Students and staff at Chalmers have access to e-books through your Chalmers ID (CID). You can access the library's e-books wherever you are. Everyone else can only access e-books from the public access computers in the library.
Finding e-books
Search for e‑books directly using the main search box on the library’s website. You can search by author, title, or subject. Then narrow your search using the “e-books” filter under source type. You can refine the results further by publication date, language, and more.
You can also search for e-books through the providers’ own e‑book platforms. Each platform includes a short description of the subject areas and types of content it covers.
Appearance and functionality vary between platforms, but most offer help pages explaining how to structure your search. On some platforms, you can also create a personal user account to save favourites or make your own notes.
It is usually enough to open the e-book directly in your web browser. However, some e-books require you to have a PDF reader or to download the free program Adobe Digital Editions before you can read them.
Adobe Digital Editions is unfortunately not available for the Linux operating system.
Ebook Central and VLeBooks
Ebook Central and VLeBooks are two of the library’s largest e-book platforms, and they also contain several course books. To read e-books from these platforms, you must first download Adobe Digital Editions.
Ebook Central is a very large platform with eBooks in all subjects. You can read online or download the book.
Download or print a chapter permanently
Chose the part of the e-book that you want to download/print.
Click on the Chapter download icon.
You may download/print a limited amount of pages this way, often 15-30%.
A PDF-file is now created that you can save and read in in any PDF-reader. It can also be printed.
Download the entire eBook for a limited period of time
Most titles can be downloaded as PDF. Many titles are also available as EPUB, a format suitable for reading on mobile devices as the page adjusts to the screen size.
When the time has expired, you can download the book again. We recommend that you avoid making bookmarks or annotations in a downloaded book, they will not be saved.
Download to computer
Click on Full Download and follow the instructions. You need to use Adobe Digtial Editions.
The first time you are required to authorize Adobe Digital Editions at the Help menu. Tick the box in the lower left corner to authorize without ID.
Save the file to your computer. It will end with .ascm
Open the file with Adobe Digital Editions.
You may find it easier to open the downloaded file from within Adobe Digital Editions. Change to Adobe content server message in the drop-down menu if necessary. Click on Add to library under the File menu.
Authorize Adobe Digital Editions with a personal Adobe ID.
Click on Full Download and follow the instructions.
Open in Adobe Digital Editions.
More support
Go to Ebook Central - Click on the question mark if you want further support, for example on how to read online on small devices.
VLeBooks has course books in many different subject areas. The easiest way is to use the option read online, but you can also download books.
You can print and copy a limited number of pages.
Download the entire eBook for a limited period of time
Once you have downloaded a book, you have access to the book for one day (in some cases longer). When the time has expired, you can download it again.
Most books can be downloaded as PDF. Many are also available as EPUB, a format that is suitable for small screens because the page adapts to the size of the screen.
We recommend that you do not make bookmarks or notes in a downloaded book, as they cannot be saved.
Download to computer
Click Download eBook and follow the instructions on the screen. You need to have the Adobe Digital Editions program.
The first time you are required to authorize Adobe Digital Editions at the Help menu. However, you don't need to get an Adobe ID as you can also tick the box in the lower left corner to authorize without ID.
Save the file to your computer. It will have the extension .acsm.
Open the file with Adobe Digital Editions.
You can also open the downloaded file from within Adobe Digital Editions. Select "Adobe content server message" from the drop-down menu for file types. Then click Add to library in the File menu.
Download to mobile or tablet
Use VLeBook's own app or another program that can handle Adobe eBook DRM. You need an Adobe ID.
E-book providers use different systems, and the rights for printing and downloading vary.
Printing and downloading a “reasonable portion” of an e-book for personal use in non‑commercial study or research is usually permitted, but in some cases you may only print or download a limited number of pages.
Some providers allow entire books to be downloaded for offline reading. However, e-books may never be forwarded to anyone else.
In the list of databases, you will find specific information and terms and conditions for each platform.