How to use e-books

E-books make up a large part of the University Library's book collection. As a student or member of staff at UiB or Helse Bergen, you have access to more than 500,000 e-books.

How to find e-books

You can find e-books that the University Library owns or subscribes to by searching in Oria (external link).

Frequently asked questions about e-books

How to get access from your own device

UiB students and employees must connect to the UiB network via VPN to access electronic resources.

Is the e-book not available?

If you get a message that the book is in use, try again a later; the book often becomes available quickly. We have different licence types for e-books, and they can be downloaded or borrowed. This means they may be unavailable to others for periods of 1 to 21 days, depending on how many copies we have access to.

I have used the e-book before, but now it is gone

The library leases many e-books in packages where titles are replaced from time to time. If you would like the University Library to buy a particular e-book, submit a purchase suggestion.

Borrowing e-books from other libraries

It is not possible to borrow e-books from other libraries. Alternatives:

Using e-books in teaching

The rights to use e-books in teaching vary from supplier to supplier. You can always link to an e-book, as access control is on the publisher's website and only approved IP addresses are granted access.

Ebook Central – downloading and printing

Before you download

To download or print books from Ebook Central you must:

  1. Be connected to VPN
  2. Create your own Ebook Central account and be logged in there
Download an e-book from Ebook Central

Click "Download" and choose one of two options:

  • "Standard image-pdf format. One chapter (or page range) at a time"
    • This lets you download a chapter or a number of pages per login.
  • "Special format. The entire document"
    • Many books can be downloaded as whole documents and kept for 14 days on a computer or reading device (not Kindle).
    • To download whole books you also need Adobe Digital Editions.
Print from Ebook Central

Click "InfoTools" and choose "Print".

Last updated: 15.06.2026