Access to scholastic papers

May 31, 2007 4:25 AM

Accessing JStor would greatly improve both my mental life and my historical research. However there are a few problems. I live in Spain and I am not accredited to any Institution of learning so popping down to my local library is not an option. Does anyone have any suggestions.? Email in profile.
posted by adamvasco to grab bag (11 comments total)

Did you see this recent post about libraries and electronic services yet? Do you know anyone in Boston or the places in the comments indicating more JSTOR (N. Carolina)?
posted by whatzit at 4:50 AM on May 31, 2007

http://www.bugmenot.com/view/www.jstor.org

I got a working password from there about a month ago. The page is updated often so if there isn't a working pass there now, check it periodically.
posted by fire&wings at 5:27 AM on May 31, 2007 [5 favorites]

whtazit; I am aware of the thread linked by yourself and this one and unfortunately I don't have any friends in those areas or in academiawhom I can ask.
posted by adamvasco at 5:30 AM on May 31, 2007

Subscribe to H-Net and ask for help on one of their discussion lists. I'm sure you could easily find someone on the lists to either get you an account or borrow an account.

My girlfriend is a professor here in the US that does lots of historical research for her research papers and articles. She has been in Madrid for the past year or so and finds it much more difficult to get the resources she needs over there than in University libraries here. The Biblioteca Nacional doesn't quite have the wealth of information on some subjects.
posted by JJ86 at 5:53 AM on May 31, 2007

Failing JStor I guess an Athens login would work. Anyone have any experience with that?
posted by adamvasco at 6:10 AM on May 31, 2007

Which resources you can get at with Athens is dependent on what your institution has subscribed to. Athens is just a technical means of allowing you to sign in to many websites with the same username and password. I think most institutions subscribe to at least a subset of the available Jstor journals. At my university, you have to go to the University Library and present your uni photo ID card to get an Athens account, so they may not be easy to get hold of. Also, you have to declare on pain of death that you'll never share your Athens account, although I imagine not many people take much notice of that. That said, the resources available with an Athens account from an institution that subscribes to lots of stuff are incredible: journals galore, censuses, maps, Lexis-Nexis newspaper stuff, early English books, Grove dictionaries of Music and Opera, OED, ODNB etc etc. Good luck!
posted by Aloysius Bear at 6:23 AM on May 31, 2007

Could you start a distance learning course with a university/academic institute that could provide you with JSTOR access or one with good Athens subscriptions? That might be a bit much for what you actually want it for though.
posted by knapah at 6:58 AM on May 31, 2007

Many academic professional organizations offer some form of JSTOR access as a benefit of membership (or for a small additional fee). Unfortunately this tends not to be full access. Instead it's limited to a modest number of journals in that organization's field of study. Still, if you check the major history professional organizations, you might find one that will give you access to at least a selection of the top journals.
posted by shadow vector at 7:00 AM on May 31, 2007

I just tested the bugmenot login and it works for now.
posted by fire&wings at 7:06 AM on May 31, 2007

I use an Athens account to access JSTOR. Most Universities in the UK provide access to JSTOR this way.
posted by dance at 7:10 AM on May 31, 2007

The New York Public Library will charge you $100 for a library card.
posted by mdonley at 1:11 PM on May 31, 2007