Access to online Library resources
Support from the Library for online access to resources
From 23rd March 2020, the vast majority of teaching at the University will be carried out remotely, supported by the Library’s provision of online access to resources.
The Library provides access to more than:
- 1.4 million ebooks
- 185,000 ejournals
- 700 licensed databases
- 84,000 streaming videos
- 6,000 scanned book chapters and journal articles
The majority of this content is included in the online library catalogue:
Library catalogue (DiscoverEd)
Online resources
Other resources you may find particularly useful at this time include:
Temporary access to additional ebooks and other e-resources
Some additional e-resources are being made temporarily available by publishers to support teaching, learning and research during COVID-19.
Information about temporary access to additional e-books and other e-resources
Information about how to access e-resources
Where possible, we will also be adding these temporary access titles to the Library catalogue:
Resource Lists provide easy access to key course readings. Where possible access is provided to online materials including ebooks and scans of essential chapters. Students and academic staff can access their Resource Lists from their course in Learn or from the Resource List homepage:
Course organisers interested in using Resource Lists can find out more on the Resource Lists information for staff page:
Helping you get the best out of the library with selected information resources for your subject, as well as information on finding academic literature, referencing and more.
Use DiscoverEd to find books, ebooks, ejournal articles and more. Sign in using EASE to access your Library Account and manage your loans, requests and fines.
For use as a study aid Exam Papers Online provides University staff and students with access to the collected degree examination papers of the University from 2004 onwards.
While the University is delivering services online, if the Library does not provide online access to resources required for teaching, the Acquisitions and Interlibrary loans teams will try to source online access if available.
Many images in the University of Edinburgh Image Collections are freely available to use under a CC-BY license and cover everything from Art to Rare Books to Musical Instruments and beyond:
University of Edinburgh Image Collections
There is a collection of pdfs from scanned Special Collections material available on the University of Edinburgh Open Books website:
University of Edinburgh Open Books
The Library and University Collections MediaHopper channel contains films from the University Archive and videos about Library projects and exhibitions and Public Art:
The Library and University Collections MediaHopper channel
We also have several 3D models available to freely download:
Support with using the online Library and online learning
For information and support about using Library resources for online learning, see our online learning pages:
Using the Library for online learning
Academic Support Librarians are providing online Bitesize tutorials about Using the Online Library. For information about times and dates of these sessions:
Events @ Edinburgh: Library Bitesize: Using the online Library (University login required)
A prerecorded version of the training session is available below.
You can also contact IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk with enquiries.
- Video: Using the online Library
- An overview from the Academic Support Librarians on how to discover and access library resources and support online, and get updates on services available during the period affected by COVID-19.