How do I find out if a book I want to read is available online?
The Mathematics Library recommends using the Easy Search. You can find a link to this page on the Mathematics Library homepage, under the “Find Books” heading. When using Easy Search to find a book make sure that you have selected the book tab, where you can search by keyword, title words, or author.
Easy Search provides search results from multiple sources at one time, including SpringerLink, Google Books, and the library catalog. Notice that Easy Search can provide results by title and by chapter in SpringerLink, which means that you can use Easy Search to locate the electronic version of an individual chapter within a Springer book.
If you click on a link that takes you out of the library catalog to a publisher’s website (for example, SpringerLink) you may be prompted for your NetID and password.Keep in mind that the library often has electronic access to new e-books well before the book actually appears in the online library catalog. That is why using Easy Search is a more effective method of finding e-books than searching the catalog.
If you identify a book of interest in MathSciNet (or another indexing and abstracting service), you can use the Discover Full Text link to search for the electronic copy of the book just as if you were searching for a journal article.
Remember, if you are looking for a book that you know Springer has published, do not go directly to SpringerLink. Make sure to use Easy Search, or to use the Discover Full Text link on the page where you find the citation. If you do not go through one of these library portals, you will be unable to access books and chapters, even though the library has paid for them.