The phrase ‘Open Library’ describes our vision for Libraries & Collections at KCL. Developing genuinely open and inclusive collections is an important part of this.
Using and promoting Open Access resources can enhance the inclusivity of our teaching and learning at King’s by surfacing the significant collections of research and primary materials from the Global Majority, bringing diverse and often unheard perspectives in to the classroom, and ensuring our students can access these resources at no financial cost throughout their student journey and beyond.
Databases are a great place to start when searching for open access content. The list below highlights some of the most useful databases when looking for open access resources including articles, primary sources, and books.
More and more academic books are being publishing open access. As new open access book publishers get established and funding requirements include monographs, we can expect this trend to increase. There are several websites that have been set up to aggregate open access books making them more discoverable. The advantage to including open access books on reading lists is that users won't need to register or log in to access them. Moreover, there are no DRM restrictions or limits on chapter PDF downloads or printing.
Many traditional commercial publishers also publish Open Access content. In fact, KCL has a number of agreements in place with academic publishers to publish King's research Open Access. Use the links below to see the open access resources provided by different publishers.
There are also a number of well-established fully Open Access publishers that produce peer-reviewed original research articles.
It is sometimes difficult to find an open access version of a paper. The below tools have been created to help locate open access versions of resources. The plug-ins can be added to your internet browser. If you hit a paywall while searching for material, the plug-in will alert you to an open access version available. Please note these browser pug-ins are freely available tools that are not supported by the KCL.