All students dread studying in the library and being surrounded by books, but the UTM library has e-books that students can access from any computer with an Internet connection from the comfort of their dorm.

An e-book is an electronic version of a printed book. The e-books are usually uploaded in a pdf file which means that the e-book will open in Adobe Acrobat. UTM has 25,000 e-books through a database that they subscribe to every year.

“We use a service called netLibrary that we subscribe to every year. When we sign up each year, they upload more books into our current e-books library,” said Jim Nance, library associate professor.

Students will find that there are many advantages to using e-books. Students can search through e-books for specific subjects and distributed instantly so that readers can immediately begin to read. E-books are free to the students, but the UTM library pays to access the service every year depending on student enrollment.

“The cost is usually tied to enrollment. In the past year, it’s cost $5,000, but that might go up because student enrollment has increased,” said Nance.

UTM students may find that sometimes they need a book that someone has already checked out. Checked out books can cause students to fall behind on assignments, but with e-books, many people can read the same book simultaneously.

“Students have to create an account on campus, but after they create and set up the account, they can access our e-books collection from anywhere in the world,” Nance said.

On the UTM library Web site, under tutorials and guides, students can read directions on how to set up a netLibrary account on campus. The library website recommends that students use the most current version Internet Explorer when reading e-books from netLibrary.

According to the UTM library Web site, students will recognize an e-book because a message will say, “Click on the following to: An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web, click for information.”

E-books are a huge source of information at the UTM library, and many students don’t realize that vast amount of e-books that are available. However, students should understand that when writing a paper, e-books and hard copies of books are cited two different ways. E-books can help students who need one more source for their paper or want to read books about a certain subject.