Unsure where to post: Where does a traveler gain access to an academic database? | Squat the Planet

Unsure where to post: Where does a traveler gain access to an academic database?

diogenesis

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Leaving university, but still I would like to pursue academic interests. Do any travelers, bums, vagabonds, non-denominational scholars have tips for how to access scholarly databases while on the road?

apologies if this was not the correct forum
 

Older Than Dirt

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sci-hub was started by a Russian grad student, it is the shit. I have used it to look up old articles of my own that i didn't have copies of anymore.

Most public libraries will give cards to homeless folks. Someimes you might have to pay a fee (like $20-30) if you don't have a local address. Generally just any piece of mail will do as proof of a local address, so send something to yourself at a friend's address and you should be ok.

Librarians mostly really want to help you- especially anyone who actually reads rather than taking out 20 videos a day. If the first person you talk to doesn't seem to be that kind of person, go back on another day and talk to someone else.

Most use of scholarly databases will be on-premises anyway, so you might not need a library card to use them.
 

Zaphod

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hard to get a public library card without proof of residence though, ain't it?
Well, there are workarounds for that depending on your situation. If you're staying in one place for a while itd be fairly easy. My library's databases are accessible remotely so all you need in a case like that is to have gotten a library card while you do have a permanent residence, then you could access the databases from any library
 

Matt Derrick

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you can always fake residency with a generic lease agreement form. details are in my article here under the 'documents' section.
 

salxtina

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like I emailed Silvia actual-for-real Federici about an article of hers I found cited in a bibliography but couldn't find published in English and she just SENT ME THE WHOLE THING
 
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Older Than Dirt

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She is evidently a much nicer person than i am- i ignore emails from strangers asking for copies of articles. And i only have pdfs of maybe a third of the scholarly articles i've been an author on, although probably i do have copies of almost all my pubs as a lead author.

sci-hub is the way to go, really, but your local public library can be very helpful, and you should all go there today. Admittedly i am biased: my wife runs the public library one town over from where i live, and my son is at work at his after-school job at the one in our town, and i have many librarian friends. Any librarian under 50 (and a lot of older ones) is probably some kind of leftist (or at a bare minimum is one of the least conservative folks in town), and in most small towns, the librarians are the folks most-likely-to-be-sympathetic-to-traveling-dirty-kids besides the local Unitarian minister and the folks who work at the bum-feed (like me and my son). One of the young library school trainees at my wife's library collects hardcore records and has almost as many tats as i do. Just don't shoot up in the bathrooms, go to McDonalds for that.
 
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Older Than Dirt

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Here is a useful tip if you are near a university: Most university libraries are "Federal Government Document Depositories", and must admit anyone who wants to consult those government documents.

Politely explain this to whomever is trying to tell you the library is students-only, and eventually you will get someone who understands they have to let you in for this reason.

In a small library they may escort you to the gov't docs and wait while you consult them i suppose but this is unlikely, usually they just admit you and tell you "go to the 5th floor and turn left" or whatever. Of course they won't let you borrow books but there are many resources including all those databases we are discussing. Also university reference librarians know a lot about how to find out anything.
 
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Maxnomad

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I've had university libraries issues me temporary cards w no proof of residence. There's also a pdf database called aaaarg or something similar but you need an invite and somehow I lost the email. . .
Also just lurk in fb groups an hit people up
 

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