Who can use electronic resources?
Current students, faculty, and staff can access our electronic resources to find information for their work and studies. Other kinds of patrons can access the majority of our electronic resources from inside the library at our public terminals. Sometimes the lines between current students, faculty, and staff can be a bit hazy. Here are some common questions about what makes someone a current student, faculty, and staff.
Students
Students who are currently attending classes can access our electronic resources, but what about summer break? Or the summer before starting at USU? This is where things can get a bit confusing. Students who were enrolled in Spring Semester and are enrolled in Fall Semester should be able to access our electronic resources as normal. Same goes for students enrolled in Summer Semester courses. Students who have been accepted to USU but did not attend classes in Spring Semester are unable to access electronic resources until the beginning of Fall Semester. This includes students who previously attended classes at USU but decided not to take classes over the previous semester.
In short, students who are taking just a summer break can access electronic resources, but new students or students taking an extended break have to wait until the semester they are attending begins.
Concurrent Enrollment Students:
Concurrent Enrollment students have A#s and can access USU resources, including databases provided by the Library. A common problem that comes up is that a student's high school term does not match USU's terms, and so access may be lost in some cases. To fix this, students should ask their classroom teachers to contact Concurrent Enrollment at concurrent@usu.edu with the request to add access for the student(s); it is helpful if the teacher provides class section information or a CRN.
Faculty/Staff
Faculty and Staff currently employed for USU can access our electronic resources. If you are working for an third party entity that is partnered with USU, and not USU itself, you cannot access electronic resources. This includes employees of Space Dynamics Lab, who may work closely with the university but are not university employees.
Contingent and visiting faculty often cannot access electronic resources until the semester they are employed for begins. This can change depending on how their department codes their start date.
As any member of the local community, these patrons can access electronic resources from the public terminals inside the library.
