No barriers to education: Online resources available to help scholars complete their academic projects at home

It goes without saying: the emergence of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has altered our lives.

The way we work, teach, learn and connect with others was radically changed overnight. As the change took place, FIU sprang into action to ensure students, faculty and staff had the essentials needed to continue their academic and work pursuits from the safety of their homes.

Stationed at the crux of information and accessibility for students, FIU Libraries joined the initiative to make laptops, chargers, hotspots and other library materials available.

Yet, as the end of the semester nears, so do the deadlines to complete research papers and academic projects. As education propels forward and computer screens continue to serve as the primary face of learning, the need to provide access to resources usually found on campus has become greater.

Initially, FIU Libraries was able to negotiate expanded access for our current catalog, yielding nearly 400,000 additional e-books at no cost. Even with this expansion, academics still faced information barriers in their online learning, teaching and research.

In response to these challenges, many scholarly presses have made hundreds and in some cases thousands of multi-disciplinary e-book and e-journal titles freely available to university-affiliated scholars. Library Operations has made it a priority to continuously seek out resources and databases to help support the Panther community while at home.

When conducting research, keep in mind that while there are a few publishers offering direct access to their digital content, the majority will require you to sign-in on the FIU Libraries' site or use their page with FIU credentials.

Some of the available resources are as follows:

Multi-Disciplinary eResources:

• HathiTrust Digital Library
• Cambridge Core Collection
• EBSCO eBooks Academic Collection
• National Emergency Library

Science and Social Science eResouces:

• Annual Reviews Complete A-Z List
• JSTOR
• World Scientific

Cultural Studies and Humanities eResource:

• University of Michigan Press eBooks

For a complete list of available resources, please check the Expanded Access to eResources section on the FIU Libraries’ Remote Services page.