Please view our guide to Access and Borrowing, which outlines many policies and procedures governing the use of library collections. 

All students can check out books, have portions of them scanned and delivered electronically, or have them mailed to your home address. An overview of each of these services is here. 

The loan period for undergraduates is 4 months.

Students can ask the library to purchase materials for use in the collections (we regret that we cannot purchase copies for individual use). We treat purchase requests from students very seriously. To request a purchase, please visit this page. 

Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan allow students to use materials not available at Yale. Print books can be borrowed from all Ivy Plus Library Consortium members by placing a request through the Borrow Direct system. Materials usually arrive within 4-5 days and are checked out to you for 4 months. Borrow Direct materials cannot be renewed, however.

The Library offers a variety of study spaces designed for student use. These spaces are usually open as long as the library is open, and most are available first-come, first-served. There are desks and carrels for individual use, large reading rooms, and small group-study rooms; there are also comfortable chairs and couches in many public spaces around the library. View a list of places to study here.

Don't forget that the residential colleges also have libraries and study spaces. Residential college libraries are open 24-7 during the academic term.

Some library spaces require room reservations in advance; see this page for more information. 

Yale provides access to thousands of licensed electronic resources to Yale affiliates who are off-campus. This guide describes how off-campus access works.

If you have trouble connecting to library resources from off-campus, check with your librarian or with Ask Yale Library to see if they can help.

Did you know you can check out media equipment at Bass Library? Laptops, computer and phone accessories, adapters and cables, even cameras are available for short-term loans. Browse the Media Equipment catalog here. 

The Library is the largest employer of students at Yale. Positions range from staffing circulation desks to helping with outreach (including social media) to working in Acquisitions, Preservation or many other departments. The Yale Student Employment Office lists all available student job postings; the Library has its own category. The starting wage for the 2023-2024 academic year is $15.00/hour.