Harvard alumni across the University can now access more than 7,500 online journals and e-books through the Harvard library.
While several faculty libraries have been providing some licensed electronic resources to alumni of individual Schools, a new initiative—supported with start-up funding from the Arcadia Fund—recently expanded the suite of offerings and extended access to all Harvard alumni for research, teaching, or private study.
"We are excited to offer these electronic resources, which give all of our alumni across the University the opportunity to engage in lifelong learning through Harvard," says Philip Lovejoy, executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association. "We have already seen strong interest in the program and expect that interest will continue to grow."
The wide selection of online resources now available to alumni includes content from the JSTOR journals collection, Time, Foreign Affairs, American Medical Association journals, Hein Online Law Journal Library, Oxford Art Online, and more.
"We chose a variety of packages that together offer a broad range of information in both the disciplines that alumni are employed in and those that they have an interest in learning more about," says Betsy Eggleston, director of collections and knowledge management at Harvard's Countway Library of Medicine and chair of the Alumni Access to Harvard Library Electronic Resources Working Group. "We are hoping that we will be able to add more over time."
Alumni can offer suggestions for adding access to new resources by using the purchase request form on the library website.
Robin Grace, managing director of University initiatives, says the response from alumni has been overwhelmingly positive. "We are grateful to the Harvard Library and the Arcadia Fund for opening the door for our alumni to explore these valuable resources," Grace says.
To take advantage of this exclusive alumni benefit, log in using your HarvardKey. For HarvardKey help, contact the HUIT Support Desk at ithelp@harvard.edu or 617-495-7777.
For questions about the Alumni Access to Electronic Resources program, contact the HAA Help Desk at haa_alumnihelp@harvard.edu, 800-823-2478, or 617-496-0559.