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Cal Poly students, faculty and staff can easily access our databases and other electronic resources from off-campus. Sign in to My Account using your Cal Poly User ID and password (the same ID and password you use to log into my.calpoly.edu portal.)

For more information, see Off-Campus Access.

Students in need of technology should go to the ITS Tech Rentals page or call 805-756-7000.
Need assistance with technology? Contact the ITS Service Desk at 805-756-7000.

Off-Campus Access   Contact ITS

Kennedy Library has access to digital materials - articles, books, data, and streaming media. Be sure to log into your mycalpoly portal to get full access to subscribed resources. Librarians have also created subject, course, and topic guides to help you navigate through the research process. Use OneSearch to find e-books, journal articles, streaming audio or video, and other online resources. We have hundreds of databases that provide access to full-text articles, videos, and more!

Research Guides  

OneSearch   

Online Databases   COVID-19 Limited-Time Access Resource List

Special Collections and Archives

E-Books

Kennedy Library provides access to more than 600,000 e-books in all disciplines. All are discoverable in OneSearch.
Not all e-books are created equal. Some e-books, for example, can only be viewed by 3 users at a time, but the majority of e-books have minimal restrictions. The E-Books Guide below describes how to identify e-books to which we have access, and to see the terms of use for that item.

E-Books Guide   

Streaming Video

The library subscribes to several streaming video databases, and users can view streaming content from these databases when they are logged into the Cal Poly portal.

Docuseek

Academic Video Online

BBC Shakespeare Plays

Kanopy

Commercial or ad-supported streaming services

If instructors can't find the video they need in one of the library resources above, they can search for additional streaming options at JustWatch.com and Reelgood.com.  This will help determine if the video content is site exclusive (e.g. Netflix, PrimeVideo, or HBO), or if it is available on an ad-supported or low-cost rental platform (e.g. Vudu, Google Play or YouTube).  NOTE:  The library cannot pay rental costs on commercial services. Ad-supported and free platforms vary in quality and reliability--always preview the entire film yourself before linking it to your students.

JustWatch

Reelgood

We have online tutorials, videos, and guides that provide students with instruction on library research strategies and tools.

Research 101 Tutorials and Videos 

Finding Data Tutorial 

Research and Course Guides 

The library will be offering physical reserves once again starting in Winter 2022, in addition to eBooks and other electronic materials for course reserves.  We will be happy to help you make course materials available for students using library-owned print materials, eMaterials in our collections, ordering eBooks and, in some cases, digitizing print materials for course reserves. Instructors are also welcome to bring in personal copies of books (and other materials) to be placed on reserve.

Instructional faculty can place their requests for items to be put on Reserves using the Submit Course Reserves form.

To request that the library purchase an e-book or other digital resource for your course, please check OneSearch to see if the library already owns the item. If you can find a library copy in OneSearch, please fill out a Course Reserves request form, and include a OneSearch permalink to the item in the “Special Instructions” box.

If you cannot find the item you are looking for in OneSearch, please submit an E-Reserves Purchase Request Form.

If you’d like to inquire about digitizing course materials to use for Fall 2021, please email your request to Caleb Nichols, Course Reserves Coordinator at reserves@calpoly.edu . Make sure to include as much detail about your request as possible including course code, number of sections, title, and edition of the book, author, etc. we will reply to your request as soon as we are able to.

Accessing Course Reserves and Materials

Search Course Reserves

To get full access to all your options, be sure to log into your Cal Poly portal and OneSearch. When you find an item listed that does not have full text, click on Get It at Cal Poly. This will lead you to options for articles, book chapters, and other materials from CSU+ and other libraries, and the forms will prefill for you. If none of this works, and you have a complete citation for an item, fill out a request form at ILL, found in the link below.

Submit a request online:

Interlibrary Loan 

Or you can email: ils@calpoly.edu