Have you considered registering for a library card through the National Library of Australia's website? A library card is your key to accessing a wide range of databases, ebooks and ejournals on topics of interest to all independent scholars. To do this, select the 'Get a Library card' option on the National Library’s homepage https://www.nla.gov.au/getalibrarycard/, complete the short form, and a card will be posted to your residential address, wherever you live in the country.
Once you have your library card, accessing electronic resources is straightforward. Visit the eResources page on the National Library website and log in using the number on your library card and your last name. You will see three categories of resources, ‘freely available websites’, ‘licensed resources’ and ‘onsite resources’. The databases and journal collections listed in the ‘licensed’ category are of particular interest as these are resources that the National Library subscribes to on your behalf and makes accessible 24/7 to registered users around the country. Most researchers will find something of interest and relevance. Some of the licensed resources on offer include the Factiva database of current newspapers, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and the Academic Search Premier database of over 4,000 full-text journals. You will also find a number of free, high-quality websites that have been selected for inclusion by National Library librarians. The third category, ‘onsite resources’, are only accessible inside the National Library building due to licensing restrictions imposed by the vendor. All three types of resources are clearly identified by icons that indicate the access conditions that apply.
The eResources portal helps you find resources relevant to your particular area of interest by grouping databases into topic categories. You can either browse these categories or use ‘Find a source’ to identify the databases that are most useful for your research. eResources helps you identify relevant products and makes it easy for you to connect to the site. Once connected, you can search that service for the particular journal article or topic that you are working on.
By joining the National Library and accessing eResources through our website, you gain access to a significant collection of electronic databases, ejournals and ebooks. Our eResources portal makes it easy to identify relevant products and, once you have a library card, you can access quality resources at a time and place of your convenience. There is something for everyone - give it a try!