Library Services

Students at St. Stephen's College access library resources through the University of Alberta Library system (on-campus access only), or through the St. Stephen's subscription to EBSCO.

UAlberta Library Resources

Students at St. Stephen's College have "guest" borrower privileges to access the holdings of the University of Alberta and NEOS Library Systems. For most St. Stephen's students, the following UAlberta libraries will prove most helpful for your research: Rutherford Library (for Humanities, Social Sciences and Education), and the St. Joseph's College Library (for Theology).

Obtaining a UAlberta Library Card and Accessing the Print Holding:

To obtain a UAlberta Library Card, go to the Rutherford Library Service desk and identify yourself as a St. Stephen's College student (photo ID required). You will receive a Community Borrowers library card, which allows you to borrow materials for an entire term. The card must be renewed annually; this can be done either in person or by contacting the Rutherford Library Service Desk. Print holdings such as books or other materials can be signed out in person at a UAlberta library, or delivered via the Interlibrary Loans/Document Delivery Office (registration required). You can contact the library using any of the services from their Ask Us! page.

UAlberta Electronic Resource Access (On Campus Only):

St. Stephen's students can access UAlberta electronic resources (such as databases, journals, eBooks, etc.) while physically on the UAlberta campus, in two ways:
-In person at a public computer in the Rutherford Library,
-In person at the College, using the student computer in the lounge, or by logging in to University wi-fi with your personal device.
St. Stephen's students require a UAlberta "guest" CCID (Campus Computing Identification) to access these resources. CCIDs will be issued by the St. Stephen's College Registrar's Office, and renewed annually; password resets, if required, are also managed through the Registrar's office.

St. Stephen's College Library Holdings and Resources

Since 1998, the majority of St. Stephen's Library holdings have been housed in the UAlberta library system, at the Rutherford Library. Nonetheless, St. Stephen's continues to house a modest Reference Library of over 500 items (located on the lower level of the College building). This collection has strengths in biblical studies, theology, church history, and pastoral counselling. The library's main function is to provide onsite resources for students and faculty of St. Stephen's College. Books and material must remain in the Reading Room at all times, except for photocopying purposes within the College.

EBSCO Database Access:

St. Stephen's students have access to an online database subscription service through EBSCO Publishing. Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database. It comprises more than 7,000 full-text periodicals, including nearly 6,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text documents, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 11,000 journals and a total of more than 11,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and the like. The database features PDF content dating back to 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more that 1,000 journals. To access, go to Academic Search Complete. You will be prompted to enter a User ID and Password.

To access the EBSCO database, please follow the instructions outlined here. Tutorials for performing searches can be found here. This subscription is for the use of St. Stephen's College students and faculty only.

Open Access Publications:

  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Over 1,600 open access, peer-reviewed scholarly journals. Includes the 'For Authors' service to look up where to publish your research as Open Access.
  • Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR): Open DOAR is the quality-assured global directory of academic open access repositories, based on a range of features, such as location, software or type of material held.
  • OAIster Database (OAIster): Collection of academically-oriented digital resources searchable by anyone.
  • Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD): An international organization dedicated to promoting the creation, dissemination, and preservation of electronic these and dissertations.