eBooks: Home

This section of the guide is designed to cover the basics of how use SSCC’s eBook collection. For additional assistance, use the "Contact a Librarian" link below.

EBSCO eBook Basics:

The entire collection of electronic books (eBooks) and proprietary online databases to which the Snead Library subscribes are available to all patrons.  Access on any campus computer is direct from "VIRGIL" and authenticated by IP address.  Use of eBooks or proprietary databases from off campus requires logging in to VIRGIL with a library account.  The username for the library account will be the student's/employee's "A" Number and the default password for the library account will be "userpass".  Once logged in, a user may either search for eBooks using the quick search bar or select the "EBSCO eBook collection (off-campus) link from the "Choose Resources" drop down menu.  When a desired resource is located, the user can simply follow the on-screen prompts to view the full-text of the eBook on their computer.

Downloading EBSCO eBooks to Portable Devices (iPhones, iPads, Android Tablets and Phones, Kindle Fire)

In addition to being able to access and read the Snead eBook collection of over 50,000 items on computers, patrons may also download any of our eBooks to any of the portable devices listed above.  To do so, a user needs to first establish an Adobe account and download Adobe Digital Editions on their computer as well as the Bluefire Reader app on their mobile device.  The Bluefire Reader page gives a good description of how the process works with Apple devices as well as Android devices.  Once the software is downloaded, the portable device/devices must be authenticated using the created Adobe account and the Adobe Digital Editions software.  Once authentication is complete, the user then can search for our eBooks using VIRGIL or the EBSCO link mentioned above.  When an eBook is located for download, the user can click a link and will then be directed to login to EBSCOhost.  If it is the user's first time to download an eBook, they must create an EBSCOhost account.  Once logged in to EBSCOhost, the user will then be prompted through the download process.  Next, the user should be able to find the downloaded item/items within Adobe Digital Editions on their computer.  The portable device should be attached to the computer with a USB cable and should also show up within the Digital Editions interface.  From this point it is simply a matter of dragging and dropping the downloaded eBook to the portable device within the Digital Editions interface.  The eBooks & Audiobooks Support Center at EBSCOhost has multiple FAQs, help sheets, user guides, and tutorials that carry the user through the entire eBook process on any device.  If you have any problems with downloading eBooks, contact the library. 

R2 Digital Library:

In addition to our general EBSCO eBook collection, Snead State also subscribes to the proprietary Nursing eBook collection R2 Digital Library by Rittenhouse Publishing, a major publisher of Nursing and Allied Health materials.  Nursing students wishing to use the R2 Digital Library for the first time should contact the library for account setup.