by title. The library cannot negotiate or change the number assigned by the publisher. At most, we can explore upgrading the existing license or purchasing additional limited-user licenses to accommodate higher demand.

The library strongly recommends users take advantage of the Read Online option, rather than try to download part or all of an ebook. Ebook Central in particular has many user-friendly options to bookmark or highlight passages—features that can be saved by logging in with your Gettysburg account. When you are finished your reading session, close your browser so you can allow another user access to that ebook “copy.” Many of the full download options on aggregator platforms (such as Ebook Central or EBSCO) require the use of third-party software (such as Adobe Digital Editions) to control the DRM of the ebook.

An unlimited user license does not necessarily mean the ebook is DRM-free. It may allow unlimited simultaneous online viewers, but still have a download limit. DRM-free ebooks will not impose a limit on downloaded pages. Just remember, even if an ebook is DRM-free-- it's still under copyright!