Services at the British Library are being reinstated after a major technology affecting their online systems. A searchable version of the catalogue of books and other printed materials is now available and information on visiting and arrangements for using the collections is on their website. The majority of online resources are still unavailable.

Until access to all their systems and services has resumed you may wish to explore the following alternative options.

UK doctoral theses

EThoS (Electronic Theses Online Service) is still unavailable . The temporary catalogue now provides access to a limited number of digital doctoral theses held in UK institutional repositories. Search for a thesis, click on the title and then scroll to the section "View Online" to see if there is a link. If there is no link to a digital copy make a note of the awarding institution, navigate to their website and see if it is available in a research repository

We provide access to Proquest  Dissertation and Theses database with access to theses from across the world, many of which are in full-text. OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations) can be searched to find open access theses and dissertations from research institutions across the world. 

ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue)

The British Library is providing access to a temporary search interface for searching 150,000 pre-1700 records. Our Historical Texts database includes access to both Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century Collections Online and provides digitised images of texts. The database can also be searched by ETSC number. Alternatively you may wish to try USTC (Universal Short Title Catalogue) which offers further bibliographic data and a list of holdings.  

Please contact us if you need further advice on searching alternative resources.