Getting resources beyond York St John University

A library service isn't just about the online subscriptions to journals we buy for you, or the books we hold on our shelves. It's also about making sure we keep avenues open to other information providers, so that you can make use of as many collections as possible.

If you are researching and hit a paywall, first check to see whether an open-access version is available by using our Open Access tools. Remember that your Library membership also includes unlimited inter-library loans (delivering resources to York St John from other university libraries), including online access to journal articles at the British Library, and the Library will pay for these for you.

Open Access research

Much of the research you access in journals or books is paid for by Library & Learning Services, and that's why you need to enter passwords for online access.

However, there is a growing movement to ensure that as much research as possible is made available to the public, without payment or barriers. Because of this, a number of routes to find these works have been designed. You'll find some via established services such as Unpaywall, the Open Access Button, Google Scholar, CORE and the Directory of Open Access Journals, and more are appearing.

Contact your Academic Liaison Librarian if you want to discuss this further and see if it could be useful for your research.

Inter-library loans

Library & Learning Services seeks to buy resources for the taught aspects of your courses, but your individual research is specific to your own interest. This means another library may hold more material on that topic than we do. We will order these in for you via our inter-library loans service.

There is no charge to you for this service and no restriction on the total number of requests.

British Library reading rooms

The British Library houses a reading room at Boston Spa, near Leeds. Visit the British Library online for current information on accessing the reading room.

Use other university libraries

SCONUL Access

The SCONUL Access scheme allows you to either visit other university libraries to use their collections, or borrow from them, depending upon the type of course you are on. This is particularly useful if you are on placement or live near another university. To find the most up-to-date information about the scheme, visit the SCONUL Access website.

eduroam

The eduroam WiFi service, which is what you use to connect on campus, works in the majority of other universities too. Once you are connected to the WiFi available at our campus, you should also be able to use your York St John credentials to connect automatically on other participating campuses too (in the UK and beyond).