An "ekladata songbook" is not a single book. It is a file—usually a PDF—hosted on the Ekladata servers that contains a collection of song lyrics, chord progressions, sheet music, or tabs. These songbooks fall into several categories:

To understand the significance of Ekladata in the world of music, one must first understand the culture of the "songbook." In communities dedicated to acoustic guitar, folk music, and scouting (scouting songs are a massive cultural touchstone in France), the songbook is a sacred object. It is a binder of knowledge, containing the chords, lyrics, and tablatures necessary to play hundreds of songs. Historically, these were photocopied, stapled, and passed hand-to-hand, often riddled with errors and missing pages.

The most direct way is to use a search engine with precise keywords. Since a large portion of Ekladata's user base is French, incorporating French terms will yield the best results.