We offer well over 1.5 million e-books, all of which you can access conveniently via our Cologne University Catalog catalog.

• All e-books can be read online. Download and printing options vary depending on the provider and license conditions. In most cases, parts of the e-book can be saved or printed, and in some cases even complete works.
• To access them, you must be connected to the university network (via VPN or Eduroam) and be working with an up-to-date browser. If you have problems, switching browsers (e.g. to Firefox) can help.
  Some providers limit the number of copies that can be used at the same time, require registration or temporarily block the e-book after it has been accessed. Details can be found in the list Special features of e-book providers.

Note: E-books from other libraries or library networks are not available - you can only access the titles for which USB Cologne has a license.

If you know the publisher of an interesting e-book, you can research the work directly via the publisher's website. However, you can also use the publisher pages to find titles for which no license has been purchased and which you cannot read.

Freely accessible throughout Germany (DFG-funded national licences)

• National licences / Collections - Monographs

Free e-book packages on the internet

• OpenLibrary
• Wikisource / deutsch
• Directory of Open Access Books
• Digitalis-Projekt - Area of Economic and Social History University of Cologne
• OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks)
• Digi20
• EU Publications
• Open Textbook Library