Do you have the textbooks for my course?

E-books

Through the library's Course Adopted Text (CATS) E-book initiative, we try to acquire an unlimited-simultaneous-user license for every book that your professor requires for class. If you come across an e-book while searching OneSearch, you can quickly see whether or not you can rely on library access to this title to get what you need for your class by looking at the Course Adopted Text field under the book's title. If it says CATS - OK, you're good to go!

Access E-books (video)

If you come across a note that says CATS - please check with your liaison, then there may be a reason we can't guarantee that it will always be available. This could be because we only have a single-user license, or because we subscribe to the book and do not have control over whether or not it stays in our collections. But you should still try to use it! Just know that you may have a challenge getting to it exactly when you need it, especially if it has a limited number of users and others in your class are doing the same thing.

If you can't find an e-book, you can always suggest that we buy one, and we'll see if we can get one for you. But as we shared in this summer 2020 letter to LMU faculty about textbooks, we can't buy what the publishers will not sell us. We recommend checking with your professor to see if they will work with us to place portions of the required texts on e-reserve, or if they'll consider adopting open and affordable alternatives to traditional course materials in the future. 

Books available from another library

LINK+ interlibrary loan borrowing is available from other libraries. Learn more about how to request via Link+. 

• Please note that due to changes with the new library catalog, LINK+ is currently unavailable, and will be restored in the spring semester. 

It's always worth a try to see if your local public library might have what you need. (Note that most public libraries do not collect textbooks - but this could be a great option for literature, some social studies books, and other non-academic titles.)

Books available at the LMU Bookstore

Your professor should have made your required texts available for purchase or rental at the LMU Bookstore. Check the Bookstore's online catalog for print,e-book, and rental availability. You can also try VitalSource or RedShelf.

Print books on reserve at Circulation 

The library doesn't collect all textbooks for all courses offered at LMU. If the textbooks are available and are placed on reserve by your instructor, you can borrow the books for about 3 hours but the book cannot leave the library. Reserves books are held behind the Circulation Desk - stop by the Circulation Desk to check them out. Be sure to ask your professor beforehand if he or she has put the textbooks on reserve in the library.  Search the reserves catalog by instructor name or course name and limit using the dropdown by Course Reserves.