Pandemic Plots & Playlists: Finding eBooks

Omni, available via the library home page, is the new search tool shared by 18 Ontario university libraries. With a single search you can find a variety of resources held at York University Libraries and the other Omni partner libraries.

To find books or e-books follow these steps:

Step 1: Apply the Relevant Search Scope

Omni can be used to search for books or e-books in three different domains, equivalent to search scopes:

1. York Libraries
2. York Libraries + Omni Libraries (default search mode)
3. Course reserves

In general we advise that you choose the first option. If you cannot find what you need this way, choosing the second option will find more books and e-books, which may be available using inter-library loan options linked from system records.

Step 2: Conduct your search

Results are automatically sorted by relevance including:

• Frequency of matching search words
• A value score (query words in author, title, subject, plus date)
• Proximity of search words to one another 

 If you sort by the newest date, you lose the relevance ranking.

Step 3: Avail of the Search Filters and limit to Books & E-Books under Resource Type

These search filters appear once results load along the left-side of the screen

Use our Omni Guide to learn more about effective search strategies in Omni. Key terms to know are Search Scope, Facet, Boolean, Truncation, Wildcards, and Limits.

Many eBooks are available through library subscription or purchase and are findable in OMNI. However, the items listed below offer collections of freely available online books, many of which are not available in OMNI.

• National Emergency Library: A ​collection of books digitized by the Internet Archive that supports emergency remote teaching, research activities, independent scholarship, and intellectual stimulation while universities, schools, training centers, and libraries are closed.
   
• Project Gutenberg: Offers over 61 000 books across a range of subjects online.
   
• Open Library: Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.

Classic texts of English literature may be available through the primary sources section of Literature Online.
Search public library catalogues, for instance the Toronto Public Libraries e-book collection is good for contemporary fiction. (Note you will need a up-to-date library account with your local public library.)
ManyBooks offers 1000s of free and discounted bestsellers, as well as self-published

materials (so expect the quality to vary).

Support your local independent bookstore and don't forget the York University bookstore.