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Online Resources for Alumni and Visitors

This guide lists fee, open access resources to support researchers not directly affiliated with Illinois Tech

Our licensing of paid content generally allows on-campus access to anybody with access to a library or university WiFi network. Off-campus access is restricted to current Illinois Tech students, faculty, and staff.

On-Campus Access

Alumni: Alumni who have WiFi accounts have seamless access to most library content.

Students, Faculty, or Staff from other institutions: Visitors with EduRoam accounts also get seamless access to most content. Check with your home institution to see if EduRoam is available to you.

Other Guests: Other visitors should be able to self-register for the "IIT-connect" WiFi network.

Off-Campus Access

To find free, publicliy accessible open access (OA) resources use our database A-Z list. At the top of the list, select open access in the "Vendor" dropdown box. Other useful filters are:

  • Subject. Use this to select only those resources relevant to your subject area.
  • Type. Use this to select only certain types of resources, like journal articles, books, videos, data, etc.

Key to Open Access Sources

The padlock icons indicate the level of free public access to each resource in the database list:

=Content is open access (OA) or otherwise freely accessible. Some sites may require a free personal account.

=Content is mainly open access (OA). Some, usually older, content may be restricted to Illinois Tech or paywalled.

=Free to search, but content is likely to be paywalled or restricted to Illinois Tech students, faculty, or staff.

=Access is restricted to Illinois Tech students, faculty, and staff.

Obtaining Non-Free Articles

In some cases, you may want to obtain copies of articles that are not freely available. In these cases you typically have several options.

  1. Conduct an advanced search on the Internet. By entering the full title of the paper in quotes ("_") into an Internet search engine, you may be able to find a copy of the article if the authors have posted it. Also, try adding unpaywall to your browser.
  2. Request a copy through your local public or school library. This is usually referred to as "interlibrary loan" or "document delivery" and is often a free service. Talk to your librarian for details.
  3. Purchase and download the article. Most commercial publishers allow you to purchase and download articles individually. Cost varies by publisher, but expect to pay about $30 per article.

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