The Claremont Colleges Library provides access to e-books available from popular presses via The Internet Archive’s Open Library. Find them via Library Search or by going directly to The Open Library website.
WHAT IS THE OPEN LIBRARY?
The Open Library has over 1.4 million e-books that are both in copyright and out of copyright. There are a wide variety of books, from historic volumes to contemporary literature and non-fiction, though there are few current textbooks.
HOW DO I GET ACCESS?
As of March 24, 2020, the Internet Archive has opened unlimited access to all 1.4 million e-books in their collection through June 30, 2020. Under normal conditions, borrowers would wait in line to “check out” (i.e., view) an e-copy of a book in their collection. However, in support of the millions of students now learning and conducting research remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these wait lists have been suspended temporarily.
To access and read books in the Open Library, create a free account and sign in. After checking out an item, you will be given a due date for that book, just as you would with a print book from a library; this enables the Internet Archive to comply with copyright.
READ MORE about the Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library.
HOW DO I USE THE E-BOOKS?
Download in-copyright e-books for offline reading by using Adobe Digital Editions. This is a free program also required for offline reading of many other e-books the Library makes available.
Out-of-copyright e-books may be download as regular PDFs. No account or special software is required.
Read more about Internet Archive’s Open Library.
VENDOR OFFERS DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Numerous publishers and content providers are opening up their content to users free of charge by temporarily suspending subscription fees for their e-books and e-journals.
To see a list of these offers, visit our Library guide, Educational Resource Offers, which we will update as information becomes available.
For more information, please contact your Subject Librarian.