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. 

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

Email  Library@st-andrews.ac.uk with any questions 

 

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

Phone the Library Service Desk:

44+ 1334 462331

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/

Free Ebooks and Scanned books

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