E-books

Ebooks are a complicated matter.  In most cases, an ebook is a digital version of a print book.  In some cases, no print equivalent is available.  In almost all cases, the publisher or vendor considers an ebook like a subscription database and levies restrictions on who can use it.

American University belongs to the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC).  In addition to AU, WRLC comprises 8 other DC-area universities.

Students, faculty and staff only have access to ebooks that belong to AU or belong to the shared E-resources collection, but ebooks from all schools in the consortium are included in the catalog.  Whether you are on or off campus, you only have access to the AU ebooks or the shared collection ebooks.

How do you know what these books look like in the catalog?

Selling the Korean War - AU: Electronic Books

Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction - Shared E-Resources Collection - Available to All

What is GA and why do they have all these tempting ebooks?  GA is Gallaudet University and they have purchased packages of ebooks from some big vendors such as ebrary and EBL.  Unfortunately, the only way to access their ebooks is to visit their library.

If you think that an ebook that is only available at another school, should be purchased by AU, you can request the book through this form.