UCLA Library-Licensed Databases – Getting Free Off-Campus Access and Free Articles

The UCLA Library subscribes to hundreds of databases for fees of varying amounts, in order to license them for free use by UCLA students (fully enrolled), staff and faculty. The Library also pays fees to subscribe to thousands of periodicals (journals, magazines and newspapers), many online and some in print and other formats, so that UCLA students (fully enrolled), staff and faculty can use them for free.

While on campus, UCLA students, staff and faculty can use the Library’s materials for free. According to our license agreements, when off-campus, the Library’s online system needs to know that you are a UCLA student (fully enrolled), staff or faculty member, so that you can use online databases and materials for free. In order to do this, you must set up an authentication method for your computer’s Internet connection, in one of two ways:

  1. Go to the Bruin OnLine web site: www.bol.ucla.edu/
  2. Click on the Services tab, and then on Proxy server.
  3. Scroll down to see the list of web browsers in 2 columns, one for PC and one for Mac
  4. Click on the icon for your web browser and follow the instructions to set up the BOL proxy server.
  5. After setting it up, go to the UCLA Library web site: www.library.ucla.edu/
  6. Pull down the Search and Find menu, select Article Databases, and select a database to search.
  7. When you click on the link for a database, a popup window will ask for your UCLA ID (the first part of your UCLA email address) and your password for that account
  8. Once you have authenticated, you will be able to use the UCLA-Library- licensed databases for free, and you will be able to get many articles online for free, BUT you must go through the UCLA Library’s website in order to do both.

NOTE: When searching UCLA-Library-licensed databases, you may see that some articles are directly available through the databases, as indicated by a link or icon for “PDF” or “full text.” If you do not see either of these links, click on the orange rectangle labeled UC e-Links, either to get directly to an article online for free, or to search the UCLA Library Catalog for a free copy. If neither of these choices gets you to an online or print copy of an article, you can still get a copy for free through the UCLA Library. Just click on the link in the UC e-Links box labeled “Request this from another library, or from the campus document delivery service.” The Library will look for a copy of this article for you, mount it on a web site and email you the url, usually within 2 days to a week, for free.

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