Alumni & Community Courtesy Resources

​ eLibrary Minnesota Databases (previously ELM) are free for anyone within Minnesota to use, including Encyclopaedia Britannica Academic, Consumer Health Complete, Ebsco's MegaFILE,  numerous online newspapers, and much more.  In Minnesota, access:

Any Minnesota user can access MNLink to request Interlibrary Loan (ILL) books ​  via your local public library. 

Hamline Alumni and Mitchell Hamline users

Hamline alumni and actively enrolled or employed persons from Mitchell Hamline School of Law are invited to check out books from the Hamline Bush Memorial Library circulating collection. Please see the staff at the Central Service Desk (CSD) on the 1st floor of the library about establishing courtesy borrowing privileges, which involves verifying your alumni/MHSL status with the Registrar.  HamCAT (our online catalog) “Sign In” is not necessary for alumni -- please contact the CSD directly for questions about loaned items or to renew loaned items. Note: The university does not offer  item requests or interlibrary loans for alumni. For interlibrary loans, we suggest you contact your local public library. Try MNLink and use your public library card barcode to sign in.​

Community and Neighborhood Members

The general public is welcome to come to the library to use select materials on site. The university does not offer check-out courtesy privileges to the general public, except for sponsored visiting scholars.

Non-degree seeking students

Non-degree students typically don't have courtesy check-out permissions and do not have Hamline ID cards. Non-degree seeking students should plan to use physical/print items within Bush Library. Please visit the Central Service Desk for more questions.

Hamline Alumni

Hamline alumni may come to the library to access our online resources. There are a couple of public computers near the stairwells on 2nd and 3rd floor that do not require logins.   For other computers in the building, you will need a temporary guest login. Guest logins are available at the Central Service Desk (CSD). For help using databases while present at Bush Memorial Library, see the CSD or ask a librarian.

 Hamline alumni are especially invited to view our Hamline yearbooks,The Liner .

Due to licensing restrictions, the university cannot offer access to online database resources off-campus to alumni or the general public, but feel free to browse our free online digitized University Archives' collections. Also see the publicly available database resources above or the public library resources below.

Unfortunately Hamline doesn't have the network infrastructure to allow visitors access to our printers. There is a FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's) down the street, or the nearby Hamline Midway Public Library, for the general public who need things printed.

Many people are unaware that public libraries offer:

• online databases, such as Business Source Premier and Historical Newspapers. Note that all Minnesota libraries offer free access to eLibraryMN databases.
• ILL (interlibrary loan services) for obtaining material from other library collections, including Hamline’s.
• eBooks, streaming audio, DIY learning materials (test prep., language learning, computer skills, etc.), and much more.

Find and visit a local public library:

 alliance of 101 public libraries in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area

 offers 24/7 reference assistance, databases, historic digital library, publishing and interlibrary loan services for anyone in Minnesota

Bush Library provides access to our print and digital collections and databases to visiting scholars who are officially sponsored by a department, program or school of the university for a period determined by the sponsoring party. We are unable to provide access to the extended collections of our partner schools in the MnPALS Consortium, the University of Minnesota, or other academic libraries. We also do not extend interlibrary loan privileges (borrowing of materials from other libraries) to our visiting scholars.

Many university offices are involved in creating the identification pieces needed to offer a visiting scholar access to library products and services. We recommend a minimum of two weeks to make sure that all university offices are able to complete their step(s) in the process.

Step 1

The sponsoring party, (a Hamline department, program or school) contacts the Central Service Desk to request the creation of a Hamline Username and password for the visiting scholar.

Step 2

Upon receiving the Hamline Username and password, the sponsoring party shares their username information with their library liaison.

Step 3

Bush Library contacts Human Resources and Information Systems (ITS - Workday) to ensure that the visiting scholar gets appropriate system coding, so that data can be added to the library system user file.

Step 4

Bush Library updates the library system user file, including a service expiration date, and notifies the sponsoring party that library privileges are available.

Step 5

The sponsoring party notifies their library liaison when the visiting scholar arrives on campus, so that the scholar will have an opportunity for a formal introduction to the library’s resources for scholarship.

Step 6

The library informs and holds the sponsoring party financially responsible for late fees, and lost book charges incurred by their visiting scholar. The sponsoring party will determine the availability and funding for printing and photocopying expenses for their visiting scholar.