Congratulations!
Now that you have graduated, or are contemplating graduation, you may be wondering how USF’s Gleeson Library | Geschke Center can serve you once you become an alumnus. This guide will give you the basics on your Gleeson Library privileges once you graduate, as well as selected public libraries and web sites where you can obtain free research tools and quality information.
Access to Gleeson Library and its Resources After Graduation
Library Cards, Library Access and Borrowing Privileges:
- USF Alumni may purchase a Special Access Only card for $20. This card is good for one year and allows access to the library building, computers, and databases (when visiting the library building), but does not allow borrowing privileges.
- USF Alumni may purchase a Special Access / Borrowing card for $50, which includes all the access above plus library materials borrowing privileges.
- New alums within the first 12 months of graduation can apply for a FREE access to the library building and a borrowing card that lasts for one year.
- More information on alumni library access
- USF Alumni may access the library's databases from within the Library only.
Scanning in the Library:
- Scanning: There is one scan-to-USB or to email scanner on the first floor. There is no charge for scanning.
- Campus printing or photocopying services are only offered for current USF students, staff, and faculty. We can direct you to nearby printing/copying services off campus. Our scanner can be used to send items to be printed elsewhere.
Using the Library’s Online Databases:
- When you are coming to the library in person, you can use any of the library’s databases at any of the library's computers, or with your own laptop, using a guest login provided at the Library Help Desk. Library databases can only be used within the library due to contracts with database providers.
Freely Available USF Materials
- USF Scholarship Repository
The USF Scholarship Repository is an institutional repository service provided by the Gleeson Library | Geschke Center in collaboration with Dorraine Zief Law Library to digitally collect, preserve and provide electronic access to scholarly works and research output by the University of San Francisco community.
- Gleeson Library Digital CollectionsThe Gleeson Library Digital Collections hold digitized special collections materials from the Donohue Rare Book Room, electronic publications and other academic works by USF faculty and students, and digitized archival materials related to university and local history. Includes USF yearbooks and course catalogs. Click Browse All Collections to get started.
- RefWorks
You can continue to use your RefWorks account to organize citations and create bibliographies as long as the library continues to subscribe to this database. Use this link to manage an existing account, or create a new one: https://guides.usfca.edu/refworks-guide
Finding and Using Other Libraries
- San Francisco Public Library Home PageIf you live in California you can get a library card from SFPL which gives you remote access to many great databases in a variety of topics, as well as ebooks and other digital collections. If you are local, you can use any materials at any branch library.
- WorldCat Library SearchSearch for libraries all over the world by zip code, city, state, or country. Library policies will vary, so check the library's web site for information on access and use.
- LibWeb Directory of Worldwide LibrariesBrowse by region, or search by zip code, city, state, province, or country. Access and use policies will vary, so view library web pages for details.
Open Access Repositories and Collections
- COREHuge collection of open access (free) research articles.
- The Internet ArchiveFrom the web site: "is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more."
- OAD: Open Access DirectoryA directory of open access data and scholarship in a variety of topics, maintained by The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at Simmons College.
- OATD: Open Access Theses and DissertationsA collection of freely available theses and dissertations from universities all over the world.
- OpenDOARGlobal directory of open access repositories
Open Access Articles
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
Open Access Books
- Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)A basic search for OA books, including OA textbooks.
Select Freely Available Resources By Subject Area
Art, Design, and Museum Sources
Free Art, Design, and Museum Resources
Health Sciences
Free Health Sciences Information Resources
Government Information and Sources
Regional, National, and International Government Information
Business, Nonprofit, and Economics
- IMF eLibrary
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) eLibrary provides direct access to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools. You will find information and perspective on macroeconomics, globalization, development, trade and aid, technical assistance, demographics, emerging markets, policy advice, poverty reduction, and more. - FRED
This site offers a wealth of economic data and information to promote economic education and enhance economic research. The widely used database FRED is updated regularly and allows 24/7 access to regional and national financial and economic data. - FRASER
FRASER preserves and provides access to economic and banking data and policy documents from the Federal Reserve System. - Bureau of Labor Statistics
Provides statistics on labor and information on occupations and industries in the U.S. including employment, hours, earnings, consumer and producer price indexes, productivity, compensation and collective bargaining, injury and illness, and some international data as well. Also provides occupational and industry information. - World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
The World Bank is the largest single source of development knowledge. The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR)is The World Bank’s official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. Through the OKR, The World Bank collects, disseminates, and permanently preserves its intellectual output in digital form.
- globalEDGE
Click on the name of your country, then click on “Culture” for information on culture and doing business in the country you are studying. Or, use globalEDGE to learn more about a country's economy, trade, political climate, and more.
- Catalog of Nonprofit Literature
This database of the literature of philanthropy incorporates the unique contents of the Foundation Center's five libraries and contains more than 33,000 citations, the majority of which include descriptive abstracts. It is organized by our in-house classification system. The database covers literature on philanthropy, the foundations world, the nonprofit sector—particularly works on such topics as fundraising and proposal development—and works related to charitable giving, including project reports, studies, and statistical analysis.
Education Sources
- ERICA collection of research and articles on education topics created by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. A significant portion of the materials are freely available.
Women, Feminist, and Gender Studies
- Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. Because of the explosion of research in Women's Studies during the past two decades, scholars and students interested in women during the Middle Ages find an ever-growing flood of publications. - Gender Data Portal
The Gender Data Portal is the World Bank Group’s comprehensive source for the latest sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics covering demography, education, health, access to economic opportunities, public life and decision-making, and agency.
- Digital Transgender ArchiveThe purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts at the College of the Holy Cross, the DTA is an international collaboration among more than fifty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, public libraries, and private collections. By digitally localizing a wide range of trans-related materials, the DTA expands access to trans history for academics and independent researchers alike in order to foster education and dialog concerning trans history.
- Gender Data Portal (World Bank)The Gender Data Portal is the World Bank Group’s comprehensive source for the latest sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics covering demography, education, health, access to economic opportunities, public life and decision-making, and agency.
The Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science
- AGRICOLA
AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) serves as the catalog and index to the collections of the National Agricultural Library, as well as a primary public source for world-wide access to agricultural information. The database covers materials in all formats and periods, including printed works from as far back as the 15th century. - arXiv.org
Started in August 1991, arXiv.org (formerly xxx.lanl.gov) is a highly-automated electronic archive and distribution server for research articles. Covered areas include physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology and statistics. arXiv is maintained and operated by the Cornell University Library with guidance from the arXiv Scientific Advisory Board and the arXiv Member Advisory Board, and with the help of numerous subject moderators. - Astrophysics Data System
A gateway to the online Astronomy and Physics literature. - CiteSeerX
Pre-print articles and online papers in the sciences, particularly computer science. The database also serves as a citation index showing who has cited whom. - OSTI.GOV
OSTI.GOV makes available over 70 years of research results from DOE and its predecessor agencies discoverable. Research results include journal articles/accepted manuscripts and related metadata; technical reports; scientific research datasets and collections; scientific software; patents; conference and workshop papers; books and theses; and multimedia. - PubChem
PubChem provides information on the biological activities of small molecules. It includes substance information, compound structures, and BioActivity data.
Theology, Religion, and Philosophy
- Catholic News Archive
This list is being compiled by the Catholic Research Resources Alliance with the help of all in support of the goal to provide access to all extant Catholic newspapers in North America. - Early Church Fathers
Full text of the writings of the Early Church Fathers from the first 800 years of the Church. - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Open access encyclopedia maintained by scholarly experts in philosophy. Gleeson Library is a Full Contributor supporting the encyclopedia.
Videos, Photographs, and Sound Recordings
- Free and Open Access Videos and Sound Collections OnlineA selection of freely available videos and sound recordings
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
Digitized historical documents, photographs, sound recordings, moving pictures, books, pamphlets, maps, and other resources from the Library of Congress’s vast holdings. - San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
The San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive preserves much of the Bay Area's rich television history on film and broadcast video. As archive videos are remastered, they are made available online for free. - San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection
More than 250,000 photographs of San Francisco and California. It includes photographs of famous San Francisco personalities, buildings, streets, and neighborhoods.
Citing and Organizing Information
- ZoteroZotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
- Purdue OWLExcellent guides to citing and formatting in the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), and Chicago styles.
- Excelsior Online Writing Lab: APA StyleYou will often use sources for academic writing, and it’s important to know how to responsibly cite and integrate those sources into your own writing. APA format provides guidelines and structures for citing those sources in a way that helps you avoid plagiarism and give proper credit to your sources.