Services for external users and alumni
The HVL library is open to everyone, whether you are one of our earlier students (alumni), an earlier employee, a student at another institution, or you simply would like to use our services.
Borrow books
Anyone can become a user of the HVL library. Make sure to bring your id when dropping by one of our campus libraries, and we will create an account and issue a library card for you. Also previous employees and students (alumni) need a new account when they are no longer affiliated with HVL.
When you have an account and a library card, you are welcome to borrow books from our stacks. You can also order books from other libraries. Read more on our Borrow and order website, here you will also find our lending policies.
You can browse our collections in Oria, a national, open search engine. When you have a loan account, you can log on to Oria and review your loans and orders, including renewing loans.
Workspace
All HVL campus libraries have areas where you can sit and work, also as an external user. We offer a wireless network for guests that you can log on to.
External users will only have access to the library during the campuses' opening hours.
Access to electronic databases and articles
Open resources (Open Access)
Oria will normally inform you whether a publication or a digital resource is Open Access or not. In Oria you can restrict your search to Open Access publications. In order to find Open Access versions of research publications you may also use Google Scholar, a useful search engine with direct links to open publications where these are available.
In the Norwegian Research Information Repository (NVA) you can find publications by our employees, first and foremost journal articles and student theses on bachelor and master levels. NVA is used by all Norwegian academic institutions, and its content is openly accessible.
Databases that are openly accessible (that is, from your own computer) are those without padlock on our Find databases and other resources page. Please note that some of these resouces offers only limited access to their content, even when open.
Subscription-based resources
When at campus, you will have access to subscription-based journals, ebooks and databases via the library's own computers (but not via the guest network). Our staff can help you with access to individual items. Our services are offered according to the principle of walk-in use/access: You must be present at campus in order to use our resources.
Useful websites and tools
For students and researchers we recommend the open resources Search and Write and PhD on Track, which contain lots of useful informasjon and smart advices.
Zotero is an open reference management tool, available free of charge. Zotero helps you collect and organise your references, including making correct citations and reference lists in your texts. Zotero is compatible with Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs.
Arrangements
All campus libraries offer regularly presentations of research papers, book launches and debates (mostly in Norwegian). They are open to everyone and are announced at our calendar.