Senate House and King’s College Libraries
Courtauld students have access to both Senate House Library and King’s College Libraries. Access in both cases is to print and online collections.
Senate House Library, the central library of the University of London, offers Courtauld students extensive humanities collections, online resources and additional study spaces in Bloomsbury. King’s College London libraries provide access to print and online resources across a broad range of disciplines, including arts and humanities, social sciences, sciences and law, as well as multiple campus library spaces across London. Together, these libraries significantly extend the range of materials and study environments available to students and complement the Courtauld’s art history collections.
Senate House Library
Accessing Online Resources
All Courtauld staff and students access SHL resources using their Courtauld network credentials (email address and password).
To access an online resource via the SHL catalogue:
- Click the link in the catalogue record to the publisher’s platform.
2. When prompted, select “Login for Library Members.”
3. Enter your Courtauld credentials.
Further Information
You can find more details on the SHL website: Senate House Library | University of London.
King's College Libraries
Courtauld students are able to access the online resources of King’s College Libraries. Newly enrolled students all receive an email from King’s, informing them of their King’s email address and user ID with a link to set a password. Students must then use these King’s credentials (rather than their Courtauld credentials) to access any King’s online library resources.
If you want to access the physical library spaces of Kings or borrow print materials, you will need to collect the King’s ID card that will have been created for you at the time of enrolment. You can find information on their How will I collect my ID card? page: scroll down the page and check on the drop-down for ‘I’m studying at a partner institution of King’s’; then click on ‘I’m studying at the Courtauld Institute’.
Further information
Library & Collections | Libraries & Collections | King’s College London
King’s Libraries have produced an Arts and Humanities Library Guide to help students to get acquainted with the resources and services on offer.
Working across the Courtauld/SHL/KCL
Due to each library having different holdings and subscriptions, the online resources that you will find at each of the Courtauld, SHL and KCL libraries are different. However their online Library catalogues work broadly the same; there is lots that you can do to refine your searches and navigate between resources to replicate the browsing experience online. If you’d like help with your searching, why not arrange a Book a Librarian session with one of expert and friendly staff.
Google scholar
If you like to use Google Scholar, did you know that you can configure it to show you if articles are available at Courtauld, King’s and other libraries?
Go to the Google Scholar homepage, and then navigate to the three horizontal bars at the top left. Click on ‘settings’ and then click ‘library links’. Search for the Courtauld. You can select both entries that come up, and then press save. You can then repeat this process for King’s or any other library you like.
Please note that due to SHL’s migration to their new catalogue, Google Scholar is not yet linking up to SHL’s new system. For the time being you should avoid adding SHL though this will hopefully be resolved soon.
Now any time you do a search, and are browsing the results list, if any of the articles are available via your saved libraries there will be either one or two links appear at the right-hand side.
If the article is available on an open access basis and Google can detect the pdf, it will provide a link with a PDF sign in square brackets. Clicking on this link will download the pdf very easily. Alternatively you can click the link below and that link will direct you to the item in the library’s online catalogue.
If there is only a single link and no link for a pdf, it means that the item is not available open access and you need to go to your library catalogue. Click on the link to the library.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you encounter login / access issues:
Try accessing the resource in an incognito/private browser window.
This help to circumnavigate any conflicts between Courtauld and SHL/KCL authentication systems.
You may prefer to set up separate browser profiles for working with Courtauld, SHL and King’s resources. If you don’t know how to do this Library staff can help.
Still having trouble?
Please contact us — particularly if you’re having issues with materials on reading lists.
