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We are supporting you remotely! Barnard Library staff are providing remote services while the Library is physically closed this fall: see our guide to current Barnard Library services.

Course Materials

Students, welcome! We believe all students deserve to be able to access course texts. The high costs of textbooks and other course materials prohibit access and perpetuate inequity, and Barnard librarians and library staff are partnering with students, faculty, and staff to increase access. Barnard Library recommends the following strategies for students to access course texts at no cost, and we are partnering with faculty to make course texts more accessible via the Library.


Faculty, please visit the faculty page for information on setting up Course Reserves and Barnard FLI Partnership Library resources.

How to Find & Access Course Materials

  1. Check to see if resources are already linked to your class: You can look at your class CourseWorks page, or from CLIO catalog view click on "Course Reserves" in the box along the right side; currently, all Course Reserves are eresources and will be directly linked
  2. If you self identify as a first generation and/or low-income undergraduate student, you can check out textbooks for a full semester from the Barnard and Columbia FLI Partnership Libraries.
    • For Spring 2021 we conducted limited mailing of Barnard FLI Partnership Library materials; we have received all of the requests we can fill for this service, so we can no longer receive additional mailing requests for spring 2021. (Students who used this service in the fall, we are in the process of reaching out to facilitate returns by mail at no cost to you; or, you can return textbooks to the Barnard book drop in front of Milstein - please do not return these items to Columbia book drops.)
    • Where available, the Barnard FLI Partnership Library also links eresources to Course Reserves for these materials (see #1 for where to find these)
    • Barnard and Columbia FLI Partnership Libraries materials are available for paging & pickup. Look for the "Pick-Up" link in the catalog record. To search the catalog, search for "fli partnership library" and any other title or author information. If you are using the Pick-Up service and have not yet signed up for use of the collection, first-generation and/or low-income undergraduate students can sign up on this FLI Partnership Libraries Access Form to receive semester-long checkout of these materials.
    • The Barnard FLI Partnership Library focuses on expensive textbooks for core courses for Barnard majors with a focus on STEM, language learning, and social sciences. More information about the history of the collections can be found here.

  1. Check CLIO (the library catalog) for the item by title and/or author to see if it's available at Barnard or at one of the other Columbia University Libraries. Once you click on the title you'll see a full-page about that title, in the box on the right side you'll see whether and how the item is available. Look under "Requests".
    • "Pick-Up" means you can request the title to physically pick up at one of the Columbia Library locations; click on the link to make the request and receive information about how to pick it up. Currently, Columbia University -- including Barnard -- Libraries stacks are not open for you to pick up a book and check it out on site; you'll need to use the "Pick Up" link in the catalog record.
    • "Scan" means you can request a scan of a single chapter of the book; click on the link to make the request and receive information about how to download it.
    • "Log in for Temporary Access" or any link to "complimentary access" will connect you with temporary eresources while our collections are not fully available; follow those links in the CLIO record for an item.
    • Eresources are available through the CLIO search as well: on the left side of your search, filter for e-resources to find ebooks or streaming films and more.
    • ​​​​​​​Fiction and creative literature that is out of copyright might be available in the HathiTrust database.
  2. For education-related items, you may also want to check the Teacher’s College Catalog as these items do not appear in CLIO. When the Teacher's College collections reopen, you will be able to check those out on site.

If CUL doesn’t have the item, you can request a scan of a chapter of a book or journal article through ILL; follow the link to make the request.

  • Barnard students with financial need or insecurity can fill out the Access Barnard Student Academic Support Application for Fall 2020, or reach out to Barnard Financial Aid for help buying course materials
  • The Barnard Buy Sell Trade is a Facebook group run by students wishing to sell their items. You may find your course materials there
  • Course materials can be rented through services like Chegg, Amazon Rentals, and Redshelf. (The Barnard Library has not reviewed these services)
  • The New York Public Library may also be a resource. The closest branch is the Morningside Heights location. Follow these instructions to apply for a library card.