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Ebooks - Searching and Viewing

Searching and Opening eBooks inside the Catalog

1. Log into the SFSC Catalog using the Sign In button. The Single-Sign On (SSO) option is for Staff and Students using Panther Central, and Community Borrowers and Guests enter their USER ID (Library card number) and Password. (last 4 numbers of Library Card Number)

2. Type search terms into Search Box.

3. Use side-bar Tweak your results menu and under Genre facet, select Electronic Books.

Ebook Catalog Search

4. Click on a Book Title, and under LINKS select a Database Link for access to the e-Book within Database. Depending on the database, you may be able to download the eBook for your personal use. Additionally, most of the databases have a search function to scan within the eBook for certain terms, subjects, names, etc.

Follow the link for Access to the Ebook

Primo Search

Find Books, eBooks, Articles, DVDs, and Streaming Videos

Looking for more Tips and Tricks of what you can do? Check our Primo Guide.

General Search Tips

  • Start your search in Primo, then look in subject specific databases for more specific results.
  • Boolean Search terms: AND gives you only results with both of your search terms, OR gives you results with either one of your search terms (but not necessarily both of them), NOT excludes results with that search term.
  • Start general, and refine to a specific search.  If you have a general idea of what you would like to focus on, search a broad term, and then refine as you discover what is available. 
  • Look at the subject terms and keywords that the articles you find are using. If they seem relevant, you may wish to incorporate them into your search terms.
  • If your results are too broad, add additional search terms to refine your search.
  • Searching for a specific phrase? Place it in quotation marks to search for those exact works in that order. For example: “To be or not to be” will find that specific phrase, rather than each word individually.
  •  Need to find a word or phrase in an article PDF, an e-book, or on a webpage? Use CTRL and F to open a search box that will search the text within a document.