These days, there is a new way to get and read books ... in digital format.  These digital books are called ebooks.  You read them on a computer. 

The advantage to ebooks is that you don't have to go the the library to pick them up.  Additionally, they automatically return themselves after their check-out period is completed. The drawbacks of ebooks are pretty obvious: you have to have a computer with an internet connection to "see" them ... so you can't just stuff them into your backpack to read when you want (you can buy ebooks that you can permanently keep on your computer or other digital reading device, but we are just talking about checking out books here).

As a member of the Mason academic community, you ahve access to the collection of ebooks purchased specifically for Mason students, faculty and staff.  The commerical ebook service Mason subscribes to, and which you connect to Mason's ebook collection, is NetLibrary.

For the basic information about finding ebooks in the Mason system, go to <http://library.gmu.edu/resources/netlibrary/>

After, you create your Net Library account, use these directions to find an ebook. 

• After you login to Net Library, you will be at the Basic Search page --> type in a keyword search phrase using the same strategies you used for keyword search phrases for "regular" books.
  
  
• Click the button.
  
  
• Scroll through/click through the resulting list until you find a book you want to read (if you don't find one or get no results, try another keyword phrase for your search).
  
  
• Click on View this ebook
  
  
• You will get a new window something like the one below with an outline of the books chapters on the left and a page of the book on the right.
  
  

• Click on a chapter to go to its first page
• use the scroll bars to move around the page
• use the and buttons to move through the pages within a chapter.
  
  
• After viewing the book, you can check it out (usually 4 hours).  If you don't check it out, it is possible that someone else could logon the Mason NetLibrary site and "check it out" from under you and you won't be able to read it again until that person's 4 hours are expired.
  
  
• Go to the upper left part of your NetLibrary window (above the list of chapters) and click on Close Item
  
  
  
  
  
• In the new window, under Viewing Options, you can select, Checkout for 4 Hours

• Now you can read the book, one page at a time, in the reader for four hours.  If you want to read more of  it, you can logon another time and check it out again.  To make "getting back" to the book easier, you can add it to a list of ebooks you like or use often so that you don't have to find it with a keyword search again
  
  
• To add a book to your list, click the Add to My List link (as seen above).
  
  
• Any time you are logged onto your Mason NetLibrary account, you can see your list by clicking on the My List and Notes link in the upper right corner of your NetLibrary window
  
  
  
• When you are done reading, log out by clicking the Log Out link in the upper right corner of the NetLibrary window.