Accessing the Library Remotely: Home

This guide is for University staff and students to help access online resources when it is not possible to visit one of our libraries in person. 

Key Services

1. Library search - tick  E-resources only / E-books only below the search box

2. A-Z database guide
3. List of online journals
4. Ebook collections
5. Reading lists

Images showing books with text listing the 5 key resources

Get lean library for easier access to eresources

Graphic: Research like a pro with Lean Library! Install the plug-in to unlock free legal access to academic spapers and ebook resources.  Lean Library Technology from Sage.

Ever been stuck behind a paywall for a journal article, newspaper article, or ebook?

Lean Library is a browser add-on that makes it easier to get access to these resources. Land on a webpage where you can't access a resource and Lean Library can give you a link directing you to the full-text version available through the Library subscription, or an open-access version. It saves you time looking for a login button or having to go back to Library Search to look up a title. 

You can install the Lean Library browser add-on in most browser download.leanlibrary.com/

More information about Lean Library can be found in our guide libguides.st-andrews.ac.uk/lean

Contacting the Library

Chat with Library staff online, Monday-Friday 9am-5pm

Phone the Library Service Desk:

44+ 1334 462331

If you have a more detailed enquiry you can set up an online meeting - email  Library@st-andrews.ac.uk with some brief information on what you want help with and when you are available and we will arrange a meeting. At the moment this service is only available Monday - Friday 9.00-17.00 GMT but if necessary we can try to arrange meetings at different times. 

 

Access to IT Services

Information about IT Services opening times and locations during the Christmas period can be found here https://itservices.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2021/11/30/christmas-opening-hours-2021/

Searching

The box above will limit your search to online resources only.

Search using the search box on the Library Homepage 

There are two search options beneath the search box:

  • E-resources only will find ebooks, journal articles, encyclopedia entries, etc.  
  • E-books only will just find ebooks
  • No print resources will be found it either of these boxes is selected.  

E-books

On the right of an e-book details is an eBook button

Click the button to access the e-book.

If you need to login use your university email address and password

Journal articles

Some of the journal articles in the results won't be full-text.  To limit the results of your search to journal articles you have immediate full-text access to select "Full text" below the Article heading on the filter on the left 

The journal articles should all now be full-text articles.

You may not see the details of all the articles - for some you need to login, if you can't see any article details click Login at the top left of the screen, and enter your username and password.

There will be a range of different buttons on the right of the article details to give you full-text access:

Where there's a PDF button use this to access the document, or use the Full Text button to view the web version of the article.

Some articles will have a button to link you to the database the article can be found on:

Use this if there's no PDF button.

For some articles you will only see a Find Full Text button 

When you click the Find Full Text button you'll be taken to our link resolver, which will give you a link (or a range of links) to access

Where there are multiple entries, check the date of publication for the article you want (see details to the right of the University logo) and then select the link which includes the date you need.

You may be asked to sign in, use your University email address and password.

In most cases you'll be taken to the article details page on the database or publisher's site it's held on, look for a PDF or full-text option on the page.  In some cases you will be taken to the contents page for the issue of the journal the article is published in, scroll through the contents page and select the article you want.

Free Ebooks and Scanned books

Archive.org is a great place to look for older material online with millions of books, films, movies, software and websites.

You may need to create an account to sign in to view some content on archive.org.  You can use any email address to create an account.  You can "borrow" up to 10 titles at a time.

Google books is another good place to look for older materials, and you may also find content from more recently published books.  There are many full text books available, although be warned that many books aren't complete.

See a list of open access books published by Open Book Publishers, Open Humanities Press and others.

Search the OAPEN Online Library: The OAPEN Library contains the full text of peer reviewed OA books which are 'free to read' online.

Search for open access books below in the Directory of Open Access Books. DOAB is a discovery services that points to OA books that can be found elsewhere. All books listed in DOAB have a full OA licence, making them 'free to share'.

Search

Find e-theses

Many institutions now provide archives of electronic theses, and a large number are open access.

Open Access Documents

CORE https://core.ac.uk/ contains over 200 million open access documents.

BASE (Bielefeld University Search Engine)  https://www.base-search.net/  for academic open access web resources, indexing over 120 million documents. Try this search to explore some OA material now!

Multimedia

Here you will find a range of online Library resources which provide access to films and documentaries as well as other multimedia resource which can be used in teaching and for dissertation work. This includes links to the Digital theatre plus database and to purchased titles on the Kanopy film streaming platform.

If you are trying to source multimedia content and would like assistance please contact us at library@st-andrews.ac.uk  

Additional music and sound recordings which are freely available can be found on our guide to Audio sources