Accessing Digital Libraries
Access to digital books can be restricted in several ways, and policies vary in Europe and beyond. In order to use EMTO efficiently, a basic overview may be helpful.
Open Access
EMTO includes titles, which are not available to all users of the internet. The most notable example is Early English Books Online, a collaboration of anglosaxon libraries and publishers. Access to this collection is restricted to those users belonging to academic institutions, which have subscribed to the service. Some countries, like e.g. Germany, have purchased nation-wide licenses for their academic institutions. Please inquire at your local library. The question, whether our cultural heritage should be freely accessible or not, has complicated legal and ethical implications. A good starting point for finding out more about 'Open Access' is Peter Suber's fairly exhaustive link list.
Books and Pages
Most of the titles included in this collection consist of image files reproducing the appearance of the original print. In some cases, it may seem tedious to you to read a complete volume on your computer display. Again, policies are different. In some digital libraries (the most comprehensive being Gallica) you can copy a complete pdf-file of the book you are interested in to your hard-disk. In other cases, you may at least save a single page for printing, or purchase a CD from the providing library. More detailed descriptions can be found in our Help-section.
