Due to COVID-19 restrictions, guests are not currently allowed in the Libraries.

Alumni who have completed a degree program at Syracuse University, University College, or SUNY-ESF are eligible to obtain a free Guest Borrower card to check out materials from the Libraries for 28 days. Note that there are some restrictions; alumni can have 20 items checked out at a time, and can renew these items up to 5 times. We regret that we are not able to offer interlibrary loan service to alumni. To obtain your Guest Borrower card, please present your Alumni ID card at the Circulation Desk.

For more information on our alumni loan policies, please check Borrowing Privileges and Computer Access.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, guests are not currently allowed in the Libraries.

Due to licensing restrictions, alumni access to our databases, e-journals, and articles is only available on campus. Register at the Bird Library circulation desk to obtain a computer key to use.

• RefWorks

  • SU alumni still have access to RefWorks through our RefWorks Alumni Program subscription. RefWorks, an online citation management and writing tool, can help you to save, store, and generate bibliographic citations in a variety of citation styles. For more information, check out our RefWorks research guide.

• Zotero

  • A citation organizer that is freely available and works in your own web browser. Similar to RefWorks, you can use it to collect and organize your references. For more information, check out our Zotero research guide.

• Mendeley

  • A free reference manager and academic social network. In addition to its online collaborative features, it is also includes a desktop client for managing PDF files. For more information, check out our Mendeley research guide.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, guests are not currently allowed in the Libraries.

Public computer access

Once your SU NetID is deactivated after graduation, you will need to register as an alumni in order to use our public computers while on-campus. Please visit the Alumni Office to secure the necessary credentials.

Wireless at SU

Alumni can get wireless access at SU by using the AirOrangeGuest (not AirOrangeX) network. For more information on accessing this network, please see the AirOrangeHelp website.

Printing

Find information about Guest/Visitor Printing.

Many public libraries offer access to databases, electronic articles, interlibrary loan services, and other materials similar to those at SU. Some may even let you use your library card to log on to their electronic resources outside of the library itself.

Also, similar to SU, many college libraries allow members of the community to access their resources on-site; check with the library to inquire about their visitor policies.

• WorldCat

  The world's largest library catalog, WorldCat can help you to locate books, journals, music, movies, and more at libraries globally.

• PublicLibraries.com

  Search for libraries (including public, state, law, and college libraries) throughout the U.S.

• Subject Guide: Other Library Catalogs and Websites

  View our own subject guide to find other libraries and resources throughout Syracuse, New York State, and beyond.

Below are just some of the websites offering free online books to read and download.

• Bartleby.com - Great Books Online

  Offers the full-text of many English and American literary classics.

• Project Gutenberg

  Contains thousands of free eBooks now in the public domain.

• The Online Books Page

  Features over a million free online books, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

• Google Books

  Provides many complete books, and limited previews of others.

Though remote access to our databases is only available to current students or on-campus, there are still plenty of publicly available resources that you can use. Listed below are some recommended resources that are free to the public.

General Resources

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  A "one stop shop" for thousands of scientific and scholarly journals, the DOAJ provides free and open access to peer-reviewed articles across a variety of subject areas and languages.
• Internet Public Library (IPL)
  The IPL is a gateway to collection of online resources, including websites on a variety of subject areas and links to online periodicals.
• Google Scholar
  Still in beta, Google Scholar offers access or partial browsing of many scholarly articles.

Subject-Specific Resources

• AGRICOLA
  An offering of the National Agricultural Library from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AGRICOLA is a database covering publications on subject areas such as the animal sciences, forestry, farming, food and nutrition, and many other allied disciplines.
• Chronicling America
  Chronicling America, provided by the Library of Congress, contains digitized historical newspapers (1836-1922) in a searchable and browsable interface.
• ERIC
  Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, ERIC covers journal articles and literature focused on education-related research.
• MedlinePlus
  MedlinePlus, maintained by the National Library of Medicine, features current information on a variety of health topics, including conditions and diseases, medical treatments, and clinical trials.  Also included are illustrations and video supplements.
• PubMed Central
  A service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine, PubMed Central provides access to full-text journal articles on biomedical and life sciences research.

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus

  Includes word definitions and synonyms.

• Acronym Finder

  Identifies the words that make up acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.

• WordReference.com

  Offers links to online language dictionaries and translators.

• Internet Archive

  Archives a number of digitized items, including multimedia, public domain books, and older versions of websites.