Accessing Materials

Ebooks

Find via the library catalog. On-campus, you can simply follow the link (under Availability) to open the ebook. Off-campus, you will be prompted for your NetID and password.

Note: Most of our ebooks can be read online. In other words, you do not need to check them out and download them to an eReader.  Some ebooks allow unlimited, simultaneous users and chapter-by-chapter downloads. Other ebooks are much more restrictive, allowing downloads of only x number of pages, or single-user acess.

We also have some books, via a system called OverDrive, that can be "checked out" and downloaded to your device, for 2-week loans.

Print Books

  • After searching the library catalog, and identifying the call number, you can locate the items in the stacks, on your own, and bring them to the circulation desk to check them out, using your Cornell ID.
  • Alternatively, you can request contact-less pick-up, using your NetId and password. From the library catalog record for the item, select "Request" and the pick-up location. There are several contact-less pick-up locations around campus, including the Tower Room entrance of Uris Library.
  • If you only need one chapter from the book, you can also use the Request link to request a free scan of that chapter.

Articles from e-Journals

In the library's databases, many of the articles will include the full-text. When they don't, look for the "Get it! Cornell" link to search the library's online holdings for the journal in which the article appears.

If you get the message "Your resource was not found, but it may be available." You can either Ask a Librarian! or follow the link to "Search by ISBN/ISSN." This will search our catalog for the journal in which the article appears.

Articles from Print Journals

In some cases, an article is only available in one of our print journal titles. From the library record for the journal, select "Request" and fill out the form with the article author, title, journal title, volume, issue, date, page numbers to receive a free scan of the article.

BorrowDirect

Books

If the library doesn't have a title you're looking for, or we have it but another patron has borrowed it (it's "checked out'), you can use BorrowDirect to request it from another library in the BorrowDirect system.

BorrowDirect generally takes 3-5 days.

Look for the Request item button in library catalog records.

Interlibrary Loan

Articles

If the library doesn't have the journal that contains an article you are looking for, or if the library only owns the print journal, you can request a scan of the article via Interlibrary Loan.

From a library database, or from Google Scholar, check to see if we have the article by clicking the "Get it! Cornell" link. If you don't find the article, you can ask for assistance (sometimes the journal will be here, in hardcopy!), or submit a request.

1st "Get it! Cornell" example:

Article entry

2nd "Get it! Cornell" example:

message when the resource was not found