Visitors and Alumni
We welcome visitors to the Library, including: members of other academic institutions; Brunel Alumni; organised visits from schools and colleges; members of the public; Special Collections visitors; and academic collaborators. Please check the links below for details on these different categories.
All visitors should note:
- Access during University exams will be restricted
- For those users with borrowing privileges, there is a limit of 6 items on loan at a time
- Some services are not available for visitors, including the Click & Post service, Scan & Send and Inter Library Loans.
- In all cases a Brunel ID card must be presented - there will be no access to the Library without a valid Brunel ID card.
- Visitors are not permitted to log on to Brunel network via Wi-Fi or a networked computer except for academic collaborators.
- Due to licensing restrictions access to electronic resources is limited, please see below for more details.
Members of other academic institutions (SCONUL)
SCONUL Access is a reciprocal access scheme, granting borrowing privileges to many types of library users working or studying at participating higher education libraries in the UK and Ireland.
SCONUL Access provides borrowing privileges for most:
- Academic staff on open or fixed term contracts
- Postgraduate research students registered for a PhD, MPhil or similar qualification
- Part-time, distance learning and placement students
- Full-time postgraduates
SCONUL Access also provides a reference only service (i.e. you cannot borrow resources) for most:
- Full-time undergraduate students
- Staff of a few higher education libraries not participating in the reciprocal borrowing arrangements
SCONUL Access does not provide access to electronic resources. However, we support the eduroam service. You can register for this with your home institution and use this service via your laptop to access your own institution's electronic resources. Further details can be found on the Eduroam website.
For more information see the SCONUL website or visit the Help Desk.
Please note, a charge of £12 is payable for lost cards.
Brunel Alumni
If you are a Brunel Alumnus and would like to continue using the Library, you are eligible for free membership, which provides you with access during our core hours. To use the Library in this way, please complete the visitor form on the right hand side and indicate you are applying for alumni membership. We will need to verify your alumni status so please bring your alumni card as well as separate photo ID and address confirmation when you collect your ID card.
Please note, a charge of £12 is payable for lost cards.
Due to licensing restrictions, we are currently only able to provide remote access to electronic resources to Brunel students and staff. Alumni members are also not permitted to log on to Brunel network via Wi-Fi or a networked computer.
Visitors to the library are permitted access to some, but not all, electronic resources via the Library's catalogue kiosks. However, some databases, such as market research reports and financial resources do not permit guest access. For more information, see 'Access to electronic resources' below.
If you are seeking access for personal, private study, and not on a commercial basis, then perhaps you may be granted visitor access to a university’s electronic resources close to you, or perhaps your national library may permit access to some electronic resources. It is certainly worth checking before you visit.
Brunel Retired Staff
If you are a retired member of Brunel staff and would like to continue using the Library, you are eligible for free membership, which provides you with access during our core hours. To use the Library in this way, please complete the visitor form on the right hand side and indicate you are applying for alumni membership. We will need to verify your retired staff status so please bring your leavers letter as well as separate photo ID and address confirmation when you collect your ID card.
Please note, a charge of £12 is payable for lost cards.
Visits from schools and colleges
We welcome organised visits from school and college groups wanting to refer to our Library resources at the University campus. We are keen to offer you a range of options for your visit to best suit the needs of your group. To find out more contact us on: library@brunel.ac.uk
Members of the public
If you are not covered by SCONUL but would like to use the Library, we offer external memberships at two rates. Reference membership costs £25 per year, whilst borrowing membership is £80 per year. This provides a borrowing privilege of up to six long loan items at any one time. Please note, a charge of £12 is payable for lost cards.
If you wish to access the Library, please complete the online visitor form (linked on the right). When you come to the Library please bring two forms of ID with you, one of which must contain a photograph, and one with your home address on it.
Academic collaborators
If you are an academic visitor to Brunel and have already been issued with your Brunel ID card, please ask the School that you are visiting to provide us with written confirmation of your access requirements and we will set up your membership.
Brunel University London Council
If you are a member of Brunel University London Council and wish to use the Library, you are eligible for free membership, which provides you with access during our core hours. To use the Library in this way, please complete the visitor form on the right hand side and indicate you are applying for Council membership.
When you come to the Library please bring two forms of ID with you, one of which must contain a photograph, and one with your home address on it.
Please note, a charge of £12 is payable for lost cards.
Wi-Fi and computer access
Brunel University London is a member of eduroam (education roaming via Jisc Connectivity). This service enables members from participating higher education institutions to connect to their home networks using Wi-Fi-enabled devices while they are visiting Brunel. Please ensure you register for this service with your home institution before your visit.
For the avoidance of doubt, except for academic collaborators during their time at Brunel, other categories of visitors are not permitted to log on to Brunel network via Wi-Fi or a networked computer.
Access to electronic resources
Due to licensing restrictions, we are currently only able to provide remote access to electronic resources to Brunel students and staff. However, visitors to the library who possess a valid pass will be able to access certain electronic resources, via the library catalogue kiosks on each floor, provided the licences permit "walk in" or guest access. If a licence does not permit guest access then visitors will see a message stating that access is denied.
To avoid disappointment, you should check with the e-Library team to see if a licensed electronic resource would permit guest access or not before you apply for a visitor's pass (please give at least one working day's notice). The following resources do not permit guest access: Bloomberg, Refinitiv Workspace, Fitch Connect, FT.com, LexisNexis products, Mintel products, O'Reilly Safari, Passport, SAE Journals and Technical Papers, Westlaw.
Finally, our Alumni members now have access to one resource, JSTOR (through a subscription to the Arts & Sciences I to IX collections and to the Health & General Sciences collection only, paid by the Alumni Office). Please sign on to the Alumni Portal for access, see: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/alumni/Brunel-Alumni/Alumni-benefits. Items on JSTOR which are not included on the subscription may be purchased via JSTOR for individuals - see JPASS - individual subscriptions to JSTOR.