Alumni
Library Access for Alumni
Alumni of Columbia University enjoy free lifetime access to library facilities*. Application for an Alumni ID card can be made to the Library Information Office, with a valid government-issued photo ID. Hours can be found here. Alumni ID cards are valid for 10 years. A new ID card will be issued after the card expires. A replacement charge of $20 will be charged for lost or stolen cards. Alumni are encouraged to wait 120 days to obtain their Alumni ID following their graduation date, as student-status library privileges remain active for 120 days.
Retirees must request a new CUID from the campus ID center.
Learn more about Columbia alumni benefits and privileges here.
*Access to the S. Steven Pan '88 Business Library is restricted to current students.
Borrowing Privileges for Alumni
Alumni borrowing privileges can be purchased for $30 per month. Borrowing privileges may not be used at the Law School, Teachers College or the Health Sciences libraries. Application can be made to the Library Information Office, with a valid government-issued photo ID. Alumni ID cards are valid for 10 years. A new ID card will be issued after the card expires. A replacement charge of $20 will be charged for lost or stolen cards.
Alumni of Teachers College must obtain their alumni cards in Whittier Hall.
E-Resources for Alumni
Graduates of Columbia University, Barnard, Teachers College, and Union Theological Seminary have off-campus access to the e-resources listed below. To use these resources, alumni may need to activate their UNI or change their password using the CUIT Manage My Uni Website.
Alumni must use ONLY the links on this page to access these resources. Using any other links to these databases will not allow alumni access.
Academic Commons
Columbia University's digital repository where current faculty, students, and staff of Columbia and its affiliate institutions can deposit the results of their scholarly work and research. Content in Academic Commons is freely available to the public.
Academic Search Premier: Alumni edition
Provides full text for thousands of peer-reviewed journals—as well as thousands of peer-reviewed indexed and abstracted journals.
AM Explorer
Search across all Adam Matthew’s unique primary source products for the social sciences and humanities.
Annual Reviews
Collections of critical reviews written by leading scientists.
AP Stylebook Online
The Web-based edition is a fully searchable version of the Associated Press Stylebook, including an A-Z guide to usage, spelling, and a pronunciation guide with audio files.
ATLASerials, Religion Collection
The ATLASerials, Religion Collection is a full text-only version of the ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials for alumni.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals: Alumni Edition
Provides citations to articles in approximately 400 current and over 1,000 retrospective architectural and related periodicals with primary emphasis on architectural design and history.
Business Source Premier: Alumni Edition
Provides nearly 1,100 full-text business magazines and journals in nearly every area of business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance, econometrics, economics, and more.
Cambridge Histories Online
Provides full text online access to the complete 250-plus volumes of Cambridge Histories reference series. Provides political, economic and social history, philosophy and literature of selected countries and subjects.
CIAO
Access to CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online), a comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs.
Columbia University Archives
The University Archives preserves the institutional memory of Columbia University through the acquisition of official University records and related historical collections and materials from its founding in 1754 to the present day.
Company of Biologists Journals
Full-text access to five journals in the biological sciences
Digital Collections at Columbia University Libraries
An online resource based on some of Columbia Libraries' unique print materials. Most of these digital collections are open and available to alumni and the general public, though some content may be restricted due to copyright limitations.
Directory of Open Access Books
DOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users to find trusted open access book publishers. All DOAB services are free of charge and all data is freely available.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer-reviewed journals.
gutenberg-e:
Prize winning electronic books representing the most distinguished and innovative scholarship delivered with creative and thoughtful use of digital technology, published by Columbia University Press in cooperation with the American Historical Association.
JapanKnowledge Lib (BASIC PACKAGE)
Online collection of encyclopedia, dictionaries, reference compilations, and periodical resources (over 80 different sources) from Japan. Add-on SELECT (eg. Dai Kan-Wa jiten, Shinpen Kokka Taikan, etc.) and JKBooks (eg. Taiyo, Fuzoku Gaho, etc.) titles are not included.
Journals of the American Medical Association [JAMA]
Full text access to the current issues and archive of JAMA, Archives of Dermatology, Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, Archives of General Psychiatry, Archives of Internal Medicine, Archives of Neurology, Archives of Otolaryngology, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Archives of Surgery, and the Archives of Ophthalmology.
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive
Provides full text and page images of over 1,000 leading scholarly journals in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication.
Mergent Online
Includes business and financial information on public and private companies globally.
MIT Press Books and Journals
Read more than 3,000 eBooks and more than 30 eJournals from the MIT Press.
Nikkei Asia
Continuously updated coverage of business, markets, technology, politics, economics, and culture in East and Southeast Asia to a global audience. Nikkei is ideally positioned to provide Asian news and analysis to a global audience.
Project Muse
Full-text articles from more than 200 scholarly journals in history and the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences.
Proquest ABI/Inform Complete
Provides access to full-text journals and working papers in business and economics. Also includes newspapers and country-and industry- focused reports.
Proquest Alternative Press Watch
Provides full-text articles for over 210 publications of the alternative and independent presses, from 1970 to current
ProQuest databases
Access to thousands of full-text journals and newspapers across a wide range of subject areas, including business, education, literature, political science, and psychology.
Proquest Ethnic NewsWatch
Includes current journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and independent presses. Content covers 1990-present, with specialized coverage of the following ethnic categories: African American/Caribbean/African; Arab/Middle Eastern; Asian/Pacific Islander; European/Eastern European; Hispanic; Jewish; Native People.
Proquest GenderWatch
A repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgender community and the changes in gender roles over the years. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports
ProQuest Health Management
A collection of resources in the field of health administration, including journals and dissertations.
Subject coverage includes health administration, health professions, hospitals, insurance, law and more.
ProQuest Medical Library
Comprehensive collection of journals covering clinical and biomedical literature. Subject coverage includes anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, parasitology and more.
ProQuest U.S. Newsstream
Access to almost 50 national and international newspapers. Includes the Chicago Tribune and LA Times.
Proquest Research Library
This database provides access to thousands of journals from Proquest's general reference database. Search a mix of scholarly journals, trade publications and magazines covering over 150 academic disciplines including business, education, literature, political science, and psychology.
PubMed Central
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
The Responsa Project
A collection of Jewish texts in Hebrew, which embody thousands of years of Jewish learning, covering Responsa Literature and includes Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, the Shulchan Aruch, the Entsiḳlopedyah Talmudit, and more. (Click here for the mobile interface.)
Risk.net
An online gateway to news articles, journals and ebooks covering the international financial risk management sector.
Sage Journals
Access to the full text of over 1,100 scholarly journals and publications.
Sage Knowledge
SAGE eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles and more.
Sage Research Methods
Tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s book, journal and reference content with advanced search and discovery tools.
Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science
The basic component of the library is a 50- to 100-page electronic book that synthesizes an important research or development topic, authored by a prominent contributor to the field.
The Talmudic Encyclopedia
Thirty volumes of the Talmudic encyclopedia, also knows as Entsiḳlopedyah Talmudit, with notes and illustrations.
For questions regarding resources, please contact the Library Information Office at lio@columbia.edu.