ebooks
State Library provides access to thousands of ebooks through One Search, the library catalogue. These include ebooks from the Electronic Book Library, free ebooks from the Hathi Trust and Project Gutenberg, and digitised books and 'virtual books' from our collections.
Electronic Book Library (EBL)
State Library provides free access to ebooks contained in the Electronic Book Library (EBL). EBL contains over 150 000 non-fiction ebooks. You'll find ebooks in One Search, the library catalogue; to limit your search results to ebooks only, choose ebooks from the "Refine your search" dropdown menus.
All EBL ebooks can be accessed at State Library and 24/7 away from State Library if you are an SLQ member or have a Queensland Public Library (QPL) account. Apply now for SLQ membership or a QPL account
With EBL you can:
Read online - You can read online using the internet based EBL viewer for up to 5 minutes of browsing time before prompting you to request a loan of the ebook.
Borrow - To continue viewing an ebook after the first 5 minutes of browsing or to print and copy, you will be prompted to request a loan of the ebook. This means that you will be able to view the ebook for 24 hours.
Download - This function allows you to download the EBL title to a local viewer on your mobile device (for example a smart phone, ebook reader etc). ebooks can be downloaded for either a 24 hour or 7 day loan period. Downloading is not essential for viewing, printing or copying as this can be done from the EBL viewer. EBL provides access to ebooks in Adobe PDF format so in order to view you will need to ensure that you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. When requesting to download an ebook for viewing on your mobile device, you will also need to download a digital viewer, compatible with your device (for example Adobe Digital Editions).
Print - You can also print pages from an EBL ebook. Due to copyright, there are restrictions as to how much of the ebook you can print or copy. Printing from EBL is restricted to 20% of the total pages of the ebook, per user. Likewise, copying and pasting content is restricted to 5% of the total pages of the ebook, per user. The EBL system keeps track of copying/printing and displays a message if the limit is reached.
Digitised books
We've digitised a number of books from our collection as part of our commitment to make Queensland's memory more accessible. Included is the first novel set in Brisbane, The curse and its cure and Myths and Legends of the Torres Strait, by Margaret Lawrie. Find more digitised books.
Virtual books
State Library has created a number of virtual books which let you 'turn the pages' of some of our collections. You can zoom in on a page to see more detail, view the transcript of a manuscript and listen to a recording of some virtual books. Find the Virtual books.Virtual books are designed to work best using Adobe Flash 6.0 or higher. If your computer does not have the flash plug-in installed you need to download the free Adobe Flash player.
Celebrate the soundtrack of our state as SLQ sets the stage for the music of Queensland.
Open till 17 Nov
State Library of Queensland provides special library services for members who have an SLQ membership card (formerly known as an e-services card).
