Library services for alumni

You’ll have full access to the library’s online and physical collections while you’re a student or staff member. Once you graduate, you can still stay connected.

As an alum, you can continue to enjoy many of the library benefits you valued as a student, including borrowing physical items from your local campus and using selected online databases. Alumni membership is free and supports your ongoing learning and professional development.

What’s included

Alumni members can access selected services during staffed hours. The table below outlines what’s available to alumni borrowers so you can make the most of your visit.

Provided Not provided
  • Access to the Library during staffed hours
  • Free Wi-Fi (bring your own device)
  • Access the alumni databases from home
  • Borrow in person from your local campus library
  • Borrow unlimited items for up to 4 weeks
  • Unlimited renewals. Please contact the library to renew items.
  • 24/7 building access
  • Restricted, reserve, and special collections
  • Requesting items from other Charles Sturt campuses (intercampus loans)
  • Access to the full suite of library databases from home
  • Interlibrary loans
  • Home delivery (postal) services
  • Printing, copying, and scanning facilities

*Charles Sturt students may request items that are currently on loan. When this happens, the due date will change and the current borrower will need to return the item by the new date. Learn more about your borrowing responsibilities, including what happens if items are lost or damaged.

Access online after graduation

Continue to learn and stay up to date.

Alumni databases

Alumni membership does not include access to the full suite of electronic resources available to current Charles Sturt students and staff. Instead, alumni have access to the following databases:

How to access the alumni databases

  1. Register with the Charles Sturt Alumni Office to receive your login details. These login details will change every year.
  2. Use these login details to sign in to the databases listed on this page.
  3. Search as usual. The same techniques you’re familiar with still apply. You can also limit results to full-text articles by selecting that option in the search filters.

Other ways to access academic resources

Even without full database access, there are still many options for continuing to learn and stay informed. These resources are available independently of alumni membership.

Some academic materials are freely available online and can be accessed from home without logging in or being a Library member. These are known as Open Access (OA) resources.

Open Access materials include a wide range of scholarly and learning content such as articles, textbooks, readings, images and videos. Because they are published online with open access, anyone can read them for free.

Some of these materials are Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are high-quality learning materials that have been openly licensed so they can be used and shared more freely for teaching and study.

Although Open Access resources are free to read, they are not necessarily in the public domain. In most cases, authors still hold the copyright and set the conditions for how their work can be used.

→ Explore the Open Educational Resources guide.

→ Learn more about finding Open Access content in the Library’s Open Access publishing guide.

The National Library of Australia (NLA) subscribes to a number of databases, accessible online from outside the library, including business, literature, arts, social science, health, and multidisciplinary databases.

There are three levels of access to the National Library’s eResources:

  • Freely available – accessible to anyone online
  • Licensed resources – available to registered members who hold a NLA library card
  • Onsite resources – accessible in the NLA building only.

To make the most of the NLA online resources register and obtain a card.

State and Territory libraries provide a range of online resources. Access will vary from freely available, registered member access, and onsite only.

Check your state or territory library for full details and steps to become a member:

Public libraries provide a range of onsite and online resources and services to their local communities. Check with your nearest library for details.

Many will also offer an interlibrary loan and copy service if they don’t hold the particular resources you require.

Find your nearest library:

Some professional associations provide resources for their registered members; some might also have a library. If you are a member of any professional associations or organisations, check the services and resources that are available to you.

Professional Associations can be found listed in our Library Resource Guides. Choose the discipline you are interested in, then scroll down to Websites.

Workplaces, such as government departments, police forces, hospitals, large companies, health-related organisations, and law firms, might have a library and subscribe to relevant online databases.

If you are an employee, you might have access to online resources, depending on the policies of your employer.

Stay on top of your loans

Students may request items currently on loan. Learn more about your borrowing responsibilities, including return dates and what happens if items are lost or damaged.