In order to provide digital resources to you, the University of Sydney has signed legal agreements with publishers that states how University staff and students are allowed to use their digital resources. Under those agreements, publishers can block access for all University staff and students should any one of us exceed those limits. When this happens, it causes a lot of issues for our university community. In practice, you're likely to get blocked when you download many articles, books or book chapters at once, or when you're using techniques or tools that quickly download resources.

If you happen to be using a non-university VPN, make sure you don’t switch countries while you are accessing Library eresources during your browser session.

If you're blocked from a digital resource and want to find out more, you can use Live Chat on the library homepage to talk directly to a library staff member or use the contact us form and we'll be in touch.

If you are seeing the ‘Temporarily Suspended’ screen, this means that your UniKey has been temporary blocked for a short period of time, wait a while and try to login again. The cause may be due to excessive data download. No need to contact the Library as access will be restored after a while.

If you are seeing the 'Unauthorised screen', this means they your accessing a database that is restricted to certain users. See the Resources restricted to staff and students page, for more information.

Please refer to UniKey blocks and unauthorised message for screenshots of error message and more information.

The Library provides access to many digital resources, including journal databases and ebooks, for your study and research. We encourage you to use our digital resources but there are limits on what you're allowed to do which are set by the publisher providing the resource. If you exceed these limits, your access to our digital resources may be blocked.

Unfortunately, we can't give you the exact limits as they vary from publisher to publisher and are often only given in terms of "reasonable" or "fair" usage. If you're conducting text and data mining, library staff can help you find resources that allow mining so you can avoid breaching download limits.

At first your access to our digital resources, including journal databases and ebooks, will be temporarily blocked and your access will be restored automatically after a few hours. You will see a message when you have been temporarily blocked.

If you repeatedly exceed the limits your access won't be restored automatically. We do this to avoid a publisher from blocking access to the digital resource for the whole university.

In order to provide digital resources to you, the University of Sydney has signed legal agreements with publishers that states how University staff and students are allowed to use their digital resources. Under those agreements, publishers can block access for all University staff and students should any one of us exceed those limits. When this happens, it causes a lot of issues for our university community. In practice, you're likely to get blocked when you download many articles, books or book chapters at once, or when you're using techniques or tools that quickly download resources.

Please refer to the Ebook Guide for more information about ebook use.

The library provides limited numbers of prescribed texts to support equitable access to course materials and should be considered a secondary source of textbook access for students.

Textbooks are commissioned specifically for teaching and learning, and publishers get their return on investment primarily through student retail sales. It is for this reason prescribed textbooks are generally not available for libraries to purchase in ebook format as publishers see this as a potential loss of revenue. For example, Wiley Direct etextbooks are only available for individual purchase and are not for institutional access. Where publishers do sell titles to libraries, they often charge per enrolled student, making the cost prohibitive for Library budgets. The library will not purchase etextbooks that have prohibitive access models, for example where the effective cost per student is excessive, or where the access is limited to a particular student group such as a unit of study cohort.

Wherever possible, the Library will negotiate unlimited access to etextbooks with publishers. When unlimited access is not an available option, the Library will supply limited-user ebook licences and/or print copies for each course to accommodate the number of enrolled students.

The Library has a role in assuring equity of access to textbooks for all students, in keeping with Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) and the Higher Education Provider (HEP) Guidelines (2012, s7.5.1). The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) has highlighted the potential for inadvertent breaches of the HEP guidelines when academic staff enter etextbook contractual arrangements directly with publishers. We advise academic staff to consider the following points if you are approached by publishers to purchase or publish etextbooks directly for your students:

• Is the assessment module customisable?
• Can my own assessments be included?
• Is it compatible with the University’s LMS?
• Is access purchased or leased?
• Are there any privacy implications for student data? For example, is student data going to be stored on publishers’ servers?
• Are there legal implications if student usage and personal data is accessed by a commercial provider?
• Check the terms and conditions of the license to ensure it complies with University guidelines.
• Do assessments abide by University and HESA/HEP guidelines?

VitalSource is a platform for students to purchase or rent etextbooks. Several publishers also rent to libraries and some of their etextbooks are only available on the VitalSource platform. Most publishers base the leasing price for libraries on student enrolment numbers and therefore, the cost per title for libraries is considerably higher than the price set for individual students. This pricing model prevents the library from renting the etextbook as the library is not funded to provide textbooks to every student enrolled in a course.

As the library is “renting” on the VitalSource platform rather than owning the etextbook outright, the library must pay the publishers every year to ensure ongoing access to each title.

The library will be trialling access to Cambridge University Press (CUP) etextbooks on the VitalSource platform as they provide:

• A pricing model that is not based on student enrolment numbers
• One, 3 user licence for a 3hr loan period (with the remaining number of copies to be supplemented by print)

Unfortunately, most publishers on the VitalSource platform do not offer the same model as CUP and will not be included in the trial.

The Library will provide three-user access to CUP titles on the VitalSource platform as a supplement to print copies acquired for Unit of Study.

The Library has extended the trial of VitalSource for an additional 12 months (September, 2023) to determine whether to continue supporting this access model.

• Refer to the Library's EndNote Guide.
• If you need further help with EndNote, contact a librarian.

• Sign into Library Search and limit your search to library collections.
• Check the Library's A-Z Database list.

Please refer to Accessing Library's subscribed ejournals?

You can access HathiTrust Digital Library through A-Z Databases page for additional ebooks

The full list of databases the Library subscribes to can be found on the A-Z database page

Why I can’t access an article?

Please contact the Library over Live Chat, by phone, or submit a question for help.

For instructions and guide please refer to the BrowZine Guide.

Lean Library is a browser extension for Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera that makes it easier to access electronic resource content subscribed by The University of Sydney Library. Please refer to the Lean Library Guide for steps.

With some exceptions, all students and staff members receive a UniKey automatically and should use the UniKey login option. Access via UniKey to Library eresources is available to staff and currently enrolled students. Almost all students may only use their UniKey to login. If you are a student and have started to have problems, check if you are in one of the student groups below:

Which students use Community ID login?
If you are a postgraduate student who has submitted a thesis and still need library services to complete your degree, a postgraduate research or coursework student whose candidature has been suspended, or a student intending to study a postgraduate or honours degree, you can arrange continued access by applying for a temporary extension through Student Cards. Winter or Summer School students with no UniKey may also apply. You can then use the Community ID to authenticate. Apply for your card

Staff & University Title Holders must use their UniKey to login. University Title Holders apply for your card

Please refer to UniKey blocks and unauthorised message

Alumni users are only able to access online resources listed on themembership page

Firstly, don't use Autocomplete. If your browser is automatically filling out or partially completing one or more of the boxes on the login screen, don't accept what it inserts. Delete the content and type it in afresh.

If you are using a bookmark to access the Library webpages or a specific resource, delete the bookmark and start afresh by going directly to the Library website.

Delete your browser cookies and cache/temporary internet files. For help, check your browser's help page. If you are using a tablet, go to Settings and clear your browser's History, & Cookies and data.

Ensure your browser's cookie settings allow third party cookies. For help, check your browser's help page.

Firstly, check the troubleshooting above under "If you can’t login, try these steps first"

Even if your UniKey is working elsewhere, Synchronise your UniKey password, wait 20 minutes, then try to login again.

If you still have a problem, Change your UniKey password, wait 20 minutes, then try to login again.

For forgotten passwords, or to check that your UniKey account is active, and your password is correct contact the ICT Helpdesk.

Please refer to How do I set up my Library Community ID

Please refer to Frequently Asked Questions.