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(ARCHIVED) Emergency Online Textbooks for COVID-19 Closure Period: HOME

Textbooks available through RedShelf and VitalSource during the COVID-19 State of Emergency.

Finding Textbooks Online

NOTE: This is an archived website of the "Emergency Online Textbooks for COVID-19 Closure Period" from Spring 2020. At the beginning of the campus closure and due to COVID-19 in March 2020, several eTextbooks were temporarily available for free from VitalSource and RedShelf. This is no longer the case. You can use this guide to find eTextbooks from these vendors, but they are no longer free. However, if your textbook is from OpenStax and on this guide and is available, you are in luck--OpenStax books are always free. Open educational resources, or OER, are freely available and have less strict copyright restrictions. If you are a faculty member interested in exploring OER textbook options, please visit our guide, "OER by Department". 

With all of our campus and district classes and library services online, the ELAC Libraries have created this guide to help you find available textbooks online. 

We've organized the green tabs here by course or department name and have found online textbook options for many ELAC classes! Under the textbook name, you'll see text that says "Available via...":

  • RedShelf: 
    • To use RedShelf books, you must create a RedShelf account, using your LACCD student email address (directions below).
  • VitalSource: 
    • To use Vital Source books, you must create a VitalSource account using your LACCD student email address (directions below).​
  • OpenStax: OpenStax has several open educational resources (OER) and OER textbooks available, which means they are always free and available online without restrictions. You do not need to create an account to use OpenStax books.

How to Use VitalSource Helps Bookshelf

How to register and search the site:

  1. Go to https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com and create a VitalSource account using your LACCD email address.
  2. Check your email for a verification email with a link to confirm your email address.
  3. Click the link in your email to finish signing up.
  4. Once you're signed in, go to the search box at the top of the page and search for your book by title, author, ISBN, etc.
  5. Click on the picture of the book, and then click "borrow." It will open up in your online browser and be accessible via "My Bookshelf."
  6. There are options to print, bookmark, and virtually highlight the pages.
  7. You can sync your Bookshelf to Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Chromebook and more, for easier access offline or if you have limited data. 
  8. You're all set! Now you can search to see if VitalSource has your other textbooks.
  9. If you have any issues with your account, please contact VitalSource customer care directly

How To Use RedShelf Responds

Image result for redshelf logo

How it works:

  1. Go to https://studentresponse.redshelf.com and make an account using your LACCD email address.
  2. Once you make an account, they will email you a link to activate your account.
  3. Click the link in your email to validate/activate your account.
  4. Once you're signed in, go to the search page, and search for your book by title, author, ISBN, etc.
  5. If you find your book, click "View Details." Click "Add to My Shelf" and you will be redirected to My Shelf.
  6. Select "Start Reading" and the book will open up in your online browser.
  7. There are options to view the table of contents, print, bookmark, and highlight the pages.
  8. Now you can search to see if RedShelf has your other textbooks.
  9. If you have trouble using RedShelf, please contact them directly.

Getting Help

For help using VitalSource or RedShelf, contact their customer service directly.

For general library information and help, please visit the Online Library Resource guide. 

For questions about this guide, please email us at library@elac.edu. 

"How to Use VitalSource Helps Bookshelf" and "How to Use RedShelf Respond" in "Online Textbooks for COVID-19 Closure Period: Where to Find Free Textbooks Online" by Los Angeles Valley College Library is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License".

Creative Commons License "Emergency Online Textbooks for COVID-19 Closure Period" by East Los Angeles College is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License".