ARU affiliates, staff and students from other universities, and members of the public can use our libraries in Cambridge, Chelmsford and Peterborough. Your level of access and how you register with us depends on which of the below groups you belong to.
Check our opening hours and terms and conditionsEmeritus Professors/Readers and visiting academics have full access to our libraries:
If you're an Emeritus Professor/Reader, contact [email protected] to arrange an ID card.
If you're a Visiting Professor, Readers, Fellow or Lecturer with an Affiliate card, complete our staff registration form.
Tutors/mentors supervising ARU placements (e.g. in the NHS) have partial access to our libraries:
To register, complete our external access form.
ARU Students' Union officers have partial access to our libraries:
To register, complete our external access form and show your ARSU ID card.
Staff and students from ARU's partner institutions have partial access to our libraries:
If you're a student from a partner institution, you can access our libraries with your ARU ID card.
If you're a member of staff from a partner institution, complete our staff registration form.
Staff and students from other universities in the UK and Ireland have partial access to our libraries through the SCONUL and Access25 schemes:
To register for our libraries via SCONUL, you'll need to apply first to your home institution via the SCONUL website.
Once you have an approval email, complete our external access form (referring to the SCONUL User Guide) and attach a recent digital photograph for your ARU library card.
Please allow a week (or more during busier periods of the academic year) for us to produce your card. There is a cost of £10 for replacement cards.
If you have an Access25 card, contact us via our enquiry service to register. There is a cost of £10 for replacement cards.
Cambridge University students may request reference access for quiet private study purposes at our Cambridge site. Complete our external access form and attach a recent digital photograph for your ARU library card.
Please allow a week (or more during busier periods of the academic year) for us to produce your card. There is a cost of £10 for replacement cards.
Please note that when we are very busy, we may restrict access to prioritise use by ARU students.
Members of ARU's Alumni Network have partial access to our libraries:
To register, complete our external access form and attach a recent digital photograph for your ARU library card. If you graduated more than three months ago, we'll require proof of your alumni status alongside your registration. You can obtain this by contacting [email protected]
Reference and borrowing access is free for the first year after graduation. If you graduated more than a year ago, you'll be required to pay a one-off fee of £10 for a library card, which gives you unlimited on site reference access. Borrowing access costs an additional £35 per year.
Please allow a week (or more during busier periods of the academic year) for us to produce your card. There is a cost of £10 for replacement cards.
ARU Library's primary role is to support the learning and research activity of ARU students and staff. However, we may be able to give access to visitors for research purposes to consult specific materials that are not available from the public library:
When we are very busy, we may restrict access to prioritise use by our students.
To register, complete our external access form and attach a recent digital photograph for your ARU library card. There is a cost of £10 for a library card (and for any replacement cards). You must collect your card in person, by showing photo ID to a member of staff at our reception desk.
Please allow a week (or more during busier periods of the academic year) for us to produce your card.
Got any questions for us? Get in touch.