How can my library join SCONUL Access?
My institution would like to join SCONUL Access. How much will this cost?
SCONUL Access is a reciprocal access scheme open to all full institutional members of SCONUL. It provides free borrowing access to member libraries for different 'bands' of users. There is no institutional membership fee although libraries are asked to pay for supplies of official membership cards; these are currently charged at £5 per hundred. This price has been set at a level to cover the production costs of the cards and publicity material.
My institution would like to join SCONUL Access, do we have to join SCONUL first?
Yes. Please contact Ann Rossiter, SCONUL Executive Director at ann.rossiter@sconul.ac.uk to establish your institution's eligibility to join SCONUL.
My institution would like to join SCONUL Access, but we are not eligible to join SCONUL. Can we still join SCONUL Access?
No. SCONUL Access is a reciprocal access scheme open only to full institutional members of SCONUL.
What are bands and why is the scheme set up like this?
SCONUL Access grew out of two earlier schemes, SCONUL Research Extra (SRX) which served staff and research students and UK Libraries Plus (UKLP) which provided borrowing for different types of students. SCONUL Access allows institutions to 'sign up' to their desired level of service, offering borrowing to all or some of the following groups of users. These groups are known as bands and are a reflection of the original agreements. Check the table below to see which band is the right one for your users.
- Band A staff and research students
- Band B part time, distance learning and placement students
- Band C full time taught postgraduates
How does SCONUL Access define the groups of users?
- Staff are generally members of the home institution on open or fixed term contracts but occasionally home institutions offer staff privileges to other groups of people. Please see
FAQs for more details - Research students are postgraduate research students registered for a PhD, MPhil or similar qualification awarded purely by research
- Part-time students (undergraduate and post-graduate) must be registered on a course (or research programme) leading to a university award running for a minimum of one year.
- Distance learning students (undergraduate and post-graduate) must be registered on a course (or research programme) leading to a university award running for a minimum of one year.
- Placement students must be on a placement of six weeks or more and on courses running for a minimum of one academic year and leading to a higher education award.
- Post-graduate students are registered for full-time, taught courses offering awards at Masters and Certificate level.
- Full-time undergraduates are not offered borrowing privileges under the scheme but are granted reference access to those member libraries, which offer Band B.
Do I have to provide borrowing rights to all of the bands of users?
No, the scheme allows an institutional member to sign up for one or more bands of users on the understanding that the rest of the members will provide reciprocal services to the same bands of their users across the scheme. In other words you cannot, for example, issue SCONUL Access cards to full time postgraduates unless you offer borrowing rights to full time postgraduates from other member institutions.
