Research Guides: Where to Find Resources (by type): eBooks

Where to find eBooks

Sources for eBooks, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Dissertations, Etc.

SAIC login required (use your ARTIC username and password)

A&AePortal This link opens in a new window
Yale University Press's authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design. Includes the Art Institute of Chicago's eBooks.
Black Thought & Culture This link opens in a new window
Provides approximately 100,000 pages of monographs, essays, articles, speeches, and interviews written by leaders within the black community from the earliest times to the present. The collection is intended for research in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art.
Building Types Online This link opens in a new window
International collection of contemporary buildings: housing, schools, libraries, office buildings, museums, sacred buildings, industrial complexes, hospitals and other building types; approx. 5000 drawings and 2000 photos.
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms This link opens in a new window
The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms is an accessible and useful A-Z, covering a wide range of terms from the visual art world, including materials, techniques, and important styles and periods.
Dissertations & Theses Global: Humanities and Social Sciences Collection (PQDTAFT) This link opens in a new window
Full text access to dissertations and theses in social sciences and humanities. More than 70,000 new full text documents are added each year.
eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary collection includes thousands of e-books covering a large selection of academic subjects and features e-books from leading publishes and university presses.

Getty Publications Virtual Library
More than 300 books available virtually from Getty's backlist.

Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of fine and applied arts, architecture, and artists and architects biographies.
Grove Music Online This link opens in a new window
Scholarly encyclopedic essays on the diverse history, theory and cultures of music around the globe.

HathiTrust Digital Library
Digitized books & documents from research libraries. SAIC is not a member; full-text limited to public domain items.

Humanities E-Book Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 5,000 e-books on the humanities, in subjects such as archaeology, art & architectural history, film & media studies, literature, musicology, theater and dance, philosophy, religion, and sociology. All titles are peer-reviewed and in full-text.

Internet Archive
Many digitized books can be checked out for a limited period. Continually growing collection offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.
Met Publications
Choose Free to Download to find digital texts. There are more offerings that may or may not be accessible online here.
National Emergency Library
A temporary collection of books through the Internet Archive that supports emergency remote teaching, learning, and research.

Oxford Scholarship Online (2018-2023) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to OUP ebooks in the Oxford Scholarship Online collection published between 2020 and June 2025 in nine subject areas: Biology, History, Law, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Social Work, and Sociology.
PsycBooks This link opens in a new window
2000 books published by the American Psychological Association (APA), plus historic, classic texts from the Archives of the History of American Psychology collection available as ebook chapters and downloadable PDFs.
Wiley Online Library ebooks This link opens in a new window
Collection of Wiley eBooks in all academic disciplines and dates. Flaxman Library has access to titles published from 2020 through 2025.

Online Textbooks (rentals)

REDSHELF and VITALSOURCE are major textbook providers that allow rental access for students at a discount, including Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Stokstad Art History, Ways of Seeing...

RedShelf Access: (Flat fee for 180 day rental)

Visit RedShelf and create account if you're a new user (use school email). Search for title or ISBN.

Vital Source Access: (save up to 80% for some titles)

Visit Vitalsource’s Bookshelf to search for textbooks to rent and follow the instructions to create an account (use school email). Confirm your email, and search for books by title, ISBN, author.