Student Life Hacks : Access Quality Programming & Technical Books for Free

Let’s get right down to it, you’re student at a University, your budget is limited and money is scarce; you’ve already shelled out about 4K+ this semester in tuition and other expenses are to follow.

You’ve been told to brush up on your technical skills for an internship you’re applying for, this coming summer. You reach out to your peers for recommended reading, and they tell you pick up a set of books to help you in your endeavors.

What do you do, without breaking the bank?

Thankfully, your university might already have you covered.

You may also fall in the other category, you’re technically and financially savvy student, so you know where to get quality level material from either online sources or offline material. You already know you can get some of the material you need at the library, but you’re tired of carrying around books, so you’re looking for a digital solution.

ProQuest Access To The Rescue

ProQuest is a Safari Books Online’s answer to University access to their on-demand digital library.

Who is Safari Books Online?

Safari Books Online is a service brought to you by O’Reilly Media, a publishing company that has a collection of quality technical books readily available for you to purchase in book or electronic format.

You can more about them here: http://www.oreilly.com/

ProQuest gives you access to Safari Book’s Online, which gives you access to all of O’Reilly’s library of ebooks. They have over 41972 technology, creative and business books and videos readily available for you to access from top leading publishers.

You can access ProQuest here: http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com.

How Do I Login Without An Account?

If you’re campus, and your school has a ProQuest license, and you’re using the school’s network, you’re able to access ProQuest without having the need to login.

This comes in handy if you’re on campus, but what about accessing it off campus?

VPN Access

Your campus probably has a designated VPN access point you can use for these purposes.

For instance, if you’re attending the University of Houston, you can install and gain VPN access by following their online guides at http://www.uh.edu/infotech/services/computing/networks/vpn/.

If you’re using a Mac with Mavericks installed, you may be able to configure your VPN as follows:

Mac VPN Access

  1. Open Your System Preferences
  2. Select and Click Network
  3. Click on the plus button at the bottom left of the Network Panel.
    • Select VPN from the Interface Drop Down Menu
    • Select Cisco IPSec from VPN Type Drop Down Menu
    • Service Name can by UH VPN ( Cisco IPSec )

  4. Configure your VPN Connection with the following configuration settings:

    • Server Address: 129.7.254.232
    • Account Name: [Your CougarNET Username]
    • Password: [Your CougarNET password]
    • Authentication Settings:
      • Group Name: UHVPN
      • Shared Secret: UHVPN